Click here to subscribe today or Login.
Sunday, February 16, 1997 Page: 1G
Needs of seeds
Organization is the key to the successful starting of seedlingsEven though
Punxsutawney Phil proclaimed the early arrival of spring, don’t get so eager
that you start your indoor garden too soon.
Just like Phil, gardeners — and those seedlings you start indoors — can
get eager, too.
Those early starts can quickly outgrow their pots before you can safely
plant them outside.
What you should be doing now is gathering all the ingredients needed for
successful seed-starting: a warm airy spot, fresh soil mix, clean pots,
fluorescent light fixtures, seeds labels, and a calendar/diary to record dates
of seeding, transplanting, and successes and failures.
Not only are these records handy reminders for next year, but they chart
your own growth as a gardener.
Ready, set, grow
After everything is assembled, it’s time to put your seeds into an order
that tells you when to plant what. Some companies are better than others at
alerting customers to the specific requirements of individual seeds, but there
will always be some unanswered questions.
A good seed-starting book from the library or bookshop can help sort
through the gray-green areas of seed germination.
Let’s take a look at a pack of seeds.
In addition to telling how deeply to sow the seed, plant spacing and light
requirements, the seed pack should give a time frame for sowing the seed,
whether indoors or out. A typical phrase is: “Sow indoors eight weeks before
last frost.”
Use this information to group seed packs together — those that need eight
to 12 weeks in one group, those that need six to eight weeks in another, etc.
With the scores of seed varieties my Tea Garden grows, I find it helpful to
write the month of appropriate seeding on the packs, then file them
chronologically.
Some of those eight- to 12-week candidates we’ll be starting now are:
leeks, onions, impatiens and lobelia. Since onions and leeks are transplanted
into the garden before the last frost date, I will be seeding them first,
giving them at least eight weeks inside and one to two weeks of coldframe
hardening off before planting in the garden.
Hardening off of tender seedlings is a must. Slowly acclimating them to
full sun and drying winds ensures a viable and successful transplant. I use an
east facing coldframe next to the house for this first exposure to the
outdoors.
Drink More Milk
(Please Support Our Farmers)
I sow onion and leek seed into recycled milk cartons that have been cut in
half (from top to bottom) and drilled with drainage holes. These alliums will
remain in the cartons until they are set into the garden in May.
Five of these half-cartons fit into one standard plastic flat; 30 seeds per
carton, 150 onions per flat. After the seeds are planted in moistened soil
mix, they must be watered in. I use a bottom watering method that ensures good
contact of seed to soil which is crucial for good seed growth.
I fill a child’s plastic snow sled with room temperature water and soak the
planted seed flat until the top of the soil mix is dampened. Lift, drain and
label.
Don’t forget to write the variety and date on labels. With indelible ink. I
promise you that you will not remember what you planted when, if you don’t
label, label, label. Got that?
Now for the lighting requirements. Remember this simple fact: Plants use
nuclear power to grow.
Say what?
Energy from the sun is pretty potent — 3.83 x 1033 ergs/sec. Wow! Science!
When compared to the old Sol, manmade fluorescent tubes are a pretty weak
source of energy.
My point? Make sure those lights are very close to the little green guys.
As the plants grow, raise the light to keep it just above the leaves.
Hanging the fixtures with lightweight chains makes raising and lowering
easy. An on/off timer is convenient if your hours are hectic or your household
sleeps a full shift. The lights should be on for an optimum 14 to 16 hours.
Anyway, now that the alliums are planted, let’s do flowers.
I treat culture of impatiens (walleriana) a bit differently since they are
transplanted twice: once indoors, then again into the garden. Impatiens are
expensive plants if you use them in masses or drifts, which I think is the
best way to display these shade lovers. Some varieties have been bred to
withstand full sun (check the plant descriptions). I prefer the pastel
impatiens; they impart a peacefulness that shady areas deserve and bright
colors upset.
Sprinkle these tiny seeds on top of the soil mix and bottom water the pot.
Once again, always moisten soil mix before using. There is no need to cover
the seed since light is needed for germination.
Transplanting
Timely transplanting is extremely important to the continuing health,
beauty and productivity of any plant. And that comes after the first leaves.
The first leaves to appear are not leaves at all. Technically they are
called cotyledons. I like to call them seed parts.
Next come the “true leaves” and this is when the first transplanting is
done. If a young seedling is not given enough space during its vigorous
initial growth, it becomes stunted. A stunted seedling may never fully recover
and attain its full potential in the garden.
One more important consideration of transplanting is tenderness. Do not
grasp the poor little seedling by its stem. This would be the same as picking
up your newborn child by the neck. The proper “pricking” technique of
transplanting is to loosen the seedling from the soil and surrounding
seedlings. I use a table fork to tease a clump of the little ones out of the
soil and hold it by the leaf.
A leaf can be replaced. A seedling’s main stem cannot.
Lifting carefully and placing into a six-pack or pot, gently firm the soil
around its roots, then put it in that sled of water to settle it properly once
again.
Under the lights with it, and it’s off and growing.
Air circulation contributes to good plant health and disease control. The
less-than-optimum growing conditions this time of year can contribute to the
dreaded damping-off fungus.
The disease is easy to diagnose. The seedling simply collapses without so
much as a goodbye. The stem has withered away between soil and leaf, nothing
will revive it.
One minute a seedling, the next minute a dead-ling.
I’ve heard of people watering with cooled chamomile tea to prevent
damping-off, though I’ve never tried it.
Good insurance against damping off is basic, good growing practices:
sterile soil mix, not overwatering, proper warmth and air circulation.
I always breathe a sigh of relief after I plant these first indoor crops.
Relief that I’m rested after a couple months of non-gardening and a sigh that
the first seeds have been planted.
All this is followed by a big smile when I see that first green sprout poke
through the soil, greet the sun, see its shadow and not retreat.
Sorry, Punxsutawny Phil — you’re a wimp.
Judi Segebarth is a master gardener and owner of an organnic, educational
garden center near thoroughly Zone 5 Wyalusing. Write to her in care of the
Arts & Leisure Team, The Times Leader, 15 N. Main St., Wilkes-Barre, PA
18711-0250.