Re: HYB: seeds germinating

 Betty-- 


> John, you don't mention any type of mulch over the pots other than hardware
> cloth. Do you have any serious problem with seed surfacing in the spring  due
> to beating rains or the heave from alternating freeze and thaw?  Do you watch
> for these and punch them down?

I do not have much of a problem with freeze-thaw heaving with the light potting
mix. Sometimes the seeds have surfaced, so I just dump another 1/2" of potting mix
in the pot. I do not overly worry about some seed exposure--when seeds drop to the
ground in nature they do not get buried very deeply if at all. My very first year
of planting iris seeds (way back when) I did put them in a heavy soil mix and
about an inch deep. Germination was poor, there were a lot of rotted seeds, and
there was some damping off. I changed my methods to what I use now and have not
had problems since. The only problems I had in subsequent years was when I
transplanted the seedlings straight into the ground. They grew, but I suffered
some losses from heaving--seedlings don't seem to tolerate this as well as adults.
That is when I started potting up the seedlings into 4" pots, letting them grow
(and fertilizing them every couple of weeks) until they are nearly rootbound and
then planting the soil ball early enough for the roots to take hold. That ended
90% of the heaving issue.

John Bruce

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