Re: Re: HYB: Help - planting fresh seeds?

Linda,

When I speak of planting fresh seeds, I mean just exactly that.  I plant
them within minutes of shelling them out of the pod.  They don't have time
to do any shriveling, wrinkling or drying.  From the pod into the dirt (or
soil or whatever).  In fact, all my pods were done this way on this years'
crop.  All but two pots are currently sitting in the fridge waiting 'til I
deem it might be time to let them outside in our always unpredictable
weather.  Those last two pots will be stowed in the fridge this weekend and
then it's wait a good while to see what kind of mess I've made of the seeds
from this year.  Of those planted green last year, those that didn't sprout
certainly hadn't rotted.  When I dug the sprouts out to plant and sifted
around, they seemed to be still solid and healthy.  Just hadn't germinated.
Maybe this fall or next spring.

But after the dismal germination last year, I'm willing to try this since I
did get more germination from the seeds planted directly upon shelling.
Speaking of the dismal germination, I took a dozen pots of pods that had NO
germination this spring after all hope was gone of seeing any further
germination - soaked them good and stowed them in the fridge.  The first
ones came out a couple of weeks ago and now all 12 pots are taking up space
on my bathroom floor in the air-conditioning.  But this week I had four new
sprouts show up - 3 in one pot and 1 in another.  I'm really not sure the
A/C is quite cool enough.  I've thrown ice around and on them once.  Four is
not many, but it does make me cautiously optimistic that the many more pots
carried over may yet have some germination in the fall or next spring.  In
other words, it seems an indication that I haven't murdered some seeds
outright somehow.

My original hope was to get some to germinate and have them big enough to
plant out this fall when those in the seedling beds are moved to more
permanent locations.  That doesn't seem likely to me now.  So having them
germinate may present some problems - like damping off (I have tried and
tried to find Terrachlor, but haven't managed here - thanks Walter for the
chemical name), getting them enough sun without cooking them, paying enough
attention while they're in pots.  They'll have to stay inside 'til the
grasshoppers let up or have 'hopper proof cages somehow.

As for those that sprouted last fall and during the winter, they did fine
for the most part.  They withstood freezes down into the mid 20s.  My rule
of thumb was to move them in if the weather was predicted to be below 28,
but the weatherman often misses that in both directions by 4-5 degrees.  At
least here.  I think the coldest they had was 22 and two seedling couldn't
take that and about half showed freeze burn on the fans.  They were not out
in the late extended cold freeze down in the lower teens, but moved in on an
unheated glass-fronted porch. I never brought them in the heated part of the
house and didn't leave them inside any longer than I could help, as that is
asking for the damping off problems.  If many of the holdovers start that
sprouting this fall, I'm going to have a space and time problem just moving
them in and out during cold spells.  A lot more carry-over pots.

>Donald Eaves, you and I must have enough farm junk scattered around to
>come up with something......

Here?  At Ma and Pa Kettle's?  Probably couldn't find the right piece.
Buried under something else most likely.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b, USA



------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Save on REALTOR Fees
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Xw80LD/h1ZEAA/Ey.GAA/2gGylB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

 

Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index