Re: Germinating seeds?
- To: propagation@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: Germinating seeds?
- From: b*@catskill.net (Isabelle Hayes)
- Date: Tue, 2 Mar 1999 16:30:26 GMT
Thanks Art, for an ingenious way to sow seeds, one that most of us, I'll
warrant, haven't heard of before. If I can find the peg board, I'll give it
a try.
Isabelle Hayes
> >In a message dated 2/23/99 9:51:16 AM Central Standard Time,
>> bhayes@catskill.net writes:
>
>> Couldn't Art put something together and post it to the List, if
>> he's got the solution for sowing the teeny million seeds of some plants,
> >like digitalis, e.g.
>
>So - this is the note I had referred to earlier, which was prepared for
>another purpose but which is repeated here verbatim:
>
>I often read comments from gardeners complaining that, when planting seeds
>for germination indoors, they end up with a "forest" of seedlings in one
>spot and bare soil in the rest of the container.
>
>There is an easy and inexpensive solution to this problem, which I have
>used successfully for years. All of my seedlings come up an inch apart, in
>neat rows.
>
>Cut a piece of 1/8" thick Pegboard [ (R) who knows? ] to approx. 10" x
>12". It "must" be the thin, 1/8" Pegboard, not the heavy-duty, 1/4" type,
>and must have one side that is smooth and hard.
>
>Place this "planting/spacing guide" over the top of the seed flat or pot
>you are using. I use small flats about 6" by 9" made out of fibre
>composition board, but the kind of flat doesn't matter - only that you
>leave the surface of the planting medium about 1/2" below the top of the
>flat or pot, so that the Pegboard does not come in contact with the
>planting medium.
>
>Pour the seeds carefully onto the surface of the Pegboard. A few will fall
>through the holes, but Hey!, that's what you have in mind, isn't it?
>
>Then slide the seeds, one by one, into successive holes in the Pegboard.
>The holes are 1" apart (or, technically, 1 inch "on center"). Remove the
>Pegboard, and cover the seeds, or not, according to the instructions you're
>following.
>
>Voila! Your seedlings will come up like rows of corn in Iowa.
>
>You will soon learn little refinements in technique. For example, for
>really tiny seeds, it is helpful if you have a source of light beyond the
>Pegboard and you can sit low enough that the surface is more or less at eye
>level.
>
>Visibility might be improved by painting the Pegboard white - with glossy,
>OIL-BASED paint. (Or, at a kitchen supply store, you might find a small
>accessory board already finished in white) The Pegboard I've used for
>more than 10 years, however, is still natural Pegboard color.
>
>Art Phinney, Fairfax, VA
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