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Post by Nucleus on Feb 24, 2018 11:38:27 GMT
Hi folks, I'm a new gardener, most of my adult life I lived in flats and last year moved into a bungalow with nice small front and back gardens. Tidied those up nicely, my sons laid a nice lawn for me etc. I developed an interest in growing plants, germinating from seed, and it is that I have a few questions about. Apologies if it's a lengthy post, but again, I'm a newbie with a few questions. I bought an electric propagator (Garland Super 7) to start the seeds off and made myself a small lighting rig, last year I successfully germinated and grew some Coleus and Winter Pansies. The few Coleus I saved for myself are wintering indoors and doing fine, the Pansies are doing fine in pots outside. This year (last week Jan/first two weeks Feb) I have sown various Petunias, Lobelia, Busy Lizzies and a few Geraniums. All are doing well and now off heat under a lighting rig. Can I throw a list of questions at those of you experienced in this stuff? - Petunias, Lobelia, Busy Lizzies – At what size (height) should they be thinned out into individual cells? I thinned Busy Lizzies but think I may have done so too early, although they're doing okay now.
- Pinching the top two leaves? I've read about this to get a fuller adult plant, again at what size/height do you start doing this to the aforementioned Petunias and Busy Lizzies? Do you also pinch Geraniums?
- Lobelia, I can’t help but have the feeling that the seedlings may need the scissors taking to them and chopping back. I'm confused how to thin Lobelia (into small clumps) what is a small clump? I sowed a pack of 500 seeds into three 6x3 inch trays, now mostly full and about 1.5 inches high. Again, what constitutes a small clump of Lobelia when thinning?
- I understand that seedlings and young plants can't be moved outside until after last frost April/May, but at what stage can seedlings/young plants be put in an outdoor greenhouse (the zip up polythene type). The same April/May or earlier and zipped up?
- Are Geranium seedlings particulalrly prone to transplant shock? I thinned a few and for the first day or two they became floppy and lifeless although now they are fine, I clipped a few dead looking stems off.
- I want to try and germinate/grow some Fuschia from seed. Are there any special guidelines to follow, do they need boiled and cooled water?
- A green moss on the surface of the compost in seedling trays is caused by over watering? I tried to do some begonias from seed and this happened, only about three of them peaked through after a month, but with a heavy coating of green moss on the compost surface. I binned them.
Attached image (click for bigger). Top shelf, Busy Lizzies now thinned into individual cells. A few Geraniums now potted on. Middle shelf, various Petunia. Bottom shelf, Lobelia.
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Post by Cherry on Feb 24, 2018 12:19:31 GMT
What an interesting and complicated post Nucleus. I know some of the answers but my cold has given me a short thinking span. I love growing from seed. Your questions will probably be split up because we have experts in various plants. You already know that observation is a good teacher. I like your setup. |
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Post by Nucleus on Feb 24, 2018 12:33:45 GMT
TY Cherry. How do I enable e-mail notification of a reply to the thread?
I've looked in Profile/Notifications but see no options there?
Edit: Sorry. I have Participated (a thread you have participated in is updated) set to Instant E-Mail. See what happens now.
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Post by roofgardener on Feb 24, 2018 16:40:51 GMT
TY Cherry. How do I enable e-mail notification of a reply to the thread? I've looked in Profile/Notifications but see no options there? Edit: Sorry. I have Participated (a thread you have participated in is updated) set to Instant E-Mail. See what happens now. Soooo..... this post should trigger an email ? Excellent ! Your growing shelves are VERY sophisticated, Nucleus. If you get an answer to the moss thingy, then I'll be glad to read it, as this seems to bedevil my Polytunnel. On the other hand... at the moment .. my polytunnel leaks like a sieve, and is continuously damp, so I suspect that may indeed be the factor you where looking for ? We shall see  |
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Post by Nucleus on Feb 24, 2018 19:34:13 GMT
No - e-mail notifications not working!  I didn't get notification of roofgardener's post but it is enabled in my preferences? Any idea why, it makes using the forum that bit more awkward. |
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Post by grindle on Feb 25, 2018 8:23:38 GMT
hello Nucleus and welcome I'm not one that can help, I grow mostly perennials from seed. I love your grow lights so much easier than having to keep turning them. |
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Post by Nucleus on Feb 25, 2018 8:27:20 GMT
hello Nucleus and welcome I'm not one that can help, I grow mostly perennials from seed. I love your grow lights so much easier than having to keep turning them. The grow lights are 18w T5 fluorescent under cabinet fittings I got off eBay for £9 each. Two per shelf. The unit is just an old furniture cabinet I was gonna sling out, I just painted the shelving part white to reflect as much light as possible. btw: I got e-mail notification of grindle's post. |
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Post by roofgardener on Feb 25, 2018 8:59:59 GMT
hello Nucleus and welcome I'm not one that can help, I grow mostly perennials from seed. I love your grow lights so much easier than having to keep turning them. The grow lights are 18w T5 fluorescent under cabinet fittings I got off eBay for £9 each. Two per shelf. The unit is just an old furniture cabinet I was gonna sling out, I just painted the shelving part white to reflect as much light as possible. btw: I got e-mail notification of grindle's post. This is most curious Nucleus ;I also got notification of Grindle's post... but not of yours ?  I wonder if you have to do a minimum number of posts before the feature is activated ? Hopefully Steve - or one of the other Wise Owls - will post with an answer ? I'm impressed with the work you did on your growing cabinet. What is it about gardening that turns people into DIY fiends ?  As for your questions... I have no idea. I've only been gardening for about 5 years, starting off with a chili plant on a windowsill that my Sister game me. (the plant that is, not the windowsill). My scientific approach consists of: 1) Stick it in a pot. 2) Add some soil and water, and 3) Beat it with a stick. If it doesn't germinate or grow properly.... 4) Use A Bigger Stick. A number of people on this forum are highly wise in the more advanced techniques, but others - like myself - adopt the policy of "just grow it and see what happens". In the case of Geraniums, I've rarely had much success. And my attempts with Begonias have been a total failure. (I managed to grow two in the end, but they never produced any flowers. Mind you.. they're still alive, so perhaps they'll do something THIS year ? ) |
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Post by SueA on Feb 25, 2018 9:04:42 GMT
Hi Nucleus & welcome to the forum, glad the notification is working for you now. Your seedlings all look like they're doing really well, I think the green algae/moss may just be that you sowed quite early & the compost was a bit too damp & cold, you'll get 'damping off' of the seedlings sometimes when that happens especially if they're crowded together & wet, I think lobelias & geraniums are prone to damping off as are a lot of the very tiny seed seedlings. As to 'how big is a clump' I think that can be a matter of opinion but I'd say with lobelias anything from 6-12 maybe & as for pinching out the tops it depends on the actual variety of seedling as well but with most I'd wait until they have a few sets of true leaves & if you're growing anything which will be a 'trailer' you don't want to pinch them out too much or you'll end up with a short multi-flowered clump instead of a trailer. I don't grow that many flowers from seed now especially the tiny seeds as I only have a windowsill propagator & no heated greenhouse, I wouldn't put your seedlings out in your mini greenhouse until they're quite strong & the weather warms up around April /May as you say, it will be handy for hardening them off though as you can unzip it during the day & close at night. Good luck with your growing, you've got a lovely little set-up there. |
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Post by SueA on Feb 25, 2018 9:08:12 GMT
That's strange about the notifications roofgardener , I would have thought if you've got it set to 'instant' then you would get each post straight away, no idea why it's being selective & notifying of some & not others. |
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Post by roofgardener on Feb 25, 2018 9:10:52 GMT
Thanks SueA Nucleus - whereabouts is your light/heat cabinet ? Do you have some sort of garden shed, greenhouse or polytunnel ? |
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Post by SueA on Feb 25, 2018 9:22:01 GMT
I was just thinking Nucleus if you've sown 500 lobelia seeds then maybe clumps of 6-12 is being a bit optimistic, you'd need lots of space, you can get away with a few more in a clump as they are tiny seedlings & you want nice clumps of flowers. |
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Post by Nucleus on Feb 25, 2018 9:38:57 GMT
Thanks SueA Nucleus - whereabouts is your light/heat cabinet ? Do you have some sort of garden shed, greenhouse or polytunnel ? Grow rack/cabinet is in a very large storage cupboard (junk hole) indoors, central heating boiler is in there, one of my grandsons bikes, some shelves, brooms and various junk, you know the type of thing. I just shuffled things around to make room for the old unit. Last year when I developed this interest I bought one of those cheapo zip up polythene mini greenhouses, about 5 feet tall, 4 shelves which served me well (once secured well enough to stop it getting blown over  ) and will obviously come into a lot of use this year. SueA - thank you for your answer, it's very helpful. I'm sure you'll appreciate that as with any interest, there's a lot of info to absorb and try to remember, naturally I've Googled around but it's a minefield of info and sometimes contradictory, so asking those in the know seemed liked the sensible approach. Cheers. I was just thinking Nucleus if you've sown 500 lobelia seeds then maybe clumps of 6-12 is being a bit optimistic, you'd need lots of space, you can get away with a few more in a clump as they are tiny seedlings & you want nice clumps of flowers. Will do, that makes sense. |
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Post by roofgardener on Feb 25, 2018 11:02:01 GMT
Thanks SueA Nucleus - whereabouts is your light/heat cabinet ? Do you have some sort of garden shed, greenhouse or polytunnel ? The cheapo PVC greenhouses ARE great, Nucleus. One of those was my "second stage", when the chili plants started blocking the sunlight out. (and the weather outside had improved). I found them a bit fiddly to water plants on the top shelf...the lintel blocks the watering can spout.... but I think I've found a potential solution to that. One of those large-ish "pump up" water sprayer thingies.  My idea is NOT to pump it vigorously, so that it becomes a fire hose, but just partially pressurise it, and use the "wand" to gently spray the top row of plants. (it being slender enough to sneak under the lintel) (previously, with SueA 's assistance as advisor, I created the "Flower Shower".. a tall 5-shelf unit with a funnel poking through the roof to capture rain, linked to a water distribution thingy and lots of hosepipes going to individual shelves. Unfortunately the funnel fell off and it burnt down) Well, we shall see |
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Post by steve on Feb 25, 2018 11:13:05 GMT
What I do with Lobelia seedlings is scoop a clump out without bothering to count say about a square centimeter if they are very compact and either transfer to another pot or even to a hanging basket kept in the greenhouse until they are able to go outside, I also find the old variety Crystal palace is much better in baskets and containers than the trailing varieties we are supposed to use they have much more flowers and do eventually trail anyway whereas the trailing varieties have a flower now and again along the elongated stems and tend to look a bit bare.
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I didn't get notification of roofgardener's post but it is enabled in my preferences?
) and will obviously come into a lot of use this year.
