How To Make Seed Tapes

John3 · April 14, 2012

How To Make Seed Tapes
Each video shows something different than the others. One thing is that some are using flour and some elmers glue (not sure about this).

Just a note about this video - He starts out slow but about half way he shows and item he made to help with making seed tapes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OatvyszYBO0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w6JoJH4FPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9k5b1HU1B0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXjjtkSHkgw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf-OCyLJz1k

Rockporter · April 15, 2012

Great videos, I couldn't get through the first one though, it was far to slow for me, lol. Thanks for posting.

John3 · April 15, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockporter

Great videos, I couldn't get through the first one though, it was far to slow for me, lol. Thanks for posting.

Thanks. About half way he shows how he made a suction line to pick little seeds up.

salix · April 15, 2012

Haven't been able to see these either (yet) - but wanted to let you know I have had great success with making "seed sheets" rather than "tapes" for carrot seed. Just use white tissue paper and a flour/water paste. I found that a Q-tip worked well to apply a very small dot of paste in a pattern of 2 inch centres, then a pair of tweezers for the carrot seed. A couple of hours of comfortable working at the table sure beats breaking my back thinning in the hot sun and mosquitoes! Can plant 972 carrots in a 3' x 9' area in jig time, and that is sufficient for our needs.

John3 · April 15, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by salix

Haven't been able to see these either (yet) - but wanted to let you know I have had great success with making "seed sheets" rather than "tapes" for carrot seed. Just use white tissue paper and a flour/water paste. I found that a Q-tip worked well to apply a very small dot of paste in a pattern of 2 inch centres, then a pair of tweezers for the carrot seed. A couple of hours of comfortable working at the table sure beats breaking my back thinning in the hot sun and mosquitoes! Can plant 972 carrots in a 3' x 9' area in jig time, and that is sufficient for our needs.

Thanks for the tips

One of the five shows how to make square foot gardening squares sheets.

raindrops27 · April 15, 2012

salix sounds divine, I will do this when I plant out my carrots. Thanks!

John3 · April 15, 2012

The embed to videos should be fixed now

salix · April 15, 2012

Thank you John for the time you take to post these helpful videos and also the other very interesting sites such as the Victory Garden posters etc.

Something I forgot to mention, these seed tapes/sheets may cost a little time, but probably save a good deal of seed/money.

janezee · April 16, 2012

Thanks, John! Really cool. I'll be back to watch them all. Dinner calls!

Salix, I love it! I never could see myself doing this with toilet paper. But tissue paper is brilliant!

And even since I was 9 years old, I could never figure out why people wasted so many seeds by planting them all out and thinning. I never thin anything but beets. I plant the number of seeds that will grow in a square foot, and stick a replacement seed in after 2 weeks or less, depending on the variety and maturity. I don't grow radishes. Everything else pretty much catches up because of the added warmth of the soil and sun.
I figure I have enough broccoli, cauliflower, gai lan, cabbage, carrot, and too many other to name seeds for years and years.

j

janezee · April 16, 2012

Something I forgot to mention.

I have a sewing grid, marked off in 1 inch squares. So if I laid the tissue paper on the grid, I could see through it to place the dabs of glue! Nice.

salix · April 16, 2012

Jane, that was my first idea, but I didn't want to mess up my quilting stuff, so I made my own grid using a felt pen to make dots on a sheet of heavy paper. Figure it will last me the rest of my gardening days.

By the way, I start my beets in a pot, then separate them and pot on - Voila, no thinning them, either! I think Craig L. also does this with his beets. This year I am starting a few rutabagas inside as well, just for the halibut.

Meant to add for others; after prepping the seed bed, I lay the sheet down, it doesn't seem to matter if it is seeds up or seeds down, and then cover with a thin layer of germinating mix or other finely textured soil/compost mix. I remember the very first time I did this it was a very windy day and I was delighted to find that the seeds stuck firmly even though the tissue paper was flapping madly about. Water thoroughly, then cover the bed with Reemay or other floating row cover. Ensure the bed does not dry out until the seeds have germinated. We then raise the Reemay on hoops to prevent carrot rust fly damage.

halleone · April 16, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by salix

Haven't been able to see these either (yet) - but wanted to let you know I have had great success with making "seed sheets" rather than "tapes" for carrot seed. Just use white tissue paper and a flour/water paste. I found that a Q-tip worked well to apply a very small dot of paste in a pattern of 2 inch centres, then a pair of tweezers for the carrot seed. A couple of hours of comfortable working at the table sure beats breaking my back thinning in the hot sun and mosquitoes! Can plant 972 carrots in a 3' x 9' area in jig time, and that is sufficient for our needs.

Holy moly, what a great idea! Unfortunately, I planted several things yesterday without seeing this first, but I can't wait to give it a try for those expensive kohlrabi seeds that still need to go in!

janezee · April 16, 2012

Salix: Starting some beets today, thanks. Why not?

halleone: Where in Washington are you? It hit 60º on the island Saturday, 55º yesterday. Great gardening weather.

halleone · April 17, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by janezee

Salix: Starting some beets today, thanks. Why not?

halleone: Where in Washington are you? It hit 60º on the island Saturday, 55º yesterday. Great gardening weather.

Walla Walla; good weather for one day, now back to the rain and wind; it's OK with us if you keep it on your side of the hill......

nicky · April 17, 2012

I did the cornstarch & water glue with strips for carrots last year - worked out perfectly.

April 14, 2012	#1
John3 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Alabama 7.5 or 8 depends on who you ask Posts: 727	How To Make Seed Tapes How To Make Seed Tapes Each video shows something different than the others. One thing is that some are using flour and some elmers glue (not sure about this). Just a note about this video - He starts out slow but about half way he shows and item he made to help with making seed tapes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OatvyszYBO0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w6JoJH4FPo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9k5b1HU1B0 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXjjtkSHkgw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf-OCyLJz1k Last edited by John3; April 15, 2012 at 12:06 PM.

April 15, 2012	#2
Rockporter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Texas Coastal Bend Posts: 3,205	Great videos, I couldn't get through the first one though, it was far to slow for me, lol. Thanks for posting. __________________ In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~

April 16, 2012	#11
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	Jane, that was my first idea, but I didn't want to mess up my quilting stuff, so I made my own grid using a felt pen to make dots on a sheet of heavy paper. Figure it will last me the rest of my gardening days. By the way, I start my beets in a pot, then separate them and pot on - Voila, no thinning them, either! I think Craig L. also does this with his beets. This year I am starting a few rutabagas inside as well, just for the halibut. Meant to add for others; after prepping the seed bed, I lay the sheet down, it doesn't seem to matter if it is seeds up or seeds down, and then cover with a thin layer of germinating mix or other finely textured soil/compost mix. I remember the very first time I did this it was a very windy day and I was delighted to find that the seeds stuck firmly even though the tissue paper was flapping madly about. Water thoroughly, then cover the bed with Reemay or other floating row cover. Ensure the bed does not dry out until the seeds have germinated. We then raise the Reemay on hoops to prevent carrot rust fly damage. Last edited by salix; April 16, 2012 at 05:23 AM. Reason: added information

April 15, 2012	#6
raindrops27 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: long island Posts: 327	salix sounds divine, I will do this when I plant out my carrots. Thanks!

April 16, 2012	#9
janezee Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Whidbey Island, WA Zone 7, Sunset 5 Posts: 931	Thanks, John! Really cool. I'll be back to watch them all. Dinner calls! Salix, I love it! I never could see myself doing this with toilet paper. But tissue paper is brilliant! And even since I was 9 years old, I could never figure out why people wasted so many seeds by planting them all out and thinning. I never thin anything but beets. I plant the number of seeds that will grow in a square foot, and stick a replacement seed in after 2 weeks or less, depending on the variety and maturity. I don't grow radishes. Everything else pretty much catches up because of the added warmth of the soil and sun. I figure I have enough broccoli, cauliflower, gai lan, cabbage, carrot, and too many other to name seeds for years and years. j

April 17, 2012	#15
nicky Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Ontario Posts: 600	I did the cornstarch & water glue with strips for carrots last year - worked out perfectly.