Houston Progress

feldon30 · February 21, 2007

After 2 months of the coldest weather in my 10 year memory of living here, it's finally Springtime! I can hear the grumbling and muttered curses from New York and Massachusetts already.

It was 70 and sunny today and temps are expected to stay above 48 for the foreseeable future. I've begun hardening off my plants and taking a good inventory of what I've got ready to go in the ground as early as the middle of next week.

Anyone who has been bored enough to check out my Photo Gallery knows that my seedlings are getting quite bushy, at least some of them. I diligently started 4 seeds of each variety (2 per cell) on December 26th and I patiently waited. And waited. And worried. And then panicked. The homemade potting soil I mixed up was either too coarse (I did not crumble or sift the peat moss) or had some residual fungus in it. I got many headless seedlings and the few that did open up failed to thrive.

Due to some fantastic advice here on T'V, I potted the 12 strongest looking seedlings (which barely had true leaves) into pure seed starting mix watered with a light dose of fish emulsion. They took to it like a duck to water and those brave early birds are now 10-14" tall and ready to go in the ground. Note that it was very spotty which varieties came up and which didn't. If I had stuck with just that first batch, I'd only be growing a dozen varieties this year.

The "panic" batch that I planted on January 17th are looking reasonably good but, of course, a month behind. Interestingly, all 4 oxhearts are all looking sickly, with crisping and curling of the leaves and general slow growth. I'm not going to pull the trigger and said "CRUD!" until it is positively identified by someone who knows more than me, but it does seem possible since it's all oxhearts that are looking pitiful.

Anyway, it looks like I will be double-planting a few vars.

Notables from the Dec 26th batch:
Sungold x 3 (no surprise there)
Brandy Boy x 3 (ditto)
Red Penna x 3
Tidwell German x 2
Cherokee Green x 3

At the other end of the spectrum, my Silvery Fir Tree, Jet Star, Orange Russian #117, Cherokee Purple, Kimberly, and others are all disturbingly small. The SFT looks much younger than it is -- nothing like the healthy seedling I got out of it last fall. I'm not sure how I ended up with two puny-looking Cherokee Purple plants.

The best laid plans of mice and men.

February 21, 2007	#1
feldon30 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 5,346	Houston Progress After 2 months of the coldest weather in my 10 year memory of living here, it's finally Springtime! I can hear the grumbling and muttered curses from New York and Massachusetts already. It was 70 and sunny today and temps are expected to stay above 48 for the foreseeable future. I've begun hardening off my plants and taking a good inventory of what I've got ready to go in the ground as early as the middle of next week. Anyone who has been bored enough to check out my Photo Gallery knows that my seedlings are getting quite bushy, at least some of them. I diligently started 4 seeds of each variety (2 per cell) on December 26th and I patiently waited. And waited. And worried. And then panicked. The homemade potting soil I mixed up was either too coarse (I did not crumble or sift the peat moss) or had some residual fungus in it. I got many headless seedlings and the few that did open up failed to thrive. Due to some fantastic advice here on T'V, I potted the 12 strongest looking seedlings (which barely had true leaves) into pure seed starting mix watered with a light dose of fish emulsion. They took to it like a duck to water and those brave early birds are now 10-14" tall and ready to go in the ground. Note that it was very spotty which varieties came up and which didn't. If I had stuck with just that first batch, I'd only be growing a dozen varieties this year. The "panic" batch that I planted on January 17th are looking reasonably good but, of course, a month behind. Interestingly, all 4 oxhearts are all looking sickly, with crisping and curling of the leaves and general slow growth. I'm not going to pull the trigger and said "CRUD!" until it is positively identified by someone who knows more than me, but it does seem possible since it's all oxhearts that are looking pitiful. Anyway, it looks like I will be double-planting a few vars. Notables from the Dec 26th batch: Sungold x 3 (no surprise there) Brandy Boy x 3 (ditto) Red Penna x 3 Tidwell German x 2 Cherokee Green x 3 At the other end of the spectrum, my Silvery Fir Tree, Jet Star, Orange Russian #117, Cherokee Purple, Kimberly, and others are all disturbingly small. The SFT looks much younger than it is -- nothing like the healthy seedling I got out of it last fall. I'm not sure how I ended up with two puny-looking Cherokee Purple plants. The best laid plans of mice and men.