Growing Wormwood From Seed

tlcmd · February 5, 2019

I wish to plant some wormwood (Artemesia absinthium) seeds in a flat. These seeds are smaller than finely ground black pepper so are too small to use a pepper shaker.

Suggestions as to how to do it. I'm reasonably sure they will float, so I could put a few of them in a small wide dish of water and put 1/4th tsp on the top of each cell in my flat (72 cell flat). But I'm hoping someone has some tried and true way to plant very tiny seeds in a seed flat.
Thanks for any suggestions.
tlcmd

bower · February 5, 2019

I would sprinkle the dry seeds on top of your moist potting mix. Even if you do get multiple plants per cell, they will take awhile get large enough to crowd each other, and when they do, separate and pot them up if you want to make the maximum number of plants.

Fine seeds in water will not disperse evenly, and they'll stick to your spoon, so more likely to lose seeds and/or to spread them unevenly if wetted first. I have ended up with wet seeds stuck to my fingers and to each other, and no way to put them where intended, no joke it's way harder to handle them wet.

mikemansker · February 5, 2019

I've heard that you can mix very fine seeds with sand to sow them more evenly. Your mileage may vary.

biscuitridge · February 5, 2019

Wormwood is an awful troublesome weed around here,hope it works out for you.

salix · February 6, 2019

What Bower said! When dealing with very fine seed, I take a tiny amount of seed and just gently rub fingertips to distribute over the potting mix. If I feel it fell in clumps, then I will stir around with something. If too crowded, just separate when potting up.

tlcmd · February 13, 2019

Wile wormwood is a "weed" n some areas; here in N.C. it is a landscape plant; using several varieties can give a lovely miix of colors. Artemesia Powis-Castel attracts ladybugs who are nature's gardeners, but is a hybrid and has to be rooted from cuttings. But grand wormwood (artemesia absinthium) is a pest deterrent and repels darned near every kind of insect, 4, 6, 8, and multilegged ones. I've never even seen a snake (not even our resident black one) in it. It keeps away deer, dogs, and almost all 4 legged critters. I keep a plant or two in a pot on our deck....no mosquitoes. I plant wormwood between my tomato plants and no insect born diseases. Prior to using it, my garden was endemic for TSWV, nne with wormwood. It deters the thrips that carry it. Wormwood after being established, prevents the germination of seeds around it like black walnut trees do. You can plant a plant in a stand of wormwood and it will do fine, but no seeds. If you forget your insect repellent in areas where there are mosquitoes and other insects, rubbing a few leaves on your exposed sin is an effective insect repellent. My wife's parsley was always being attacked by parsley worms. Moved it near the wormwood plant; no more parsley worms. Hence my using wormwood in my garden. Here it is a perennial, but last year a lot of mine were accidentally turned under by my family member tilling my garden. So I need to stat afresh.

bower · February 13, 2019

I had a few wormwood plants here for probably a decade or more before they were torn up during some construction. I knew they inhibited seeds but didn't know you could put a plant among them. Maybe need to renew that line here as thrips have become a problem! Tx for your insights.

greenthumbomaha · February 13, 2019

Sounds too good to be true. Going to have to try growing this. The first google hit was a site called Poison Plants. Yikes!

As to dust like seeds. I've seen a few you tubes that fold a small paper in half, like a gum wrapper, and gently tap the seeds out, rotate the flat 90 degrees and tap again.

- Lisa

February 5, 2019	#1
tlcmd Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Greensboro, N.C. Posts: 132	Growing Wormwood From Seed I wish to plant some wormwood (Artemesia absinthium) seeds in a flat. These seeds are smaller than finely ground black pepper so are too small to use a pepper shaker. Suggestions as to how to do it. I'm reasonably sure they will float, so I could put a few of them in a small wide dish of water and put 1/4th tsp on the top of each cell in my flat (72 cell flat). But I'm hoping someone has some tried and true way to plant very tiny seeds in a seed flat. Thanks for any suggestions. tlcmd __________________ Harmmmmmmmmmoniously, Dick "If only Longstreet had followed orders......" "Show me something more beautiful than a beautiful woman and then I'll go paint it." Alberto Vargas

February 6, 2019	#5
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	What Bower said! When dealing with very fine seed, I take a tiny amount of seed and just gently rub fingertips to distribute over the potting mix. If I feel it fell in clumps, then I will stir around with something. If too crowded, just separate when potting up. __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero

February 13, 2019	#6
tlcmd Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Greensboro, N.C. Posts: 132	Wile wormwood is a "weed" n some areas; here in N.C. it is a landscape plant; using several varieties can give a lovely miix of colors. Artemesia Powis-Castel attracts ladybugs who are nature's gardeners, but is a hybrid and has to be rooted from cuttings. But grand wormwood (artemesia absinthium) is a pest deterrent and repels darned near every kind of insect, 4, 6, 8, and multilegged ones. I've never even seen a snake (not even our resident black one) in it. It keeps away deer, dogs, and almost all 4 legged critters. I keep a plant or two in a pot on our deck....no mosquitoes. I plant wormwood between my tomato plants and no insect born diseases. Prior to using it, my garden was endemic for TSWV, nne with wormwood. It deters the thrips that carry it. Wormwood after being established, prevents the germination of seeds around it like black walnut trees do. You can plant a plant in a stand of wormwood and it will do fine, but no seeds. If you forget your insect repellent in areas where there are mosquitoes and other insects, rubbing a few leaves on your exposed sin is an effective insect repellent. My wife's parsley was always being attacked by parsley worms. Moved it near the wormwood plant; no more parsley worms. Hence my using wormwood in my garden. Here it is a perennial, but last year a lot of mine were accidentally turned under by my family member tilling my garden. So I need to stat afresh. __________________ Harmmmmmmmmmoniously, Dick "If only Longstreet had followed orders......" "Show me something more beautiful than a beautiful woman and then I'll go paint it." Alberto Vargas

February 5, 2019	#2
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	I would sprinkle the dry seeds on top of your moist potting mix. Even if you do get multiple plants per cell, they will take awhile get large enough to crowd each other, and when they do, separate and pot them up if you want to make the maximum number of plants. Fine seeds in water will not disperse evenly, and they'll stick to your spoon, so more likely to lose seeds and/or to spread them unevenly if wetted first. I have ended up with wet seeds stuck to my fingers and to each other, and no way to put them where intended, no joke it's way harder to handle them wet.

February 5, 2019	#3
mikemansker Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Branson MO Posts: 441	I've heard that you can mix very fine seeds with sand to sow them more evenly. Your mileage may vary.

February 5, 2019	#4
biscuitridge Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: washington Posts: 498	Wormwood is an awful troublesome weed around here,hope it works out for you.

February 13, 2019	#8
greenthumbomaha Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Omaha Zone 5 Posts: 2,514	Sounds too good to be true. Going to have to try growing this. The first google hit was a site called Poison Plants. Yikes! As to dust like seeds. I've seen a few you tubes that fold a small paper in half, like a gum wrapper, and gently tap the seeds out, rotate the flat 90 degrees and tap again. - Lisa