Sad Seedling Story, get your tissues

[Doug9345]

I usually don't dump them myself, I usually have one of the cats do it for me. They specialize in finding the varieties that I have no more seed for.

[zeroma]

Thanks TVers. I spent time sewing new seeds today. Not the same variety, but hey, I'm an addict, I am flexible about what I plant.

Oh, what passion we all have.

I haven't actually dumped the 50 seeds into my compost yet. But they have been off the heating pad since "IT" happened. Really need to just go and finish them off so that nothing sprouts and I don't try to save it.

I have the time to start more, no big deal.

[kath]

Sorry to hear about the mishap, Zeroma, but good for you for starting over. One year I resowed tomatoes in May after frost-kill and I still got lots of fruits! Hope you have smooth sailing from here on out!

kath

[Redbaron]

I don't see what the big deal is about not wanting to grow anything at all from the dumped tray. You can still grow them, just can't save seed from them. You don't save seeds from every tomato anyway, do you?

You can always just plant a much smaller set of labeled plants for seeds.

[Got Worms?]

Been there, done that. I'm sorry to hear that it's happened to you. At least you still have time to grow replacements, even if they're other than what you originally tried to started.

[matilda'skid]

If you haven't dumped them yet, you can tell sungold by the smell. I would grow them and be surprised when they have fruit. This kind of thing happens to me all the time because I'm a clutz.

[zeroma]

I've got babies in my 2nd tray. Happy to the point of not thinking so much about my dumped over tray. I haven't dumped them yet, but think I'll plant some Marigold seeds in the same egg cups. I may just get some tomatoes too. Marigolds don't need bottom heat and I can put them outside way earlier than the tomato seedlings which will need indoor heat/light.

The reason I wanted to just dump them into my compost is that I don't have room to just grow them and enjoy eating them. If they are willing to sprout inspite of having no bottom heat, they deserve to live I guess. They really spilled out, so I won't know until they produce some fruit what they might be. IF any sprout I'll keep them I guess.

Tomorrow I'm dropping another 50 seeds. Since I have 11 (of 50) babies that were planted 4 days ago, I figure about 50% will be sprouted tomorrow???? They can be moved under the lights. Tuesday for sure. Happy Happy Happy seeing my baby seedlings. Makes the clutzy me not sad anymore.

Thanks all for sharing your dump stories too.

matilda'skid, how do the sungold 'maters smell different from other tomatoes? I still have seed of those, only it is from 2005, which may be old. I am now planting the seed according to newest to the oldest, so that germination time evens out a little better.

[Deborah]

Great idea about the marigolds !

[Sun City Linda]

Indeed, cats love to help with our efforts. I have a 20 lb tom named Kitty who I adore but he does have a way of disrupting anything and everything. He stepped on some of my beans babies the other day, I guess he thought maybe the seed tray full of warm dirt was more appealing that the cold outdoors, or a boring kitty litter box.

[matilda'skid]

I don't think you need bottom heat for tomato seeds to come up. I have a heat mat and don't bother to use it. It takes longer for them to come up but they come up. To me sungold stinks but some like its smell. Some guy on another forum thought it smelled like bad Mexican weed but I wouldn't know.

[b54red]

Never does a season come that I don't have at least a few plants labeled ?. This year when grafting I forgot to label over a dozen so I have no idea what the scion was that went into the graft. Almost every graft that I forgot to label was successful while the rest were more like 40% successful. I will end up planting some of them and try to guess what they are if they make fruit.

[zeroma]

"Kitty" would not be very welcome in my house. Not because he is a cat, but because he would dare to think about my seed trays as a 'nice' place to do doo doo. or even look at cross-ways. Ha ha ha


I have about 20 babies in my surviving tray this AM. Last night I planned out a paper map of what I'm going to plant next. Just to be sure I have the PATRIOTIC THEMED tomato names for my Air Base garden project.

Plus the variety my daughter wants, and the ones her neighbor across the street wants and daughter's minister all up in Indiana. The ones going to IN can be later in their growing as they are about 2 weeks behind us.

The marigolds are going in today as soon as I walk the dog in a few minutes. Sad to think marigolds could even begin to replace the Sak Z...Russian ones. Hum? I wonder if you can get PTSD post trauma seedling disorder from such a mishap. LOL

[dice]

I have Sakharnyi Zheltyi seeds. I have your address, too, so I will just
mail you some. They are from 2008 or 2009. I suggest sprouting them
on a moistened coffee filter folded over inside an open sandwhich
bag in a warm place. (The germination percentage could be anywhere
from 25% to 80% or more if they are 2008 seeds. This way you are
not staring at a lot of empty cells that may never sprout.) Once you
see root tips poking out of a few of them, you can pot those up, and
leave any that have not sprouted yet in the coffee filter and baggie
for a few weeks in case they sprout, too.

I suggest dumping the all mixed up ones on top of the soil in a 1-3
gallon pot, water them, let them sprout, keep them watered, and
after last frost you can plant them in cleared spot on the ivy hill.
Let them sprawl, and they can play "wild tomato jungle" out there
all summer.

[zeroma]

Happy Dance again dice! Ty so much for the offer of Sakharnyi Zheltyi seed. Yes Yes Yes.

You won't believe it, but I have 3 sprouted seeds in my 1st Klutz tray. There was something about not waiting just a little while to give them their second chance to grow. The only down side is they will be mystery plants until they get fruit. And then, maybe still mysteries.

[zeroma]

Well, that tray of dumped over tomato seeds is doing a great job growing. I didn't have the heart to toss them. They are ready to be potted up this week. I think I have 33 germinated of the 50 seeds started. Of course I don't know which are which. So I must have some of the Sakharnyi Zheltyi seedlings. This batch just has to grow up so we know who they are.

I'll be starting the 2008 seeds from you dice this week. Thanks again for sharing.

Zeroma