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#511 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 692
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I am using DE for the first time. I put 6 Big Beef seeds in a 3 inch pot of DE, 5 have sprouted.
Sounds good? Except each and every one has the seed case stuck to it's top. "Helmet head' as someone else described it. I am loath to touch them, as they are so fragile at this point. Is this just my problem, or is it a general problem with DE? Any suggestions on what to do? |
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#512 | ||||
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,466
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I wish I could get my onion plants outside, they're taking over the place and I need room for other things under the lights. It's 35°F right now and the high is suppose to be 41°F today. It's been a cold March, I've only had them outside 2 days all month when temps got into the 50's and 60's. Quote:
No, haven't done it with veggie yet. I've normally used coffee filters when I do pre-sprouting or germination testing. With using paper I get mold growth sometimes on the paper and any dead seed, I tried some old marigold seed in the DE too a few weeks ago, they were all dead and I forgot about them until yesterday. There was some mold growth on a few of the dead seed, but no mold on the DE. |
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#513 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,466
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#514 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Tulsa, OK
Posts: 105
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#515 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,466
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#516 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: Tulsa, OK
Posts: 105
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#517 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Parma, OH
Posts: 147
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#518 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
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Ray it sounds like it is warm enough for onions to go outside. I have never lost onions to freezing but I do live in a much warmer area. I don't know how cold it has to get to bother onions but it hasn't gotten that cold in years down here. I usually transplant mine into the garden in late December and January.
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#519 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Zone 5B Illinois
Posts: 402
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Okay, i thought that i would try this. Sorry to say that i am very disappointed...DE on the right.
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Andrea |
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#520 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,466
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#521 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,919
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I just up-potted about 42 pepper and eggplant seedlings from DE to potting mix. The seedlings all had amazingly huge root systems in comparison to the top growth. And after just one day on potting mix, they all have very visible new growth. Usually I find growth stalls for a few days after transplanting, but not this time around.
My take away from reading all the info here and trying it myself is that DE is fantastic for seed starting and root development at the beginning stages, but as I believe others have mentioned, the seedlings should be moved to potting mix early on. I usually leave the tomato seedlings in their starter pots until the middle of April, so I'm anxious to see what kind of root systems they have in a couple of weeks. |
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#522 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: dayton ohio
Posts: 19
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I planted these march 15th using nc tomatoman's dense method using metro mix 360. Tomorrow I'm potting these little babies into 3 inch pots. I was going to try the DE. but to many folks had concerns about the results.. I'm happy with the results I getting from the metro mix
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#523 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,919
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Oh yeah, one other observation -- last year I had quite a few tomato seedling that never shed their seed coat. I was able to coax a few off, but there were many I lost in my attempt to free the leaves. So far this year I have about 55 successfully germinated tomato seedlings, and not a single helmet head in the bunch!
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#524 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Cheektowaga, NY
Posts: 2,466
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Growing seedlings in a soilless media is going to require fertilization. Expecting a plant to put on healthy root growth and vegetative growth without nutrients is expecting what's impossible. The seed contains all the nutrients the seedling needs from germination until true leaves form, after that the little roots are looking for food.
Off the shelf seed starting mixes and potting soils come in two forms. Straight soilless peat or coir mixes do not have any significant amounts of nutrients and will require the grower to supply fertilization. DE also fits in to this category. Other mixes contain a small starter synthetic nutrient charge (like Fafard and Metromix which have been mentioned on this thread) with an emphasis on Nitrogen, the starter nutrients can sustain a seedling for a few weeks. Organic mixes (like Fox Farms) contain organic nutrients sources and microbes to mineralize the nutrients into plant available forms. Some of us have already explained our fertilization regimen in DE. What are you other folks using, organic or synthetic? When do you start? What have you found that works or doesn't work for you? |
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#525 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 7,068
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Now that I have had time to try the DE with just about everything starting last fall, I have learned a few lessons from my experimenting.
Germination rates are much higher with the DE and much faster with most seeds using the DE. Growth after sprouting with DE is considerably slower after a few days than with other seed starters I have used. So I now start giving them a dilute fertilizer drink every few days soon after they sprout and the results have been fantastic. Since I use very small containers for seed starting (egg cartons) with most seeds the necessity to pot up sooner became obvious. After a few weeks even with fertilizing I can tell the plants need potting up. If left in the DE too long some seedlings deteriorate noticeably more than in regular seed starting mixes. Root system growth is phenomenal with the DE which makes potting up much easier and more successful. Best of all the DE has virtually eliminated damping off in my seed starting process and that was the main reason for me trying it in the first place. ![]() Bottom watering is by far the most effective when using DE; but it can be more time consuming especially if you are using larger containers. Be very careful when handling any container in which the DE has dried out as the least little bump can send the DE flying out. It is much easier to separate plants if the DE is on the dry side. I couldn't believe how easy it was to separate my onion seedlings while keeping the roots intact. If you allow a container to dry out too much plants suffer more in the DE than peat based mediums. I thought it would be far less likely to get algae on the surface but that doesn't seem to be the case for me. Once it gets algae on the surface it is far more difficult to tell if it needs watering. Bill |
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