Effective germination of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant - critical parameters - Page 4

Hotwired · December 8, 2012

I love Metro Mix 360. That's all we used when I worked at a commercial greenhouse. I have to admit that there were occasional twigs, but not bad. The local Nursery changed potting mix, so I just got 2-1/2 pallets of 3.8 cu.ft. bags of Metro Mix 360 donated for our "Gardens for Low Income Families" project. Cornell is picking it up for our program. I still have 3 bags in my shed left over from last year.

FILMNET · December 10, 2012

I wish they would sell here in North East

Greenthumbroy · January 12, 2013

Thank you for your step by step info on starting seeds. This year will be my first time in over 25 years of veggie gardening that I am planting my entire garden from seed. I have only done this with Armenia Cucumbers before succssfully. I will be planting Pomodoro Tomato seeds both slicing and plum type for canning. As I progress, I will post my journey if you feel it will be of benefit to the Tomatoville Forum.

Greenthumbroy

Redbaron · January 12, 2013

http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=437

kilroyscarnival · January 12, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by Greenthumbroy

As I progress, I will post my journey if you feel it will be of benefit to the Tomatoville Forum.

Cool. Best of luck!

zeroma · January 13, 2013

Good gardening Greenthumbroy! This is the best learning and sharing place in all of the world wide web me thinks.

Check out the thread about growing in DE as well. That is the way I'm going to go this year. Just because there is so much information and support about the method.

Greenthumbroy · January 15, 2013

Since I don't know my around the site, I hope its alright to post right here. The first step in showing my journey planting my garden this year from seed is to show how it looks in a before picture. My before picture is my avatar. Once I learn how to upload photos, I will be able to show my progress.
There are some more raised beds behind the orange tree also. Everything is irrigated by drip, timer, and fertilized by a pot feeder. All the main lines are underground. I also use shutoff valves on the raised beds.

Fusion_power · February 2, 2013

I'd like to invite everyone to read through the seed starting info on my website.

http://www.selectedplants.com/seedlings.htm

I would also like to emphasize two critical points about growing seedlings.
1. Always start with sterile seed start mix.
2. Always cover the planted seed with a sheet of plastic or a bag or a plastic cover to prevent evaporative cooling.

One of the little "GOTCHA'S" addressed by Craig's method is that he covers the trays with saran wrap. This does two things. It keeps the moisture where it is needed next to the seed and it prevents evaporative cooling. If you do not cover your seed after they are planted, the soil surface can easily be 15 degrees cooler than the ambient temperature. This can take your 72 degree home temperature all the way down to 58 degrees which can be the death knell for tomato seed.

DarJones

Redbaron · February 2, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fusion_power

I'd like to invite everyone to read through the seed starting info on my website.

http://www.selectedplants.com/seedlings.htm

I would also like to emphasize two critical points about growing seedlings.
1. Always start with sterile seed start mix.
2. Always cover the planted seed with a sheet of plastic or a bag or a plastic cover to prevent evaporative cooling.

One of the little "GOTCHA'S" in Craig's method is that he covers the trays with saran wrap. This does two things. It keeps the moisture where it is needed next to the seed and it prevents evaporative cooling. If you do not cover your seed after they are planted, the soil surface can easily be 15 degrees cooler than the ambient temperature. This can take your 72 degree home temperature all the way down to 58 degrees which can be the death knell for tomato seed.

DarJones

I like that link Dar. LOTS of things in there that I always did because I knew they worked, but I wasn't sure really why they worked. Now I know the method behind my madness!

Rockporter · February 2, 2013

Thank you to both Craig and Dar for this great information, I will use it wisely.

tnkrer · June 6, 2013

I was using this method to grow from seed and had one question. When you keep the flat in the window with saran wrap cover, the temperatures inside the plastic would go quite high when sun comes in through the window. Are we supposed to keep it where sun is not coming? or open up the plastic during "sunny" time?

Salsacharley · June 6, 2013

Quote: "Once again this year I am getting great germination, healthy seedlings and no damping off at all - and probably have 6000 or so babies growing. I am going to try to point out what I think are the specific success factors."

6000? Yowzers! How many transplants do you make and how long does it take?

This is my 2nd year of serious effort in growing more tomatoes. I sowed 180 Jiffy plugs with 2 or 3 seeds each of 95 varieties, and I got an insane germination percent just in the Jiffy planter trays. It must have been about 98%. I ended up with 260 viable plants after transplanting, and after my embarrassing damp off attack. My big mistake was in transplanting where I separated the seedlings from 2 or 3 per plug into their own 4" pots. I used a Mel's Mix formula in the pots that included steer manure to which I attribute my damp off problem.

The plants did well for the first couple of weeks but then started damping off.
I salvaged many of them by cutting the plants off right above the damp off and re-potting them deep in clean potting mix. This did retard their growth compared to the other plants, but they are doing well now that they are in the ground.

I wish I would have found this thread about 5 months ago.

Thanks for the great info.

**nctomatoman** · June 7, 2013

I end up with a total of 5000-6000 transplants when all is said and done - I am up to about 200 transplants from dense planting into 3.5 inch pots per hour.

Salsacharley · June 7, 2013

Quote:

Originally Posted by nctomatoman

I end up with a total of 5000-6000 transplants when all is said and done - I am up to about 200 transplants from dense planting into 3.5 inch pots per hour.

That is amazing. That is better than one plant transplanted per 20 seconds.

Do you sell your plants, or grow your tomatoes commercially? How many varieties do you have in that 5 - 6K mix?

Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks,

Charley

DonB5750 · April 9, 2014

Using Epsoma Seed-starting mix here with 24 different heirlooms. Seem to be germinating ok and are out in pots under lights.....except for Mortgage Lifters. Not sure what's up with those. Re-seeded twice now over three week period. Used seeds from two different sources.

January 12, 2013	#48
Greenthumbroy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Fresno CA USDA Zone 9B Posts: 20	propagation help Thank you for your step by step info on starting seeds. This year will be my first time in over 25 years of veggie gardening that I am planting my entire garden from seed. I have only done this with Armenia Cucumbers before succssfully. I will be planting Pomodoro Tomato seeds both slicing and plum type for canning. As I progress, I will post my journey if you feel it will be of benefit to the Tomatoville Forum. Greenthumbroy

January 12, 2013	#49
Redbaron Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Oklahoma Posts: 4,488	http://tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=437 __________________ Scott AKA The Redbaron "Permaculture is a philosophy of working with, rather than against nature; of protracted & thoughtful observation rather than protracted & thoughtless labour; & of looking at plants & animals in all their functions, rather than treating any area as a single-product system." Bill Mollison co-founder of permaculture

January 15, 2013	#52
Greenthumbroy Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Fresno CA USDA Zone 9B Posts: 20	Since I don't know my around the site, I hope its alright to post right here. The first step in showing my journey planting my garden this year from seed is to show how it looks in a before picture. My before picture is my avatar. Once I learn how to upload photos, I will be able to show my progress. There are some more raised beds behind the orange tree also. Everything is irrigated by drip, timer, and fertilized by a pot feeder. All the main lines are underground. I also use shutoff valves on the raised beds. Last edited by Greenthumbroy; January 17, 2013 at 12:12 AM. Reason: additional info

February 2, 2013	#53
Fusion_power Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,250	I'd like to invite everyone to read through the seed starting info on my website. http://www.selectedplants.com/seedlings.htm I would also like to emphasize two critical points about growing seedlings. 1. Always start with sterile seed start mix. 2. Always cover the planted seed with a sheet of plastic or a bag or a plastic cover to prevent evaporative cooling. One of the little "GOTCHA'S" addressed by Craig's method is that he covers the trays with saran wrap. This does two things. It keeps the moisture where it is needed next to the seed and it prevents evaporative cooling. If you do not cover your seed after they are planted, the soil surface can easily be 15 degrees cooler than the ambient temperature. This can take your 72 degree home temperature all the way down to 58 degrees which can be the death knell for tomato seed. DarJones Last edited by Fusion_power; February 2, 2013 at 10:32 PM.

February 2, 2013	#55
Rockporter Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Texas Coastal Bend Posts: 3,205	Thank you to both Craig and Dar for this great information, I will use it wisely. __________________ In the spring at the end of the day you should smell like dirt ~Margaret Atwood~

December 8, 2012	#46
Hotwired Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Ithaca, NY - USDA 5b Posts: 241	I love Metro Mix 360. That's all we used when I worked at a commercial greenhouse. I have to admit that there were occasional twigs, but not bad. The local Nursery changed potting mix, so I just got 2-1/2 pallets of 3.8 cu.ft. bags of Metro Mix 360 donated for our "Gardens for Low Income Families" project. Cornell is picking it up for our program. I still have 3 bags in my shed left over from last year.

December 10, 2012	#47
FILMNET Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: North Charleston,South Carolina, USA Posts: 1,803	I wish they would sell here in North East

January 13, 2013	#51
zeroma Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: SW Ohio Posts: 637	Good gardening Greenthumbroy! This is the best learning and sharing place in all of the world wide web me thinks. Check out the thread about growing in DE as well. That is the way I'm going to go this year. Just because there is so much information and support about the method.

June 6, 2013	#56
tnkrer Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: MA 6a/b Posts: 352	I was using this method to grow from seed and had one question. When you keep the flat in the window with saran wrap cover, the temperatures inside the plastic would go quite high when sun comes in through the window. Are we supposed to keep it where sun is not coming? or open up the plastic during "sunny" time?

June 6, 2013	#57
Salsacharley Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2013 Location: New Mexico Posts: 2,052	Quote: "Once again this year I am getting great germination, healthy seedlings and no damping off at all - and probably have 6000 or so babies growing. I am going to try to point out what I think are the specific success factors." 6000? Yowzers! How many transplants do you make and how long does it take? This is my 2nd year of serious effort in growing more tomatoes. I sowed 180 Jiffy plugs with 2 or 3 seeds each of 95 varieties, and I got an insane germination percent just in the Jiffy planter trays. It must have been about 98%. I ended up with 260 viable plants after transplanting, and after my embarrassing damp off attack. My big mistake was in transplanting where I separated the seedlings from 2 or 3 per plug into their own 4" pots. I used a Mel's Mix formula in the pots that included steer manure to which I attribute my damp off problem. The plants did well for the first couple of weeks but then started damping off. I salvaged many of them by cutting the plants off right above the damp off and re-potting them deep in clean potting mix. This did retard their growth compared to the other plants, but they are doing well now that they are in the ground. I wish I would have found this thread about 5 months ago. Thanks for the great info.

June 7, 2013	#58
nctomatoman Tomatoville® Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Hendersonville, NC zone 7 Posts: 10,385	I end up with a total of 5000-6000 transplants when all is said and done - I am up to about 200 transplants from dense planting into 3.5 inch pots per hour. __________________ Craig

April 9, 2014	#60
DonB5750 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2014 Location: Western N.C. Posts: 13	Using Epsoma Seed-starting mix here with 24 different heirlooms. Seem to be germinating ok and are out in pots under lights.....except for Mortgage Lifters. Not sure what's up with those. Re-seeded twice now over three week period. Used seeds from two different sources.