How long to determine "no show" on seeds?

[lakelady]

I have seeds sown on 2/19 which is a bit early, but I'm going to try cold treatment and covers outdoors, so I wanted to get a jump.

All of my seedlings except 2 have sprouted within the past week and I'm really bummed because those two are from Carolyn, and I did sow all 5 I got of each. Normally, my seeds come up within 4-5 days and seeing those two cells with nothing even peeping through is a bummer. Even the Goose Creek, which I understand can take a while is up.

Now I'm wondering because the others are up, I can't leave it covered because I'll risk damping off, but I'm thinking the two no shows need to be covered.

What's the longest it's taken for seeds you've sprouted?

[doublehelix]

Less than 1/3 of the varieties I grow germinate in less than a week. I wouldn't worry. I have some I planted on the 5th that are just now popping up. There are a few varieties that are 2 to 4 weeks emerging for me every year. Black Cherry is one that always seems to take longer as do many of the hearts. In fact almost all of my hearts take at least 10 days.

Keep them moist and warm and they will come up.

[Boutique Tomatoes]

You can always seperate those cells and put them in an partially open baggie somewhere warm while moving the others. I stick toothpicks in the cells to give them some head room.

Every year I go through the same thing, and I told myself I was going to do Craig's dense planting technique this year with each variety it its own pot rather than using the cell trays. But it was too easy to use the cell trays and now I have cell tray sections on top of a warm appliance in almost every room downstairs again.

[kath]

Last year from a 4/5 sowing, one variety emerged on 5/4 and another on 5/5- the rest were everything in between with the earliest in 3 days. I had some that still hadn't showed up but I didn't wait any longer than that. I used the 72-cell trays in 2010 and 2011, but because of the problem you describe, this year I bought Jiffy 7s that I can move individually as the varieties germinate.

[guruofgardens]

I'm with you on moving the plants when they're popped up. I don't like leggy seedlings. I like the peat pellets for mobility.

[bcday]

I once sowed a bunch of different varieties in late March and they all came up within 3-10 days except for one cell. I kept that one cell moist and warm for weeks on end while the other seedlings were moved to larger pots. Eventually the other seedlings were planted out in the garden and there was still no sign of life from that one cell. So I gave up babysitting it and put it outside with some spare seedlings that were watered when dry but got no further attention. In August, four months after sowing, I finally saw sprouts! Too late for them to ripen fruit before frost.

[Gobig_or_Gohome_toms]

I have cut squares of saran wrap to the size of the un-sprouted cells and put those over them to try and stop the seeds from drying out to fast.

Craig

[stormymater]

I have done the Saran Wrap thing - ugh - graduated to cutting up Walmart bags - easier to work with but still PIA - now I just let the late sprouters in densely seeded 48 or 72 cell trays fend for themselves. Grow big or die.

[raindrops27]

Lakelady, we think alike, I decided I would start early as well with the seasonably warm temps around here.

I sowed Feb 20th, out of 40 something sowed, all but 11 have sprouted. We keep our home on the cool side, definitely low 60's.

I was thinking the same as to when and if I should start more seeds. It is good to know, that some of the mentioned varieties, I have sowed take longer to germinate.



Melissa

[lakelady]

Great suggestions thanks everyone. Mark, I think I will try taking out the cells that did not sprout and doing the baggie thing. I want to bring this tray downstairs to the basement for several weeks of cold treatment, and I doubt the unsprouted seeds would potentially sprout in the cooler temps.

Melissa, your weather is basically the same as mine give or take a few degrees because you're out on the Island. I'm only 25 miles from Manhattan, but up in the hills of NW NJ.

I have a few small seedlings I started about a month ago that I'm going to grow in pots, indoors until the time is right, although, my sweet pea is already a bush since I took a cutting of another failing plant that I started for my indoor project. Good thing its in a pot, lol, I think it would get quite large outdoors. I have lots of flowers on it already!

[Mark0820]

Lakelady, did any of your seedlings sprout? What were the two varieties in question? I am also having problems germinating some seeds from Carolyn's offer. Maybe we have the same varieties.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by Mark0820

Lakelady, did any of your seedlings sprout? What were the two varieties in question? I am also having problems germinating some seeds from Carolyn's offer. Maybe we have the same varieties.

I'll try to get my germination thread in the General Discussion area up today.

Please note that for the 2011 varieties there were seeds produced by three of the folks who have helped me in the past as well as seeds donated from several other people. And unfortunately about 95 % of those who participated chose varieties from that 2011 list missing out on the many many excellent varieties offered from previous years.

I can't do germination tests on all of those so the only way we find out if there's a problem variety or two is by having folks post their results.

If you look at germination threads from the past several years you'll find that folks with the exact same seeds can get widely divergent results, and since I've been doing seed offers here and there since the mid-80's I kind of expect that by now.

So we shall see what we shall see and I know that those of us in the colder climes won't even be sowing seeds until around the first of April.

[nicky]

Originally Posted by carolyn137

And unfortunately about 95 % of those who participated chose varieties from that 2011 list missing out on the many many excellent varieties offered from previous years.

Carolyn, I think that your seed offers have been very successful & that is why most people chose from the 2011 list. People who grew out the varieties from previous years have been "paying your kindness forward" by swapping & giving away seeds for a lot of those varieties.

[GaryStPaul]

"I know that those of us in the colder climes won't even be sowing seeds until around the first of April."

Call me crazy, a gambler, or both, but this colder climes guy is sowing this weekend--with tunnels and soil-warming cables waiting in the wings. I intend to have a lot of late-ripening bicolors by mid-August this year or know the reason why (I expect I'll know the reason why, ha). Gary

[z_willus_d]

Lakelady, just to commensurate a moment with you, I too couldn't get three of the varieties I received from Carolyn's offer to germinate in my plugs. I sowed out 2/4/12, so it's been over a month. I had around 17 of ~60 varieties fail to germinate or pop up only to damp off or just dry up. Interestingly enough, of those 17, I'd say around three seeds from three of the varieties recently popped nearly a month after initial sowing. So, it is possible for a seed to take that long.

In general, I have sown duplicates in the same plugs and later 2nd and 3rd plugs to try and get a life out of these seeming "dud" seeds. Some of my efforts have worked and produced healthy seedlings, while a few seed varieties remain lifeless. For that latter category, I put out a call for replacements on TV the other day, and for most of my needs folks have come to the rescue with either exchange or a gratis send.

I'm using the same brand heat mat that I see you have, and I've found that a bit of camomile tea in the water really does help keep the white fur at bay.

I attached a few pics of my budding seedling farm. I'm curious to see if the cheaper (up-front-cost) fluorescent light beats out the more expensive LED.

Best of luck!
-naysen