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From seeds to SEEDLINGS!

Posted on April 17th, 2006 – 10:23 AM
By Jaime Chismar

Wednesday night, the CPPC sprouted with its first signs of life — Tomato seedlings!

I thought it was just a fluke, an unexpected success from my inexperienced bumbling, but, by Sunday, some brave Bulgarian Hot Peppers poked through the soil. Plus, I now had a whole pallet of tomato seedlings.

Life! Life! I have successfully propagated life! Now, I’m as anxious and nervous as a new parent with her newborn (No, Mom, don’t call me at the office. There are no real grandchildren on the way.). Guiding these plants to full maturation and a bountiful harvest suddenly feels like a huge responsibility. Am I really ready for the challenge? Do I become one of those parents who quotes Dr. Spock? Or do I put my faith in mother nature and trust my “natural instincts?”

Life! Life! This trial by fire is terrifying — What the heck do I do next?

This entry was posted on Monday, April 17th, 2006 at 10:23 am and is filed under Seed starting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

13 Responses to "From seeds to SEEDLINGS!"

Julie P says:

April 17th, 2006 at 3:34 pm

WOW. That was fast!
They look so happy and tenderly green!

Just keep an eye on them; with such a good start, they’ll be fine.

chuck says:

April 17th, 2006 at 4:16 pm

wow, look at ‘em all.
congrats!

Idaho Betsy says:

April 17th, 2006 at 6:30 pm

Congratulations! This is so much fun because I am going through the same thing. My boyfriend keeps saying “Jeez, thank goodness we decided not to have kids!”…as I stare at and worry about my seedlings at least three times a day. And, have you been told to put a fan on them or at least pet them so they get strong stems? Since I don’t have a fan or much money, I went for the petting, and I think they and I like that better anyway. By the way, does anyone out there know how I decide how much to water them? I’m just guessing right now. Thanks! -Betsy

Lorika says:

April 17th, 2006 at 9:05 pm

Wow! Awesome Greengirl! You are so lucky all yours pretty much sprouted at once. I guess you’re doing more right than I am. ; )

As for the watering, depends if you’re using soil or peat. Peat turns light brown when dry, so it’s pretty easy to tell, they also dry out kinda fast and need a bit of water (from the bottom) every day. With soil, in plastic especially, you just kinda wing it, you don’t want it to be really wet, more moist. It is kinda guessing though anyway, you’ll get the hang of it.

As for the fan, I have a little one somewhere in this mess, but haven’t found it yet, so for now I blow on my seedlings, and kinda “pet” them too I guess. That’s kind of a nice way to think of it actually.

Lorika says:

April 17th, 2006 at 9:06 pm

Oh - oops! And, what kind of tomatoes ya got growing there?

Cara says:

April 18th, 2006 at 7:40 am

Thanks for letting us all know about Mother Earths Garden. I checked them out on Friday and fell in love. Well, the statue of a flying pig helped. Any palce with that much of a sense of humor has to be good. They gave me some good advice and I will be trying it out soon.

Good luck with the seedlings. Right now they look like perfect kitty snack food. We quit growing plants from seeds years ago. We couldn’t ever get them cat proofed enough. At the stage yours look right now, all of a sudden we would see cat nibbles down the stems.

Rauno says:

April 18th, 2006 at 7:58 am

WOOOW! Best congratulations!

debw says:

April 18th, 2006 at 9:45 am

If You don’t have a fan or think that you have a heavy touch when “petting” you can also shake the flat back and forth ( like when shaking jello to get the wiggle).
Be sure and keep the flats fairly close to the light source, some growers line the sides of the enclosure with aluminum foil to reflect the light back so it is brighter. Your call on that, I did because it was cheap and couldn’t hurt.
Are you sold in the heat mat?
Just don’t leave the plants on it too long, I would suggest once they get the second set (real) leaves they are on their own.
Congrats!

Pat George says:

April 18th, 2006 at 7:45 pm

Yup the fan thing is a good idea. A gentle brease will help them develop strong stems.

The movement of air will also prevent damping off disease.

Keep your eye out for mold and fungus.

patg
Dreaming of a 3/4″ slice of beefsteak tomato as big as my hand.

Laurie says:

April 18th, 2006 at 10:13 pm

The new seedlings look great. A box fan sitting on the floor in front of the container works just fine. It only needs to be turned for a little while each day. I’ve been running mine for 15 to 30 minutes at a time. (Depends on whether I forget about it or not.)

I’ve started some of the outdoor plantings already. Plants like peas, lettuce, swiss chard and any of the onion types do great in cooler weather; not that the temps lately can be considered cool. Radishes, too.

Plant a few more lettuce and radish seeds each week, That way you get a longer crop of fresh vegies early on.

Nina Patten says:

April 20th, 2006 at 8:01 pm

My resolve to avoid the garden department is waning! Maybe just a FEW tomatoes….
Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I use only rainwater to water my seedlings and all of my plants for that matter. We collect it in a large garbage can and store it in gallon milk jugs. I have my windowsill in my office (a former elementary classroom) filled with plants that I winter over. Right now, I have geraniums, snapdragons, impatiens, and begonias in full bloom. My office space is a very happy place. The plants seem to do better indoors than when I put them outside. So this year, I think I will try a more gradual transition–similar to the hardening of the seedlings before transplant.
I guess it’s like preschool for plants.

ROBERT says:

April 24th, 2006 at 12:26 pm

I ENJOY STARTING FROM SEEDS, INSTEAD OF BUYING ESTABLISHED PLANTS. I LIKE TO PLANT MORE SEEDS THAN I ACTUALLY NEED SO I CAN WATCH THEM GROW AND USE ONLY THE STRONGEST SEEDLING. WHEN YOU BUY ESTABLISHED PLANTS YOUR NOT QUITE SURE IF THAT PLANT WAS A RUNT OR NOT. I WAS HAVING PROBLEMS WITH GETTING SOME SEEDS TO START, WHILE OTHER SEEDS JUST TOOK OFF. I THINK THAT MY SOIL WAS TOO COMPACT SO I MIXED IN SOME EXTRA PERLITE AND I TRIED THAT COCO BARK THAT YOU MENTIONED YOU GOT FROM MIDWEST SUPPLIES IN ST. LOUIS PARK, AND I TELL YA I GOT A LOT BETTER RESULTS THIS YEAR JUST BY AERATING THE SOIL A LITTLE MORE THAN I USAULLY DO. THANKS AGAIN FOR THE TIP, AND HAPPY GARDENING

Ames Tiedeman says:

June 26th, 2006 at 2:22 pm

I learned something here! Thanks!

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