Seed Starting

[BabyGotQuack]

Japanese Beetles are a big pest here, from early July through August. So are their larvae, which live in the soil for 1-3 years. My chickens eat both.

JBs defense is to drop off whatever they are on. Which is usually a leaf or a flower. They like grapevine leaves a lot, and we have lots of wild grapevines, so I can catch over 100 a day when they're in their peak.

I take a plastic container with a wide opening, and put about 1" of water in the bottom. When I find beetles, I put the opening below them, tap the leaf, and they let go, falling into the water.

When I give them to the chickens, I dump them in a white enamel roaster pan (they show up against the white) that has a couple of inches of water in it. The water is so that they don't just fly away. Then I call, "bug snack!" and the chickens come running and devour the beetles.

It's personal with me. JB killed my hazelnut trees.

I grew up in IL and I remember them being so bad! Out here in UT I don’t know that I’ve seen any. But I like the idea of harvesting them and giving them back to the chickens.

Oh man a hazelnut tree?? I would make it personal too!

 

[drycreek]

Wow they look great!

Ok maybe a dumb question but what is slips?

I wanted to try sweet potatoes this yea but couldn’t get hubby onboard so we’re just doing regular potatoes again.

Slips are the sweet potato plants that you set out to grow sweet potatoes.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

Slips are the sweet potato plants that you set out to grow sweet potatoes.

So are sweet potatoes the same as regular potatoes where you plant a piece of potato with an eye?

 

[drycreek]

So are sweet potatoes the same as regular potatoes where you plant a piece of potato with an eye?

No. Take a sweet potatoe and suspend it in a jar of water (use tooth picks to let the bottom sit in water) and with at least half or two thirds out of the water. After several day the top will start sprouting and as the shoots get about 4 to 6 inches tall break them off and place them in a jar of water and they will form roots. Once they have a decent root system you then can plant them in dirt and they will grow. Sweet potatoes have running vines.

 

[sheknitsandcrochets]

It's nice to see a seed starting thread. I've actually been running into a few problems concerning my own indoor-sown seeds. We planted some 72 cell seed trays, placing two seeds in each cell. We are using grow lights that worked fine last year. The difference is the soil. We got natural, organic seed starting media, I believe it's from the Burpee brand. In any case, I pre-moistened the soil in a bucket and then filled the trays with it. But even with that I've been having a lot of trouble keeping the trays moist. I'll drench the trays one day and 1-2 days later they're bone dry, as if they weren't watered in weeks. I suspect I'm having difficulties because the soil contains peat moss, which can repel water. Most of our seeds have not sprouted, and not having moist enough media is probably the culprit. I did use humidity domes, but once a couple of seeds starting sprouting I had to take it off, and since then little to no seeds have sprouted on some of my trays. I don't think it's from bad seed, as all of our seeds were purchased fairly recently and most are name-brand (Burpee, Ferry Morse, Baker's Creek ect.). Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[Sally PB]

So are sweet potatoes the same as regular potatoes where you plant a piece of potato with an eye?

Potatoes and sweet potatoes aren't even related. Sweet potatoes are in the morning glory family.

The leaves are edible, and I tried one. Bleah. Fuzzy. Maybe if they were steamed or cooked some way.

This will be my second try with sweet potatoes. The first time (2-3 years ago), I got nothing. My season is short -- I'm in zone 5b. This time, I'm going to pre-warm the soil before planting. The slips I ordered are from Maine Potato Lady. I figure if they can grow in Maine, they can grow here. At least, I'll give them a try.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

This is my first year trying seed starts. I have morning glories, marigolds, cucumbers, carrots and bell peppers. Fingers crossed!

 

[Chris2018]

Would you mind sharing a photo of your peppers? I think mine are leggy. But it’s been so long since I’ve done indoor starts that I don’t have anything to compare them to.
View attachment 3435627
I’ve ordered some grow lights that will be here Monday. What do you think, leggy?

Yes, there a bit leggy.
Most likely do to lighting issues but it could also be too much heat.
You said you have grow lights on order so it's a bit late for this but, when looking for grow lights look for a light that has 2000 to 3000 lumens (at minimum) and around 5000-6500 Kelvin (K). A light that is at least 2000 lumen will give you a good ''brightness" for seedlings and one that is 5000-6500 Kelvin (K) will have the correct light spectrum (green/'blue to light blue) for plants in growth and will give off a white to slightly blue hue without any red or purple hue.

 

[Chris2018]

Was looking for a dedicated seed starting thread and couldn’t seem to find one. The “what did you do in the garden today” thread is great but I haven’t done seed starts in probably 7 years and would love to focus on seed starting ( I already feel like I’m struggling week 1 )

So please share what you’re starting, your tips, thoughts & of course photos.

Plant I start indoors are tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, pickles, and zucchini.

Are you wanting to grow Organic or Synthetic?
Do you want to mix your own seed starting mix or buy premixed?
What are you looking at starting from seed?

 

[Rurumo]

So far my marigolds, calendula, and borage were the fastest to germinate after just 24 hours-everything was cold stratified, either moist or dry. The greek oregano, german thyme, and pink and white yarrow took 48 hours-I'm using a very ancient bag of Black Gold Organic potting soil, it was so hard to get moist again, I had to massage the water into it!

The chickweed and holy basil took 4 days, but they're coming along nicely now. Wild Bergamot (bee balm) took a little longer. I think the only thing that hasn't germinated is my peppermint seeds. This year I just tamped the tiny seeds down into the surface and didn't cover them and got much higher germ rates. I'm not growing anything that might disappoint me with an early frost, like tomatoes and peppers even though I love them. I just want to grow easy chicken herbs and perennials this year and hopefully establish plants that come back next year. I'm scared to see what -40 degrees did to my 2 year old fruit trees and new blackberries! I really wanted those mulberry trees for chicken fodder. \

As for seed starting lights, I get awesome results with 4' 4 bulb T5 fixtures, I'm using a brand new one this year after my durolux brand burned out-the new one is the Ipower brand and it's the best seed starting light I've ever had.