seeds
Starting Seeds at Home
Get a Head Start on the Growing Season
- Important with slow germinating seeds such as parsley, peppers, eggplants
- Helpful with slow growing plants or ones that require extra heat
- Timing: 6-8 weeks before projected in ground planting time
Control Conditions Precisely
- Use potting soil, thus reducing incidence of soil borne diseases such as Pythium, which is a water mold fungi.
- Control the temperature -- most seeds germinate faster with warmer temperatures -- up to a point. If you have a choice of warm air temps. but low soil, vs. low air, but higher soil temps. -- choose higher soil temps.
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Ex. at 50°F corn has 47% germination rate, at 59°F it has a 97% germination rate, at 41°F cabbage has a 27% germination rate and at 59°F it has a 93% germination rate.
- Control soil moisture
- Protect from predators such as snails, slugs, earwigs, sowbugs, birds and other critters
- Place seedling trays upside down over seedlings
- Grow starts on potting bench off the ground
- Cover with netting
- Use iron phosphate snail and slug bait
- Make earwig trap by placing 2" of soy sauce with tablespoon of oil in "margarine" tub. Punch holes all along top edge of side with hole punch. Place top on and sink this into ground. Check each day and change as needed.
Step by Step Seeding Procedures
- Choose containers 2-3" deep such as 6- packs, recycled 2"-4" pots.
- Be sure there is good drainage
- Fill container 3/4" full with moist soil
- Make smooth and level
Popping Wisteria Seeds Pods!
by: Allen Buchinski
It’s autumn, and that means my wisteria seeds will soon be popping! If you’ve ever seen this happen, you know exactly what I mean, but if you don’t have wisteria in your yard, it’s likely that you’re not aware of the phenomenon.
We all know that plants spread their seeds using different mechanisms; some of the most common methods are distribution by wind, water, and animals. But the most fascinating, at least to me, is explosive dispersal, where a seed pod pops open and flings its seeds away from the plant. The evolutionary explanation for this is to prevent overcrowding of seedlings around the parent plant, giving them the light and space they need to mature.
Examples of plants that exhibit explosive dispersal include impatiens, sweet peas, lupines, California poppies, and pansies. In fact, I love to pick a ready-to-pop impatiens seed pod and casually hand it to an unsuspecting person, then watch them jump with surprise when it goes off in their hand. (Try it with kids and they’ll be searching for every plant in the neighborhood!)
But I digress; let’s get back to the main topic. Wisteria is a member of the Pea family, Fabaceae (as are other exploders including lupine and scotch broom). Most of us know it as a climbing vine, with purple, and sometimes white, flowers in the early spring. Less noticeable, at least from a distance, are the seed pods that form afterwards.
