Looking after seedlings once germinated

I grow a lot of half hardy annuals such as petunia, lobelia, antirrhinum. Certainly in the UK the garden magazines and many books are all for sowing seeds in January or February and have pages of articles on sowing seeds.

The area which I feel is ignored is looking after the seedlings once germinated, and even more challenging once you have pricked the seedlings out. This is generally skimmed over.

How to UK members deal with this, and when do you start your seed sowing of half hardy annuals. I do know it's all about lower temperatures and maintaining plenty of light, also turning everyday.

What I'm after is ingenious techniques that members have employed. The way I deal with things is not starting my seed sowing until March. I have a two large heated propagators in the garage by a window, and a lean to green house outside the garage. I also have a potting shed at the end the garden. Neither the greenhouse or the potting she have heating so at the moment I'm taking them back into the garage every night and using fleece. When you are dealing with 15-20 seed trays each with 24 seedlings in cells this is rather time consuming!

Thanks

 

I never sow much, that is going outside after the last frost, before March and some of it in April.

Its something lots of people do, sow seeds too early and then cant accommodate them, regarding growing on, in ideal conditions.

Some people fleece over seedlings and plants in unheated greenhouses on cold nights in April.
That avoids having to keep moving them around.

 

Agree with Pete....be patient and wait as long as possible.

You may be later in sowing but the seedlings will romp ahead of earlier sown ones ( which are often weaker looking specimens) , so nothing is lost for holding back and waiting.

Hardening off can cause issues, taking 100s of plants in and out, but again the later/ stronger plants can be more forgiving and often ( but not always..so check first) tolerate being placed in a light but sheltered stop outside with a couple of layers of fleece.
Just keep aware of your forecast and protect from rain,wind and frost.

 

Thanks, as mentioned I never start before March for HHA and things like Cosmos and Nemesis can be done April or even later. Fleece is fine for hardier stuff like snapdragons, but the more tender stuff like petunia and Lobelia struggle even with fleece on really cold nights.

 

I do use fleece in the potting shed, but we seem to be getting later and later hard frost's and snow in the South of England. Things like snapdragons are pretty hardy, but smaller seedlings of Petunia and Lobelia struggle.

 

I can't see you having too many problems then Peter,. It would help if you add ( rough) location to your profile....it makes it easier to give appropriate advice.


Ah ha just seen your new post South then.
As you can see I'm a southerner too, but don't really encounter any issues, just keep you eye on your weather.

 

Location added. We have been getting really hard frosts in April over the last few years which has really scuppered things!

 

Well I can only speak from my experience sadly. We're almost as South as you can go, and I just keep a vigilant eye on our forecast.

I suppose it can be a bit time consuming but then that's the joy of nurturing a plant from seed.

Have you considered buying plug plants?

 

If the problem is moving the plants out of the greenhouse on cold nights and fleece is not enough then I cant see any other options than adding a heater of some kind.

In the old days I would have said just a small paraffin heater immediately under the shelf the plants are on, but the price of paraffin these days is stupid.

If you could get electricity there, then a small tubular heater would be good.

 

Hi,

Plug plants.. Never!

I love the process of selecting and growing seeds. I never get tired of the joy of seeing the first flower! My father used to do it, so I think of him too! Also I prefer the open pollinated antirrhinum which you can only get as seeds unless you are willing to pay £50 a seedling from Sarah Raven (maybe a slight exaggeration!).

It's just very time consuming and rather stressful when the very young plants have just germinated and you are trying to get the temperature right!

The only stuff I buy as plugs are Fuchsia.

I suppose my main annoyance is the magazines telling their readers to start sowing as early as possible with no regard for what they will do when they germinate!

 

I agree...never.!! I just thought you seem to be having issues.

I've always grown everything from seed or via propagation.... time consuming maybe but oh so rewarding.

 

They give sowing dates out to cover the whole country, it's up to the individual to work out when is appropriate timing for their own area. I'm cautious and leave it as late as possible now.

 

I have just started gardening and have begun sowing seeds in my unheated garage/workshop/potting shed. I have mains electricity so I have been buying heating pads and LED growing lights. I have four pads for four, possibly six, propagators and two LED grow lights. We have been experiencing frosts these past nights but I have already got Foxglove "Snowy Mountain" through. My plan is to pot them up into reused plug/seed trays and grow them on under the lights. When the time comes I will move them outside into my cold frame.

 

Hi @PeterJ

You do not mention the size of your leanto greenhouse but think it would be better if you can insulate all or part of it so you can keep your seedlings in there full time.

We use twinwall 10mm polycabonate glazing which does retain a lot of heat but nothing to stop you using the large bubble fiilm over the glass or , on a smaller scale, just doing a section of the greenhouse or making a simple cold frame type of structure covered in bubble film to house all your seed trays.

Again you do not mention if you can put electrics into the greenhouse but that would allow you to use a small fan heater on a low setting to automatically cut in when the temperature /late frost drops too low.

If you have an auto vent opener , then we tie a string to the vent that pulls the lid open on our heated frame so the young plants do not get overheated when we have strong winter sunshine.

 

Seeds are so exiting, plenty of entertainment for pennies.

My growing happens in the house and follows a rota. The germination spot is on living room windowsill that looks west and has a large radiator underneath. The radiator gives the warm boost to get things germinating.

Step 2 is lifting the seedlings higher away from the heat and closer to the simple grow lights I attach to the curtain pole. (Stacks of books and some narrow trays form the less-than-elegant-but-functional shelving)

Step 3 moves the young plants into kitchen, far away from radiators under the next set of grow lights.

Once the living room space becomes available, the next round of seeds get sown. I do follow the packet recommendations but the lights give some flexibility.

The final stage is acclimatisation, it means ferrying young plants out and in daily for a week or so. Depending on the weather and the plant, 2 weeks is about it. A very messy time in the kitchen This year I will try my blowaway greenhouse just to get the bulk out a bit sooner, but again it all depends on the weather.