Quit while I still have time?

Easy peasy then! Lift three or four with soil using a toothpick and put into one inch cells to protect against losses later.

 

I've run out of Cheshunt compound and i thought it was no longer available,you can't get it in any of the GC so i'll have a look at your link Spruce

That's what i'm trying at the moment Pam...albeit after the fact...my Cleome seeds have already 'damped off''....

 

I have said it before and I'll say it again, T & M are pants! I flick through their brochure which they send me for ideas, then buy plants from anyone other than them.

 

Pam , Loli
I have been using "Bayer Fruit and Vegetable Disease Control Fungicide" for three years . Since Chesunt became unavailable . It is recommended to prevent damping off at the correct solution rate . I make up 2 litres at the beginning of the season and use it to lightly spray the soil surface after sowing . Seems to work OK (touching wood ! )
http://www.bayergarden.co.uk/en/data/Products/f/Fruit-and-Vegetable-Disease-Control.aspx

 

most seeds I dont have a problem with damping off , but I think sowing too thickly is a major problem and the compost to wet, Lobelia being one of them thinking back, I used modules for those and easier to transplant

 

Agree with sowing to thickly and wet compost Spruce . For my more delicate/unreliable seeds I mix the seed compost and perlite and water it so it is just wet. I then fill my seed trays with it.

 

I leave all annual seed sowing to middle of March as we are not planting out till late April or look at last year middle of May with the cold spring we had and I just run out of space in the greenhouse.

Windowsills you have to be careful, a sunny day as they can easily get scotched or dry out to quickly before you know it.

I think we all get carried away with buying to many seed packets so I prefer to just grow a few and grow them properly. I grow French and African marigolds and they do me proud every year.

 

I am not keen on marigolds but always grow some for filling too.

 

Thanks for the link @HarryS ....i'm in the process of trying the Camomile tea...it's years since i've had this problem..it's affected some Delphiniums,Nemesia and Cleome everything else is fine...i think half my problem is ventilation...need to get a fan running i think to circulate the air a bit even though i do open vents etc...but maybe not when i should

 

Snap.

I have a few suggestions, based on experience, but basically just "Kristen's Way" - so may be no better, nor worse, than FC's Way - might be different though

I only EVER use Seed Compost, never Multi Purpose for seeds. Only ever John Innes too (what I mean by that is soil-based, rather than, say, ultra-fine peaty-type composts - such as Levingtons. Levington has a great reputation, I can't really describe what I dislike about it - my feeling is that it has less "air" in it than soil based - its fluffy to start with of course, but I find it airless when wet).

I never water after sowing the seeds. Most things I see say "Sow seeds" and then either "Water from above with a very fine rose" or "Immerse in water for a few minutes". The later takes the air out, and there is nothing drinking the water so it goes nowhere and water is then no replaced with air.

I mix the seed compost with water before I put it in the seed trays / pots. I get it to the consistency that I want. I was taught that the compost is moist enough if, when you squeeze it into a ball in your hand, it clings together, breaks apart cleanly (rather than crumbles/falls to bits) and no water comes out when you squeeze it (if it does then it is too wet).

In olden days we covered the seed trays with a sheet of glass, or newspaper, to keep moisture in. Nowadays we use zip-lock bag of clear propagator cover, and they are much more air-tight than the old methods, so nowadays there is pretty much no evaporation (or if there is it condenses on bag / lid, and runs back into compost), so on that basis I air on the side of just-moist rather than slightly-wet - i.e. drier than I used to do.

Like @longk I microwave. Actually, although I do NOT recommend this, I reuse my seed compost ad infinitum as I see the only risk being that ungerminated seeds from earlier batches then germinate subsequently amongst my latest loves If I get a pot with some disease I throw it (pot and all), but it pretty much never happens. Hence I am concerned to hear you say about the mould on your seeds.

So because I tend to have last-year's compost it is very dry and need sterilising. I mix it with some water to get it damp (be vigorous rubbing it between my fingers, as you have to get the water back into all of it once it has become dry and needs rewetting), then I put some water in the bottom of a Pyrex bowl, compost on top (water soaks in of course) and then microwave. My idea is that the water at the bottom rises as steam through the compost.

I only give it a few minutes, and then just leave it in the microwave. It takes ages to cool. After about 10 minutes it is no longer so hot as to be dangerous! and I mix it with a serving spoon, distributing/mixing wet and moist areas, and then re-microwave some more. Then let it cool - that takes several hours. Day-before would be a good time to do that!

Next I sow. Either in 9cm pots if I have very few seeds to sow - a packet of only 5 or 10 seeds for example - or a 1/4 size seed tray if I have more. I resent the 9cm pot because it takes a lot of seed compost!!, and the seeds only need an inch or so :( I use square, rather than round, pots for maximum space utilisation. 9cm pots go in a small zip-lock bag (I have found a brand that is a perfect fit for my pots ), seed trays have clear plastic covers.

If I have large seeds, or very few, I make small depressions (only a mm or two) in the surface with the rubber-end of a pencil. For most seeds I sow them by putting the seed on a sheet of paper, which has been previously folded in half, and then "roll" the seeds, one by one, down the fold as a guide / shoot using the pointy-end of the pencil. I either aim them at the depression I made earlier in the seed compost with the rubber-end, or sometimes I use a label to draw a "line" in the compost - nothing deep, I use it as a "target", and then count maybe 10 or 15 seeds along the length of "drill". I want them reasonably evenly spaced so they are not overcrowded. It is easy to sow seed-by-seed in this way, if you want/need to, whereas if I have a lot of seed to sow, particularly fine seed, I rub a pinch of the seed between thumb-and-index-finger distributing it over the surface. Then I cover by "drizzling" vermiculite over them. Its very light (weight) so even if I put it on slightly thick the seeds will be able to push through (I've never been able to sift soil evenly over the surface of a pot / tray, and have no idea how to control the depth of covering accurately, hence why I use Vermiculite), and it also lets light through (if needed)

They then go at right temperature. Usually without any light (unless seed specifically needs light to germinate), either on boiler (very hot!) on microwave in kitchen (warm), in my home office (room temperature), in spare bedroom (cool) or needing some Stratification schedule for more annoying & difficult things. Just a few that need bottom heat go into propagator. Once germinated they go under lights - even if just for a few days, to make sure they are not leggy and to get them going - then I move them to windowsill, conservatory, greenhouse, etc.

Your mould may have come from seeds, but I think more likely its from compost being too wet, and an environment around the compost too conducive to mould - a nice temperature being one of the main culprits (the seeds need that too, so its a balancing act, but if the mould was in the compost, rather than seeds, to start with then you can prevent that in future).

Also surprised that you have had spotty germination. Can happen, of course, but if the seed is viable it is more likely it will germinate evenly across the seed tray. Again, I am guessing, "too wet" (e.g. in places in the seed tray) / "not enough air" (lumpy MPC compost etc). Clearly the temperature is constant across the seed tray, so it is not related to that

I never ever use rainwater on seedlings (I might for something that was ericaceous, but I would boil it first). Tap water is "sterilised", so not got any pathogens / moulds / algae / muck in it. Rain water has whatever was on the roof as it ran down into the waterbutt - which is also a potential breeding ground for all sorts of pathogens. When watering seedlings I fill the watering can the day/hours before, that will let the chlorine evaporate and the water to come up to same temperature as the seedlings (my watering can is right next to the seedlings for this reason).

You can use fungicide when initially watering the seed compost, and indeed it may help if something outside your control has a mould in it ready to jump-start into life, but in general I have not found it necessary - perhaps with the exception of things that take a long time to germinate where you are in a race between the seed germinating and the whole of the pot being covered with Mould, Algae and even Moss!

Dunno if any of that helps though, and if any of it is something you can pinpoint as a cause for why I usually avoid moulds and you haven't, this time.

A not insignificant proportion of the seeds I grow come to nothing. Most of what I grow are "tricky", and I don't normally have failures on "bog-standard" things, so I put it down to the fact that they are difficult items - but it could be "old Seed" from suppliers t00. Either way, I grow a lot more than I need so that one failure doesn't leave a hole in my planting plan. I try to give away the rest at Shiney's open day - but never get as many takers as I have spare plants!! but my advice would be to "over cater" on varieties / and even Supplier Brands - better that than, for example, growing 2x as much "just in case" of a single variety which you want to grow (that might give you 0% germination) - get 2 packets of that seed from different Suppliers if it is critical to your summer display.

 

P.S. Damping Off may also be related to over watering after germination. Seedlings drink very little, evaporation (if warm/hot) will account for more, but if you water such that the seeds sit with wet feet for several days then they will be stressed and may succumb. I water based on the "weight" of the container telling me when it is getting dry, rather than "X amount every day/or two"

 

Is anyone having problems with sciarid flies this year? My initial batch of seeds germinated OK but resulting seedlings have been wiped out by these pesky gnats. On reading up on them, the best guess is that it's because of the high proportion of composted bark and unidentified 'organic matter' used in bagged compost over here now. Will try the microwave sterilisation thing on the next lot to see what difference it makes....

 

Hi Noisette , a few of us have had problems with Fungus Gnats last year .@Sheal had a problem with her house plants . There was a good post on here with a few remedies , but I can't find it ! Someone will though . I didn't know they could cause much damage to a seedling , thought they were just annoying little devils !
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