For 25 cents, you may purchase a packet containing 200 to 1,000 petunia seeds of the finest named varieties.
Properly cared for, germination will be at least 75% percent, and with adequate transplanting and subsequent care, practically all these seedlings may be grown to maturity.
Think what it would cost you 10 to buy them as plants!
Then, raising plants from seeds affords what he calls the joy of creation, which is entirely lost when mature plants are purchased.
Again, a good seed catalog offers a far wider selection to choose from than any plant source you’re likely to find. In more ways than titan one, it pays to raise flowers from seed.
Most Seeds Need Only Warmth And Moisture To Germinate
Once the seedlings are through the soil, however, light becomes essential. When outdoors, light can, of course, be taken for granted.
A greenhouse hotbed or cold-frame is sure to provide plenty, and a south window of a dwelling will usually provide enough.
When windows with other exposures must be used, supplement artificial light is usually needed to ensure robust, healthy seedlings.
Starting Flowers In A Seedbox
As their seed packets will indicate, the wind should not be transplanted except for a few flowers. There are definite advantages to starting all annual flowers in a seedbox.
This holds whether the seed is sown under protection before it is safe outdoors or in the open even after it could be sown directly in the garden.
The soil in which seeds are sown must not be allowed to dry out until the seedlings are well established. This may be difficult to manage in the garden, where a few hours of hot sunshine may bake the soil surface to some depth and thus practically destroy seedlings whose roots have not yet penetrated below the danger zone.
On the other hand, a seedbox can be moved about and placed in the shade when desirable on sunny days.
Simple Automatic Watering
More importantly, a simple method of automatic watering can be used with a seedbox or “flat,” as such a box is called in the trade.
Prof. Kenneth Post of Cornell University, where extensive experiments with watering have been conducted, recommends a simple wick-watering device best suited for home gardeners to use with seed flats.
A Wick-Watering Device
For this, some form of the wick is needed, 6” inches long. Round fiber-glass wicks may be obtained from most seed stores.
A hole is centered in the bottom of the seed flat, and the wick is drawn through this. The top of the wick is then frayed out and embedded in the soil.
The bottom drops into a pan of water below the box. After the soil has been soaked once, it will remain moist as long as there is water in the pan.
Water for several days may be provided with a large pan, which is especially important in case one has to be absent during the critical growing season.
Don’t waterproof flats used with wicks, but leave the usual leaks, which will allow excess water to drain away.
When flats are stood outdoors, and when the spring rains descend, the seedlings would be flooded if no drainage were provided in the flats.
Cause Of Failure With Seedlings
A frequent cause of failure with seedlings of some plants indoors is the fungus disease called “damping-off.” It may also cause trouble outdoors in prolonged cool, damp, cloudy weather.
It can easily be prevented by placing on top of the soil a half-inch layer of sphagnum moss rubbed through a sieve having a 1/2-inch mesh.
Government experimenters suggest that this material has antibiotic properties which destroy fungi. There is no danger in overwatering seeds that are started in moss, but when it is used, it must be watered from above, as it will not take up water from the soil below.
This makes wick-watering ineffective until the plant roots have penetrated the soil below the moss. Then, seeds sown in moss are covered lightly with the same material.
A half-inch layer of vermiculite on top of the soil has also been found to minimize damping-off losses.
Standard Size Of Seed Flat
A seed flat for indoor or outdoor use should be at least 2” inches deep and made of wood. In the trade, standard-size flats are sold knocked down.
Florists nearly always transplant seedlings, as soon as large enough to handle, into flats where they have spaced 2” inches apart each way to grow to garden size.
Seedlings develop faster without being transplanted, however, and the amateur will lose few plants if he sows thinly in a flat of adequate size and allows the plants to develop without check, thinning out where the crowd.
Requirement For Soil Sowing
The chief requirement of soil for sowing is that it be porous, and ensure that from one-third to one-half should be composed of sharp sand.
If your best topsoil lacks humus, mix peat moss with it, up to a third of the total bulk of soil, peat, and sand. Do not add fertilizer to the soil in which seeds are to germinate.
Substitutes such as pure sphagnum moss or vermiculite can be used instead of soil. Both increase porosity and retain moisture, but since they contain no food, they introduce the problem of feeding the plants as soon as they require it.
Using soil and peat with a top layer of sphagnum moss or vermiculite for seeds susceptible to damping off relieves the amateur of this problem. Good potting soil may usually be obtained from florists.
The Time To Start Seeds Indoors Is Important
Nothing is gained by starting them too soon. If they grow too large before it is safe to move them to the garden, growth will be checked, and recovery may be slow. Moving plants when they are small and vigorously growing is far better.
Taking the accepted frost-proof date in your vicinity as a guide, seed flats may be started in a home window four weeks before this date, in a cold frame for six weeks, and in a hotbed for eight weeks.
In a greenhouse, you may start 10 to 12 weeks before, provided you are prepared to keep your plants growing by moving them into larger pots as they require it.
Methods For Sowing Seeds In Flats
For sowing seeds in flats, indoors or out, there are two methods.
If one variety only is to be sown, the small seed may be broadcast. Mixing dry sand with the seed will help scatter it evenly.
Large seeds are best sown in rows, the rows 2 inches apart and the seed thinly spaced in the rows.
When several varieties are sown in the same flat, sow them in rows and label each row by marking on the side of the flat or tacking a label to the flat.
Don’t just stick it in the soil, for there will be trouble if a label is misplaced.
Shallow Sowing Is The Rule With Flower Seeds
Drills or furrows for small seeds may be made by pressing a ruler into the soil just deep enough to mark the row. Then sow the seed and cover lightly with porous soil or shredded sphagnum.
Larger seeds may be placed a little deeper and covered a little more; the largest, such as moonflowers and morning glories, is at most ½” inch deep. Firm the soil well over the seeds.
Soak the soil by standing the box in water, then place it in a shady place (outdoors) or dimly lighted place (indoors) to await germination. A temperature between 65° and 85° degrees Fahrenheit will be favorable to most annuals.
Larkspur and snapdragons like it 10° degrees Fahrenheit lower.
When the seed is sown directly in the garden, the same technique should be used, particularly for shallow planting and covering the seed only with porous soil.
Indeed, one may sometimes succeed without careful methods, also that professional growers sometimes fail when using the greatest care, but in the long run, the odds for success greatly favor the careful operator.
Protection For Early Sowing
The soil where the seed is to be sown should be loosened to a depth of at least 6” inches.
For early sowing of hardy varieties, when the weather may be cool and cloudy, protection against damping-off is advisable.
Sphagnum moss may be used on a seed flat, or the seeds may be coated lightly with a disinfecting chemical such as Spergon. In warm, sunny weather, these precautions may not be necessary.
The small flower seeds that should be directly sown where they are to grow are difficult to transplant include:
- Alyssum
- California poppy
- Godetia
- Kochia
- Leptosyne
- Linaria
- Lupins
- Matthiola (stocks)
- Nasturtium
- Dwarf phlox
- Poppies
- Portulaca
- Salpiglossis
Broadcast In The Place They Are To Flower
These are usually broadcast in the place they are to flower. First, prepare a smooth seed bed, then outline with a string the area to be sown. Mix the seed with sand to help spread it and scatter it over the desired space as evenly as possible.
Then sift a light covering of specially prepared porous soil over the seed and firm it lightly.
Large seeds, which usually produce large plants, may be spaced accurately in “hills.” However, several seeds are required to ensure a suitable plant that allows for losses by accident or disease.
Here the same sort of porous soil should be used as a cover, applied a little heavier than the smaller seeds.
Knowing The Germination Time
Whether you sow indoors or out, the time required for germination is something you should know.
In your garden or seed flat, it may be less or more by several days, but the table tells you what to expect and will enable you to select plants with similar germination periods to sow in the same flat. So better clip it out and keep it handy.
Tips In Watering
Neither a seed flat nor an open seed bed can be safely neglected while seeds are germinating. The topsoil must be kept moist, which requires inspection twice a day. In watering seeds or young plants from above, remember they are easily washed from their hold in the soil by a strong spray.
Use a watering can with a fine “rose,” as the nozzle is called in the trade, or if necessary, a fine spray from a hose and let it fall gently. For indoor flats, florists use a rubber bulb to which a fine rose is attached.
Garden supply stores sell them. Remember, as soon as the seeds sprout indoors, they must have light. Otherwise, they will very quickly become too tall and spindly.
Infant Plants Need Care
No matter how hardy they are when mature, infant plants need care, not coddling. Moisture, fresh air, and adequate warmth are the important things until they are large enough to need feeding. Then, from you, they require chiefly protection against extremes.
The nut is neither too hot nor too cold, not too wet nor too dry: and the sort of fresh air (if they are indoors) that you like to breathe.
The secret of having a “green thumb” is the realization that plants are living things and thrive in much the same environment as we do.
Give Enough Room To Grow Roots
As soon as seedlings have grown large enough to handle, ensure that each has room to grow without its roots becoming entangled with those of its neighbors. If you intend to transplant them into another flat, do it as soon as possible.
It is unnecessary to wait until “true leaves,” the second pair, develops. Then, with the blade of a knife, a tiny plant can be lifted, routed intact, and moved to a roomier home with less shock than later on.
In the outdoor garden, where the hazards of infancy are greater, it may be better to let transplanting of crowded plants wait until they are larger, with several pairs of true leaves. But from the first, each seedling should stand free of its neighbors so it need not have to compete for survival.
Plants Grown Under Protection
As the plants develop they, like children, will become more able to care for themselves. Their roots will spread to draw water and food from a wider area, lessening the need for frequent watering.
If they are grown under protection, the time when they may be moved to the garden will depend upon the frost-proof date in your vicinity.
Plants which will stand frost when grown in the open are often too soft to endure it when they have been started under protection.
Nothing can be gained by moving them to the open before the danger of frost is over.
Transplanting Seedlings
When you plan to transplant seedlings, hang a cloth bag containing fertilizer in a bucket of water and let it soak overnight.
Use 4 ounces of balanced chemical fertilizer for each gallon of water. When ready to transplant, make a hole large enough for the plant and set it in place.
Then pour half a pint of the fertilizer solution into the hole over the plant roots. While the liquid is in the hole, draw the loose soil and firm it around the plant.
This feeds the plant and pours the soil about the roots, making very close contact between the soil and roots, which enables the plant to take up water.
Roots Should Not Be Pruned
Avoid breaking the roots in removing plants from pots or flats since losses must be replaced before the plant can grow.
Rarely, also, should the tops of plants be pruned, since this removes part of the “factory” which, in the presence of light and with water and the necessary chemicals available, actually makes the plant’s food.
This method of transplanting usually prevents any wilting of the plants but should wilting take place, there is no need to worry, as plants recover quickly.
Thin Out Crowded Plants
If the plants which were sown directly seem crowded, they should be thinned out gradually, and the excess plants should be moved to other locations.
As your flowers develop, frequent sprinkling in the garden will cease to be advisable.
Instead, the soil should be soaked to a depth of several inches each time water is applied.
The equivalent of 1 inch of rainfall every week should be supplied to a flower garden either by nature or artificially. More will be needed in very sandy soil; here, it may be laid down in smaller but more frequent applications.
44659 by J. H. Burdett