Thursday, March 20, 2008

Germinating seeds

So here are the plants from the seeds sown 3/15 after 5 days with bottom heat at 75-80 degrees, thinned to the 3 strongest plants per pot:

I tried to sow 3-4 seeds in each pot where eventually there will be just one seedling. When all seeds have germinated in any particular pot, the pot is moved off of the heat pad and out from under the clear plastic cover into strong light (four 48" florescent tubes in my case). The 3 strongest plants are retained in each pot, and the weakest is snipped off at the soil level - so sorry.

Thinning is important as each tiny start should never have to compete with another for light or nutrients. Snipping out the weaker seedlings, rather than pulling them out, protects the retained seedling(s) from possible collateral root disturbance or damage. These seedlings will grow on until the first true leaves emerge, then be thinned to the strongest one plant in each pot. These have come along much quicker than I thought they would.

No comments: