Effective germination of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant - critical parameters
 

I may have posted something like this in the past, but I hope people find it helpful. Everyone does this slightly or drastically differently, but my method seems to work reproducibly well for me each year, and it is just something I wanted to share so people can compare against it. If you find it helpful, great.

Once again this year I am getting great germination, healthy seedlings and no damping off at all - and probably have 6000 or so babies growing. I am going to try to point out what I think are the specific success factors.

1. The germination mix - I use fresh soilless mix - my brand of choice is Sungrow's MetroMix 360.

2. Fill the pots with dry mix (must have holes in the bottom!), then water with warm water until water starts coming through the bottom holes just a bit.

3. Sprinkle on the seeds - I plant densely, but you can read about that in the dense planting thread.

4. Sprinkle dry soilless mix over the seeds only until the seeds are no longer visible - very, very thin covering!

5. Mist lightly with a spray bottle to moisten the surface - if a few seeds show, add another pinch of mix.

6. Cover the flat with Saran wrap - doesn't have to be tightly sealed all around.

7. Place in front of a south facing window on a heat mat.

After 3-4 days, the seeds should be popping up. I don't remove the saran wrap until most of the seeds are up - just drape it loosely over the tray, the seedlings easily push it up.

As the seeds germinate, I spray with water to push off the clinging mix - this also moistens any stuck seed coats.

Once most of the seedlings are up, the flats go into my cool garage under fluorescent lights - the top of the seedlings about 1-2 inches from the bulbs.

At this point, I water from the top to ensure that the fluffy mix does not dry out.

Once we get a few mild sunny days, I ease the flats into the sun - 1 hour the first day, 2 the second - within a week they spend as much time as possible outside.

Doing this, I get great germination and no loss to damping off at all.

To me the most critical factors are the medium (light, fluffy), the very shallow planting, the south exposure and bottom heat, and the loose covering to keep the seeds and seedlings hydrated.

Use this in good seedling health and success!!!

[FONT=Times New Roman]Thanks Craig, Very nice tutorial indeed. 6000 plants. That would take a few minutes per day. :lol: [/FONT]

Thanks, Craig! I cannot wait to start my seeds. I think mine will be under 100 though :cute:.

Thanks for your starting instructions - always like to hear different methods and compare.

Craig How thick is the layer of germination mix or is that not a factor? karpes

How cool is your garage? Does the cool temperature help keep the seedlings from becoming leggy?

Gerald

Very useful post but for the benefit of us who can't buy US products could you give us some idea of the composition of MetroMix360, please

[MetroMix 360]

I might be able to answer that. I have a bag of
Sun Gro LG-3 here, and on the back it lists the
composition of a bunch of their seed-starting
and container mixes. It does not mention "MetroMix",
but there is a "360":

35-45% composted pine bark, composted peanut hulls,
Canadian sphagnum peat moss, perlite, vermiculite,
dolomite lime (for pH adjustment), gypsum, wetting agent.

If the mix is labelled "Organic", the wetting agent would be
yucca extract.

(For reference, the LG-3 is: 70-80% Canadian sphagnum
peat moss, vermiculite, dolomite lime, gypsum, wetting
agent. I did not actually select it from among the several
Sun Gro mix formulations, I traded a landscaper/nurseryman
something for it, and that is what he had on hand for seed
starting.)

[URL="http://www.sungro.com/products_displayProProduct.php?product_id=106&brand_id=17"]Metro-Mix 360[/URL]

~* Robin

Kay - had to share before going off to snooze - I planted according to aforementioned directions using Metromix 300 - maters & peppers on 3/10. Am using an electric blanket on GFI outlet & have 3 trays in 1 gi-normous very thin plastic bag & a fourth covered by a thin plastic vegie bag the same thickness as the biggie but it is only across the top of that tray.
On 3/12 I had 1 Beefsteak seedling (!) & some fuzz looking stuff in the fish pepper section. Today 2/3 of the tomato cells have seedlings! And the Fish peppers have sprouted! That's just barely 72 hrs!
Woo Wooo! Am gonna setup lights in some primitive fashion tomorrow (probably using bricks I have a small pile of outside) & arrange my bales of straw to support my freecycled piece of old storm door glass (my primitive cold frame)! Thank you all for your wonderful advice! I so appreciate getting good advice & following it rather than having to learn everything through the school of hard knocks!

Thanks, nctomatoman -

I followed your post to the letter and in 3 - 4 days had my sprouts as you said I would!

Cheers!

You do not put the seeds in water before in the dirt?

[quote=FILMNET;146019]You do not put the seeds in water before in the dirt?[/quote]

I haven't reread thru this long thread but it's rare that I ever soak tomato seeds in water before sowing them.

The only time I do that is if the seeds are very old, and thus dehydrated, and then I do soak overnight and add a pinch of blue stuff, ala Miracle Grow or PEters, etc, or one can use a few drops of seaweed or fish emulsion. Adding that stuff ups the concentration of nitrate ion which is known to be somehow involved in seed germination.

Now by old seeds I'm talking seeds over maybe 12 yo. With seeds less than 5 yo I just sow straight out. with seeds maybe 5-12 years I double sow, but when they get over about 12 yo and I'm pretty sure they are either non-viable or have very low germination, then I will soak. And darn if I don't still get good germination for some of them.

My best effort was waking up non-viable seeds that were 22 yo but the known record is waking up 50 yo tomato seeds.:)

Now thats a great answer!!!!! thanks

Call me crazy, but I actually sift a batch of Pro-Mix to use as a starter medium...fine and fluffy; works like a charm. A bit over the top, but I want my babies to be comfortable.

:)

[QUOTE=tnpeppers;149276]Call me crazy, but I actually sift a batch of Pro-Mix to use as a starter medium...fine and fluffy; works like a charm. A bit over the top, but I want my babies to be comfortable.

:)[/QUOTE]


Welcome tnpeppers! You're lucky to be able to get Pro-Mix! I've heard a lot of good things about it, but I'd have to drive about 2 hours to get any.

seed starting
 

I've heard having a fan blow lightly, periodically over the seedlings strengthens the plants. Have you tried anything like that?

[QUOTE=Epicurus;151721]I've heard having a fan blow lightly, periodically over the seedlings strengthens the plants. Have you tried anything like that?[/QUOTE]


Yes, and it can also help prevent mold or mildew problems, iffen you have any. Just don't set the fan to blow so hard or long that it dries out the little seedlings.

I was wondering if keeping the heat mat under the seedlings while they grow will help to keep them growing if my garage is in the 40's? I know it will help germination, but is soil temp or air temp more critical at the seedling stage? I realize that of course both need to be at an optimum, just trying to utilize my space at home.

My personal opinion, not based on anything but my own observations, is that if the soil is warm, the seedlings can tolerate a little cool air. You might also put plastic or some other kind of buffer around the seedlings to hold some of the heat from the heat mats/soil. It may increase the air temperature around the seedlings by several degrees. If you have artificial lights on the seedlings, putting something like aluminum foil around the lights and seedlings will help hold the heat from the lights.

I will try the foil and plastic, I also have some grow fabric that will help insulate as well. I used to grow them under some lights I have at school, but transporting back and forth and watering over breaks and weekends can sometimes be a pain.

Darn! I am only growing for personal use and also to give plants and some tomatoes away so I don't have a heat mat.

I planted some of my tomato seeds 6 days ago and some of them 5 days ago. None of them are up yet.

I planted them in a seed starting mix that was nicely watered, covered them with saran and now I wait. Does the heat mat really speed things up by several days? I planted a good 60 seeds and not ONE has popped out. Should I be concerned?

I am heading out of town for the weekend so hopefully some will pop out while I am away.

[quote]Should I be concerned?[/quote]

I would not be. I would just set them in a warm place
and wait (near a furnace vent works if you have
central heating; some people use the top of a refrigerator,
etc). By a window where the sun will shine on them if the
clouds break during the day helps, too.

Yeah, they have been on top of my frig. Hopefully when I get back from the beach tomorrow I will have a few little surprises popping up!

OK - planning to sow tomorrow (meant to do this Feb this year but between an unexpected job opp & two ugly periodontal surgeries... well, it's mid-March for me again!).
Last year I used the dense sowing technique on an electric blanket with FANTASTIC results for tomatoes, peppers, basil & Italian parsley.

Question - Do eggplant respond the same to "The Technique"? Do they handle dense sowing & then being mercilessly ripped asunder from their sibs as well as the tomatoes et al?

One of my finds - the thin clear plastic el cheapo big trashbags they use in hospitals holds 3 seed trays & keeps moisture in & around those flats - not on the table, etc. I found that opening & gently flapping the bag opening daily seemed to keep the plastic off the medium - anyway, they are cheap & worked well for me. I also used the thin plastic vegie bags slit down the side to make a rectangle that fit on top of the tray - worked well but need to watch for tray leakage.

Hey there, Stormy! Yep - eggplant, peppers, tomatillos...as well as lettuce, spinach, chard....different flowers....

One of the most critical things is, following transplanting, ensuring that the new seedlings have a safe place to recover for a few days. Our newly planted 4 inch pots (or whatever we move the packed seedlings into) are well watered and live on the garage floor for a few days before being eased back into full sun and the elements. Early on, as I was just getting into using the method, I found that if you move the seedlings right back outside immediately after transplanting, you can lose them because they had not adequately "recovered" - adjusted - probably due to inadequate water take up, or sun or wind burn.

As I was tending to my alarmingly growing menagerie of seedlings, something else that needs to be emphasized - as critically important - came to mind. It is to keep an eye on things, monitor frequently. Especially for those people who are using the dense planting method, once those tightly packed seedlings get growing, they also get thirsty - especially once they get into some sun, and when it gets warm. This is not a method that will work well if you only check your plants a few times a week - I check my developing trays at least twice a day - morning and evening - and add afternoon as well (which Sue does if I am at work). Drying out seedlings (drooping, looking floppy and dry) will typically recover well when you get to watering them, but it is not something that I expect the seedlings will appreciate if it happens too often.

The flip side is true as well - let the surface dry out between waterings - otherwise you can get a bad round of damping off (especially if you don't use a sterile soil less mix)

Thanks - just got done seeding 72 different types of peppers - maters later today (am I glad I am tapering off the post-surgical steroids!). Note to self - sooooo glad I rinsed & scrubbed all the trays with Clorox water after transplanting out last spring! It was almost like they were new when I pulled them out of the trashbag storage today (ahhhh).

10 days now, I planted pepper seed 5 different seeds and 4 different basil's, the pepper are not coming up. But the basil are, they are on a electric blanket on the floor

I have found that pepper seeds prefer a warmer soil than tomatoes for germination. Even so, many peppers take much longer to germinate than most tomatoes. I have had peppers take 2-3 weeks under less than ideal temperatures. I often soak peppers in +/- 80° water while prepping their trays...it seems to slice a few days off of the germination time.