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| Germinating Onion and Pepper Seedlings. 1.25.19 |
Here are the seedlings so far. I've been starting them in seedling 6-packs. I put the 6 packs into a cheap bread-loaf sized plastic bag and sit them on a seedling warmer mat until they germinate. Then they come out of the bag and are just under the lights.
Despite the weird color when the lights are turned on, the plants seem to be growing normally. Turn off the lights, and the leaves are a normal green.
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| Germinating Onions Seedlings. 1.25.19 |
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| LED Seedling Set-up/ 1.29/18 |
I may set up one of the old CFL fixtures, because I don't want to spend too much on LEDs and I have more seedlings to start.
The onion varieties are Red Westerfield, Stuttgarter, and some old seeds from Blush Pink or something like that. I also bought some WallaWalla seeds that I started a few days ago.
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| Seeds Planted Today. 1.25.19 |
I planted some Tabasco and Thai pepper seeds earlier, which have partially germinated. The seed warmer mat dries them out a little too fast for me, so I took that out. If no additional Tabasco and Thai seedlings emerge, I think I have enough.
Today I planted additional pepper seeds - "Craig Jalapeno", a Jalapeno from the store, Banana, Ring Of Fire cayenne-type, and regular Cayenne, and a Korean Pepper. Most are from Baker Creek Seeds.
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| Above Onion Seedlings, Turned Off LED Lights. 1.25.19 |
The last photo shows some of the onion seedlings, just turning off the LED light to take the photo.
How do you keep the seedlings from getting too tall and leggy when you started them so early? I always have trouble with with my starts being susceptible to sunburn and having no stem strength, usually my seeds started in the ground outperform indoor starts
ReplyDeleteWD, thanks for the input and question.
DeleteI keep the lights bright. Onions seem to do well this way. Plus, they get planted out early, before other plants. Probably in March or at the latest, April. I introduce them slowly to the outdoor conditions, 1 hour outdoors for a couple days, then 2 hours a day for a couple of days, etc, and not in full sunlight until they are acclimated. I have not had problems that way.
Starting onions this way works better for me than seeds planted outdoors or sets. The peppers are so slow growing, I wanted to try them really early this year. I have a sunroom for them which I will move the peppers to in a month or two, before moving them outdoors.
Would you be interested in some kiwi seeds? I hand pollinated Issai and another hardy kiwi with Matua fuzzy male blossoms with hopes of seeing a larger fruited hardy progeny. I saved seeds from both vines and kept them in the fridge all winter.
ReplyDeleteWD, thanks for the offer. I don't know what I would do with another kiwi. If I can find a fuzzy male scion at the Home Orchard Society scion exchange, I might graft that onto my existing Kiwi. Deer ate the last graft! So far it's grown very rangy, but no blosdoms or fruits yet.
ReplyDelete