What is the most Difficult Seed you Had Luck with?

[Nyboy]

Its a cold icy day out, I am thinking of spring.I never had the paticence to start seeds, this spring i might try to start some white wonder tomato seeds. I know some seeds are easly and some very hard to grow. What is the most difficult plant you grew from seed?

 

[majorcatfish]

thats a easy one...brussel sprouts and parsnips

 

[Ridgerunner]

Not sure exactly what you mean by most difficult. I’ll start with celery. I direct seeded it in the garden and got lousy germination. When it did finally sprout, I had trouble telling it from a certain weed I have here until it got much bigger. Then I had to overwinter what little I got to get any production.


About any seed I need to start in early to mid August for my fall garden. I have to start the cool-weather crops when the temperatures are exceedingly high and rain is something pretty unusual. I have to water twice a day to keep them moist enough to sprout and keep the surface from drying out and forming a hard crust that nothing can grow through. Then when they do finally sprout, I have to keep watering until the roots get well-established. If I miss a day or maybe two in that three to four week period, I’ve lost them. That’s carrots, beets, peas, chard, kale, and lettuce or other greens. I’m giving serious thought to starting chard and kale inside and transplanting them. I think they’d be OK that way.

 

[journey11]

The most difficult time I've had getting something to germinate would be rosemary from seed. One year none of them came up and the second time I tried (new packet of seed), I only got two seedlings out of the deal.

Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts...I agree, those can be hard in a couple of ways. I usually have no trouble getting them to sprout, but if you aren't careful to keep your temps cool and give them bright light, they'll get leggy very easily. Then there's dampening off to deal with too. If you get past all that and you get them out to the garden plot...oh, sure, they really want to grow, especially if you gave them enough fertilizer. But they are bug magnets...they'll come from far and wide and you have to put a lot of extra effort into protecting them from getting all chewed up.

You'll be happy with your efforts starting tomatoes, Nyboy. They are one of the easier seeds to start, IMO, and you almost can't kill them.

 

[digitS']

Outdoors, carrot seed has been a difficult one for me. They are very shallowly sown and the soil dries out in what can be 3 weeks for them to sprout. I need to hit the window when outdoor conditions are just right, somewhere in April. An alternative is pelleted carrot seeds! That works great, I have even had good luck with them germinating right thru June!

Beets don't have any chance of growing well here from an August sowing. I imagine that would be true with chard, as well.

Nyboy, you are probably talking about starting seed indoors. I can get in trouble by putting a number of varieties in the starter mix in a clear plastic "cookie box." Some seed will germinate quickly and I cannot keep the seedlings in the warm location because there is not enuf light there. So, out they come to the south window. That clear plastic cover has to come off and and if the seed is still in the soil, they just don't come up as well after that. It isn't quite as warm in that south window overnight but it is probably both the moisture-retaining cover and the warm temperature in the kitchen that helps the seed get started.

Warm but not quite warm enuf. It stays 70°f above the fridge overnight. I think the pepper seed would like it about 5° warmer! They do okay but their uneven emergence suggests that things are quite optimal.

About the only other things I do to encourage sprouting is put seed that are supposed to benefit from it - in the fridge for a week or so before they go in the starter mix. Also, the starter mix is not something I cannot trust! It is the same dang stuff I've used for 20+ years - Black Gold. I'm sure there are others just as good, I'm just skeered to try 'em!

Finally, I get that mix good and soaked by making holes in the bottom of the cookie box and allowing the filled box to soak in a basin of water for a couple of hours. The box then sits out on the deck and drips overnight. After that, in it comes, the seed is sprinkled on the wet mix and covered with a handful of dry and I'm in business.

Steve

 

[Smart Red]

I guess I'll have to say Alpine strawberries. I planted so many seeds of both a red and a white variety. While most of the red came up, very few of the white germinated. By the time I planted them outside, I had lost all the white and most of the red strawberry plants.

I was totally unable to germinate seeds (I received in a trade) from my most desired plant -- Cloud Berries. Since I didn't get any to grow, they don't fit your requirements.

I did a trade of many plants for one lotus seed. Before I had a chance to give it a try, the trader E-mailed that her other seeds had gotten damaged. Figuring she already had experience growing them and could start the seed better than I could, I mailed it back so that doesn't count either.

When you've been gardening for nearly 50 years, there are lots of things that fail to grow. I just keep plugging along and learning from my mistakes.

 

[so lucky]

The most difficult time I've had getting something to germinate would be rosemary from seed. One year none of them came up and the second time I tried (new packet of seed), I only got two seedlings out of the deal.

Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts...I agree, those can be hard in a couple of ways. I usually have no trouble getting them to sprout, but if you aren't careful to keep your temps cool and give them bright light, they'll get leggy very easily. Then there's dampening off to deal with too. If you get past all that and you get them out to the garden plot...oh, sure, they really want to grow, especially if you gave them enough fertilizer. But they are bug magnets...they'll come from far and wide and you have to put a lot of extra effort into protecting them from getting all chewed up.

You'll be happy with your efforts starting tomatoes, Nyboy. They are one of the easier seeds to start, IMO, and you almost can't kill them.

I second that. I have successfully revived tomato plants that I pulled out and threw away.

 

[Carol Dee]

Out doors. Carrots and parsnips. Last year Parsnips 0. Carrots ONE! (Of subject, can anyone help us up our success? )

 

[seedcorn]

Parsnips

 

[digitS']

Out doors. Carrots and parsnips. Last year Parsnips 0. Carrots ONE! (Of subject, can anyone help us up our success? )

Nobody reads anything I wriiiittee!

Outdoors, carrot seed has been a difficult one for me. They are very shallowly sown and the soil dries out in what can be 3 weeks for them to sprout. I need to hit the window when outdoor conditions are just right, somewhere in April. An alternative is pelleted carrot seeds! That works great, I have even had good luck with them germinating right thru June! . . .

Carol Dee, go to www.johnnyseeds.com and into the search box type - pelleted carrot

or, pelleted parsnip

I suppose.

Steve