Branching Out's Seeds and Sprouts

[Moon888]

I garden in the Pacific Northwest where February is usually the last real month winter. The snow crocuses have just started to bloom, and other spring bulbs like tulips and daffodils are starting to push through the soil. Currently our temperatures are staying above freezing both day and night, but later this week there is going to be a blip with an Arctic outflow bringing overnight temperatures of -9C (16F). This is kind of messing me up, becasue I have trays of greens waiting to get planted out, and there is no way they would survive -9C. I have made a note on my planting chart to start these seeds 2-3 weeks later next year, and for now I will hold them in their trays so I can bring them indoors when the deep freeze hits.

The lilac grass-like flowers are beautiful!

 

[ducks4you]

When I lived in town with 1/4 acres all I could grow was tomatoes and cucumbers, back yard facing North. I had slugs, and I would buy the cheapest beer in a can, dig a hole and deposit it there. It would fill up with slugs.

 

[Branching Out]

How can we truly know whether seeds are GMO, do you know? thanks linda

I suspect that it would require scientific testing-- not my area of expertise though.

 

[flowerbug]

How can we truly know whether seeds are GMO, do you know? thanks linda

it depends upon the crop/seeds, but usually most GMO seeds are set up that way so that the growing plants can be sprayed with a herbicide and they want the plants that have the GMO traits to survive being sprayed so that all the rest of the plants (aka weeds) around those are killed.

so the easiest and cheapest way to do it is get some of the seeds, sprout them and let them grow a while and then spray them with the herbicide that you're worried about them being able to resist. there are now more than one herbicide and GMO technology (that's what they call it not me) like this so you may have to test several kinds.

personally, i consider them plagues and eventually the weeds find a way to mutate and become resistant themselves... like insecticides... *SMH*

 

[flowerbug]

I suspect that it would require scientific testing-- not my area of expertise though.

yes, that's likely to be a more sure fire way to do it but i don't know how much such a test would cost and what percentage concentration of seeds with the GMO trait you'd need to be sure to get a positive result on the tests.

 

[Branching Out]

I planted out tulip bulbs in November, and must have had the brilliant idea to cover the patch with a large pot to keep the bulbs drier in our wet Pacific Northwest climate. After planting them I promptly forgot about them, until yesterday (when they were kind of hard to miss!) Who knew that tulips were so strong??

 

[Branching Out]

Fresh spring bouquets at a local coffee cart.

 

[Branching Out]

Followed our local garden guru Linda Gilkeson's advice and started Green Arrow peas on vermiculite. Very good root development, and exceptionally easy to transplant. I will definitely try this pre-sprouting technique again.

 

[Decoy1]

Is the idea behind this that the roots develop more easily in the vermiculite so you get that little bush of sideways roots and not so many going strongly down?

 

[Branching Out]

Is the idea behind this that the roots develop more easily in the vermiculite so you get that little bush of sideways roots and not so many going strongly down?

Having started all of my tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, and zinnias in tiny cups of vermiculite I can attest that the roots go straight down-- and they do not get tangled with the roots of adjacent seedlings, which is what makes it so easy to prick them out. The pea seeds can also go several days without any attention, as the vermiculite acts like a sponge; it holds a lot of water, and gradually releases it back to the plant. These Green Arrow peas were started on March 26th, and spent almost 3 weeks on 1" of vermiculite. For the first while they were in our living room, and then once they started to germinate I moved the container outdoors for cool bright light. Also, I believe that I added more coarse vermiculite after a week or so, sprinkled over top to keep the seeds from drying out. Definitely worth trying this method in my opinion. (And note that I have not had success starting beans this way; it just doesn't work for beans.)

The sweet pea seeds that I started on vermiculite look very promising as well, putting on lots of vegetative growth quickly. I hope to prick those sweet peas out today.