Normal Sprout Rate

[sunnychooks]

I'm not sure if my seed/sprout ratio is normal or if I'm doing something wrong. This is what I planted and what is growing:

Transplants:
Peppers - 12 seeds planted, 11 growing
Eggplant - 12 seeds planted, 4 growing

Directly sowed:
Peas - 40 seeds planted, 28 growing
Lettuce - 8 seeds planted, 4 growing
Zucchini - 8 seeds planted, 5 growing (I only planted these about 5 days ago)

Does this sound like I'm not having a good sprout rate or is this what's to be expected?

Thanks!

 

[OaklandCityFarmer]

I'm not sure if my seed/sprout ratio is normal or if I'm doing something wrong.

This all depends on a few things. How old are the seeds? As far as the transplants are going, what kind of set up do you have them under? How many seeds per cell/hill/hole did you plant? How warm is your outside soil temp?

Transplants:
Peppers - 12 seeds planted, 11 growing
Eggplant - 12 seeds planted, 4 growing

Peppers seem fine but I'm sure you know that. Eggplant require very warm soil to germinate, IME. I personally always have issues with eggplant from seed.

Directly sowed:
Peas - 40 seeds planted, 28 growing
Lettuce - 8 seeds planted, 4 growing
Zucchini - 8 seeds planted, 5 growing (I only planted these about 5 days ago)

Are you sure they didn't sprout and then get eaten by something? Birds love to eat my lettuce sprouts and usually lose a lot of them that way. Same thing with peas. Your zucchini seem fine, I'd give them another week before you really start to worry.

 

[silkiechicken]

I would have to say that normal is relative and so many factors come into play... there's really no normal.

Like OCF said, there are A LOT of factors and often it's a gamble.

 

[patandchickens]

It might be more useful to just ask yourself whether your germination rate is *acceptable to you*. If not, either try to figure out what the problem is or make a mental note to sow more next time.

FWIW, with new things, or seeds that are older or of uncertain provenance, I usually sow a buncha duplicates (although that does require annoying thinning later on), and I don't bother sowing any obviously-small seeds, and I have MUCH better success sowing indoors than out (I massively suck at keeping direct-sown seeds consistantly damp and protected til the plants get big enough to fend for themselves )

As others have said, the eggplant thing may be cool soil; the lettuce thing may be loss to bugs (ants carrying off seeds), birds, etcetera.

If it makes you feel any better, my mother, who has direct-sown her later plantings of lettuce for many many decades, suddenly this year and last year cannot get ANY plants that way. We assume something is eating them. She's going to give up and just start them indoors from now on <shrug>

Of course, if next year you plant three times as many seeds, that will cause you to have 105% germination and then you will have a jillion plants to give away or compost...

Have fun,

Pat

 

[sunnychooks]

Thanks to everyone for the info!

The seeds are all new. I ordered from Baker Creek only a few months ago. The peppers and eggplants are still not transplanted outside yet. I only planted them about 6 weeks ago and they're still small so I want to wait another couple of weeks to plant them outside (although I bring them out everyday and inside at night). I planted them in toilet paper rolls with potting soil. I think you may be right about the eggplant not being in a warm enough environment. My house is shaded and tends to stay cool inside.
It's also possible that birds got the seeds, too. I had never even thought about that! I wanted to put bird netting over the garden, but just never did. That's something I'll have to make a point of doing now.
Luckily, I did plant more seeds than I wanted plants! I only wanted 8 pepper and eggplants (I planted 12) and a couple of zucchini (I should have known better). I have no idea how may peas I would want so I planted 40. There's only DH and me so I think we'll be OK with 28!!! And the lettuce was an afterthought.
Since I never planted a garden before, I'm actually happy that SOMETHING is growing. Next year I'll have a better idea of what we will actually need.
Zucchini, anyone???!!!