Planting Anxiety

[DawnSuiter]

Ok.. so i was excited.. I am ALWAYS excited to order the seeds... then I plant them in seed starting pots, then the cat won't stop laying by them so the soil gets full of her hair (sometimes she eats a couple when they get bigger but this is less a problem than her fur!!) and so we pick out the cat hairs...
the soil stays moist, a few days later some stupid little gnat things start flying around and the madness starts! The plants grow slowly, they are impossible to get out of those 6 packs!! I know it's not rocket science but I must admit, gardening is the HARDEST thing I've ever had to learn! I do better with quasars and quantum reality, than I do with simple plants & trees!!!

So instead of potting soil, or vegetable miracle grow soil this year and stupid plastic starter trays that I can NEVER get the plants out of without practically killing them.. I bought those silly jiffy pots & jiffy seed starting mix. Last year my transplanting caused a 2 month STUNT in almost all growth!!!

The only window I have faces West, is THIS my problem????? I grow sunflowers outside of this same window but not for another month could I do that..

 

[dbjay417]

maybe i'm asking a stupid question, but are you allowing your plants to grow strong and healthy before you attempt transplant??

I tried transplanting my first tray of cucumbers too early and I had the same results, the soil was lose and the roots were weak, many broke and I lost a plant, and the survivors were stunted and are just now making a complete recovery.

I decided to wait another week and a half before transplanting the other tray and the plants were so sturdy that i lifted them out by the stem and the soil was solidly bound by a mass of roots.

Maybe your not giving them enough time in the trays.

The second tray has been in the ground for 3 days and are bigger and more vital looking than the first tray.

Gardening is one of those arts that you learn over time, making mistake after mistake.

Last year I was so slothful, inattentive, ignorant, and impatient, that almost everything I planted died. I harvested two tomatoes, and a tortured pepper plant managed to survive and is now thriving. I was crushed. My confidence was shot because at the time i did not see the error of my ways. I thought I was just bad at it.

Since then, as i have all year to putter around in the yard, I have grown much closer to my land, and i have a better understanding of my plants needs and how to fulfill them properly. The success I'm enjoying this year is built on a foundation of last years miserable failure. But even still i made that mistake with my cukes.

You grow with your garden, but unlike your plants that reach maturity in 90 to 120 days, it'll take you more years than most people get on earth to master this craft.

the important thing is to persevere and to learn and adapt.

here are three quotes that I think are dead on about gardening.

There is no gardening without humility. Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder. ~Alfred Austin


The best fertilizer is the gardener's shadow. ~Author Unknown


By the time one is eighty, it is said, there is no longer a tug of war in the garden with the May flowers hauling like mad against the claims of the other months. All is at last in balance and all is serene. The gardener is usually dead, of course. ~Henry Mitchell, The Essential Earthman, 1981

 

[DawnSuiter]

Thank you.
Maybe I don't wait long enough...
how would I know if it's been long enough?

I will persevere :tools

 

[dbjay417]

it depends on the type of plant i guess.

here is how I THINK you may be able to tell. Poke in the bottom to unstick the soil. gently grab the plant by the stem and slowly pull it up. if the stem is too flimsy or the potting soil starts to break apart, its too early. wait for some more leaves to grow in and try again. if your too hasty or too heavy handed you'll kill the plant your trying to remove though.

 

[DawnSuiter]

it depends on the type of plant i guess.

here is how I THINK you may be able to tell. Poke in the bottom to unstick the soil. gently grab the plant by the stem and slowly pull it up. if the stem is too flimsy or the potting soil starts to break apart, its too early. wait for some more leaves to grow in and try again. if your too hasty or too heavy handed you'll kill the plant your trying to remove though.

that is a recipe I can follow.
thank you

 

[patandchickens]

Another thing to reduce transplant shock is harden them off well, and then be extra nice to them for a few weeks (shade, shelter from wind, make sure they're neither over- nor under-watered, put a rock just to the SW side of the transplant to shade/cool/protect the plant, etc).

IME the key to getting seedlings out of cell paks is to scratch off any root tips that are protruding through the bottom hole, make sure the soil is not too soggy but not at all dry, and then turn upside down while poking the bottom of each cell with your finger (to flex the plastic enough to make the soil/plant come out.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[digitS']

Dawn, a West window isn't ideal. Is there some supplemental lighting you can get on them? If it is like most windows, there are 2 pieces of glass for the weak sunlight to pass thru. The rule of thumb is that every type of glazing (glass or plastic), cuts down about 10% of the light. The clouds may take care of half the rest of it .

With or without the light, our homes are usually a little too warm for most of our garden plants. If the sunlight comes blazing in during the afternoon and the temperature climbs into the 90's in that West window, that may be a little too much, also. But too much heat and not enuf light results in stretching. That doesn't quite seem to be your problem. If I understand it, the lack of growth is what has you down, right?

Could it be that the soil is being kept too wet or allowed to become too dry? Generally, only the surface of the soil should dry out between waterings. And, that should happen - soggy soil won't allow growth. So, the seedlings should never wilt nor be forced to grow in bog-like conditions.

For tiny plants, bottom watering is best. Just place your containers in a tray of water for an hour or so. Then allow them to completely drain - the soil will hold sufficient water to get the plant thru several days, generally. I use sprinkling only after the plants can stand up to the watering wand and there gets to be just not enuf hours in the day to rotate the flats thru the "bath tub" for a more gently soaking.

Gnats are probably fungus gnats and it kind of indicates that you are keeping things too wet. They come in with the outdoor soil so do you have plants you bring in from the outdoors in the Fall?

I've given up trying to spray the gnats and just buy the little yellow sticky traps and put 1 or 2 stickies in every houseplant in the Fall. The gnats show up but those traps take care of them pretty quickly.

The jiffy pots are fine, in my opinion, altho' I haven't used them in years. They are containers and like any container, they can hold soil. Some folks don't think that the plants do well once you get them out into the garden. Two things will make sure that they are fine when transplanted out in their jiffy pots: 1.) remove the entire bottom of the pot, and 2.) make sure that the top edge of the pot is covered with garden soil.

The plant roots shouldn't have any problem growing straight down out of the pot into the garden soil if there's no bottom to interfere. And, that top edge of the jiffy pot may act like a "wick" and draw moisture from around the roots unless it is cover with soil.

I've set peppers and snapdragons out into the garden that have only been a couple inches high. After weeks and weeks indoors, that's the best that they've been able to do. (Usually, because there wasn't enuf sunlight.) They've still produced flowers and fruit. Sometimes, plants grow despite our care and not because of it.

It is always nice to have big, robust transplants with roots having just that moment reached every square millimeter of a container. Their muscles are fairly bulging and their feet firmly set in the starting blocks when you plunk them down into fertile garden soil. But then, as often as not, the weather turns against you and everything just sits out there and looks at you.

Try for a variety so that there's some "depth to the bench" with your garden plants. You may have some All-Stars that will show what a good gardener you are. (And, they might hide those puny ones that can only be counted on to wimp-out. ) Finding the right varieties that want to grow in your garden is probably half of what is necessary for success, anyway .

Steve

 

[DawnSuiter]

Pat thank you so much I will remember the rock when I send them out
Steve in past years I confess to reusing soil... that must be why the gnats.. ok.. won't do that anymore and am starting with a fresh bag of the jiffy soil.

they definitely get long, that's why I get in a rush to transplant them outdoors! not enough light.. ok.. I will work on something.
it's 64 degrees in the window sill, it's a bay window, double glass.

HOW much light does one need for this starting? any amount? I have a lamp with those energy saver bulbs... I could probably find another.....

 

[dbjay417]

Dawn, a West window isn't ideal. Is there some supplemental lighting you can get on them? If it is like most windows, there are 2 pieces of glass for the weak sunlight to pass thru. The rule of thumb is that every type of glazing (glass or plastic), cuts down about 10% of the light. The clouds may take care of half the rest of it .

With or without the light, our homes are usually a little too warm for most of our garden plants. If the sunlight comes blazing in during the afternoon and the temperature climbs into the 90's in that West window, that may be a little too much, also. But too much heat and not enuf light results in stretching. That doesn't quite seem to be your problem. If I understand it, the lack of growth is what has you down, right?

Could it be that the soil is being kept too wet or allowed to become too dry? Generally, only the surface of the soil should dry out between waterings. And, that should happen - soggy soil won't allow growth. So, the seedlings should never wilt nor be forced to grow in bog-like conditions.

For tiny plants, bottom watering is best. Just place your containers in a tray of water for an hour or so. Then allow them to completely drain - the soil will hold sufficient water to get the plant thru several days, generally. I use sprinkling only after the plants can stand up to the watering wand and there gets to be just not enuf hours in the day to rotate the flats thru the "bath tub" for a more gently soaking.

Gnats are probably fungus gnats and it kind of indicates that you are keeping things too wet. They come in with the outdoor soil so do you have plants you bring in from the outdoors in the Fall?

I've given up trying to spray the gnats and just buy the little yellow sticky traps and put 1 or 2 stickies in every houseplant in the Fall. The gnats show up but those traps take care of them pretty quickly.

The jiffy pots are fine, in my opinion, altho' I haven't used them in years. They are containers and like any container, they can hold soil. Some folks don't think that the plants do well once you get them out into the garden. Two things will make sure that they are fine when transplanted out in their jiffy pots: 1.) remove the entire bottom of the pot, and 2.) make sure that the top edge of the pot is covered with garden soil.

The plant roots shouldn't have any problem growing straight down out of the pot into the garden soil if there's no bottom to interfere. And, that top edge of the jiffy pot may act like a "wick" and draw moisture from around the roots unless it is cover with soil.

I've set peppers and snapdragons out into the garden that have only been a couple inches high. After weeks and weeks indoors, that's the best that they've been able to do. (Usually, because there wasn't enuf sunlight.) They've still produced flowers and fruit. Sometimes, plants grow despite our care and not because of it.

It is always nice to have big, robust transplants with roots having just that moment reached every square millimeter of a container. Their muscles are fairly bulging and their feet firmly set in the starting blocks when you plunk them down into fertile garden soil. But then, as often as not, the weather turns against you and everything just sits out there and looks at you.

Try for a variety so that there's some "depth to the bench" with your garden plants. You may have some All-Stars that will show what a good gardener you are. (And, they might hide those puny ones that can only be counted on to wimp-out. ) Finding the right varieties that want to grow in your garden is probably half of what is necessary for success, anyway .

Steve

I graciously await the day i can impart that quality of advice.

 

[patandchickens]

HOW much light does one need for this starting? any amount? I have a lamp with those energy saver bulbs... I could probably find another.....

Tube-type fluorescent fixtures are quite adequate for the amount of seedlings that will fit under them (meaning, almost directly under). So what size fixture you need would depend on how many seedlings you are starting -- if just a few, one of those 16" long under-the-cabinet stick-on fixtures might be (barely) adequate, but most people would use a 4' shoplight fixture with 2 or 4 bulbs (they are VERY CHEAP, like $15 or less on sale).

You could probably get away with a *little* less light if they are on a windowsill, but frankly not *much* less.

Suspend the lights so that the bulb is, no kidding, about 2" above the seedling's leaves. Really two inches, honest.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat