Hardening off should take a minimum of a week and may take up to two. Suddenly moving plants from a stable environment to one with wide variations in temperature, light and wind can seriously weaken plants. Make sure to shut them down completely before dark. After the hardening-off period, your seedlings are ready for transplanting. Read our article about transplanting seedlings. Consult our library of Growing Guides , which provide planting, care, and harvesting information for all the common vegetables, fruit, and herbs.
I have grow lights in my house which I keep at least 70 degrees. The seeds germinate quickly and well, but then there is not much more growth. I tried adding a diluted liquid fertilizer. This has been true of basil, broccoli, cauliflower, parsley, peppers, etc. The lights are a few inches above the plants, but they just don't grow more than a couple inches. Showed me things I didn't know about. I hope I get better luck in planting this year. Thank you. Some of my seedlings have grown rapidly and are getting "leggy.
A sunny window, or even a not-so-sunny window and some supplemental lighting should help. Pinching them back will likely stunt their growth or even kill them at this point, so refrain from doing that! Depending on what kind of plant they are, it may be time to replant them in larger pots. Leggy tomato seedlings, for example, can be planted about halfway up to their leaves, as new roots will sprout from the stem. This is not the case for most other seedlings, though.
Hi there, this is my first year planting seeds indoors and I am just wondering, do I leave the seedlings under the lights under I start the hardening off process OR once I transfer them to bigger containers can I then put them in my living room most sun exposure till they are ready to go outside I've researched online but there is soooo much information out there.
Until they are planted outside permanently, the seedlings should be given as much light as possible indoors. After transplanting to larger containers, we would recommend keeping them under the lights for at least a few more days, as this will allow them to recover before being exposed to harsher light.
After that, you can keep them in your living room with more sun exposure, but bear in mind that they will still be fragile and should be provided with enough water.
Also be sure to rotate them every couple of days to ensure even growth! I started my seeds indoor in cardboard cups and last years potting soil that was supposed to be suitable for seeds.
After the first week I have little plants coming up but blueish green mold? Is that a concern? Hi Deborah, The blue-green mold could become an issue if it moves to the roots of the seedlings. An easy fix is to have a small, low-power fan running nearby to provide air circulation.
Another good reason for starting your own seeds is succession planting. You can fill any empty spots as they come open in your garden by starting seeds at times when plants are no longer available for purchase, or those plants are beyond their best date for transplanting.
Hi there, when do I plant strawberry seeds -- to be used in hanging baskets thank you. Late spring is the right time of year to plant bare-root runners that have been cold-stored.
Brought out of the cold and sold on, they will get away very quickly indeed to give a pick of fruits in as little as two months. Or, you can plant regular pot-sold strawberries which should also bear fruit in the same summer. I created a sign on and the only way I can use this app is on my desk top computer. And if you have hard freezes late in spring like I do, make sure to keep an eye on your weather report, and plant after any risk of dips back into the low temperatures.
These cool weather crops can be direct sown — or started indoors and transplanted out — after the first frost date for better results. Other vegetables that do well with direct sowing are tender annuals that can fully mature during a short summer season — within days or less. These plants are not cold hardy, so they should be sown after all risk of frost has passed — and they will generally have plenty of time to reach maturity when direct sown.
However, some varieties of cucumbers, melons, and squash are slower to mature. Some have sensitive root systems, which are easily disturbed during transplanting — such as carrots and spinach, two cool season plants. Others, like radicchio, tend to bolt when transplanted, so direct sowing remains the best planting method. And then there is another group of veggies that only do moderately well with transplanting, so direct sowing is recommended if possible:.
However, transplanting in biodegradable pots will only work if you live in a climate where the biodegradable pot will actually break down. An alternative that works even in dry climates is to grow these delicate-rooted veggies in compressed soil blocks. Ladbrooke Soil Blocker. You can make your own blocks of compressed soil with the Ladbrooke soil blocker, available via Amazon.
Unlike the freewheelers mentioned above that grow productively when their seed is conveniently placed directly in your garden soil, some types of vegetables perform reliably better when started indoors. And beyond the preferences of your seeds as to how they get their start, there are times when you may want to give your preferences priority, and start some of the above indoors anyway. Generally, the vegetables that are sown indoors are the ones that are tender frost sensitive , require warmer germination conditions, and need additional time to reach maturity — long season tender annuals.
These seeds are started indoors, either in a warm and sunny southern facing window, under grow lights , or in a heated greenhouse , usually weeks before the first frost.
Then they are transplanted out to the garden after all risk of frost has passed. Depending on the variety, different plants can require varying amounts of time to grow from seed to maturity. Some tomatoes can take days to reach maturity, and some pepper varieties need days. We want to give them additional time to keep producing.
So these plants, all of which happen to be nightshades , are best started indoors and then transplanted into the garden:. Although starting indoors is the general recommendation for these veggies, you may want to experiment with direct sowing — particularly if you have a long growing season.
Yep, me too — even in Zone 5. However, these successful volunteers tend to be from short season varieties. If you want to experiment with sowing your nightshade seeds directly in your garden, just compare the days to maturity listed on your seed packet to the number of days in your local growing season, and make sure there is some extra time available for the plant to bear fruit before the first frosts arrive. As a general rule, start these vegetable plants indoors for a higher probabilities of success — and early harvests.
For indoor seed starting, a heat mat can come in handy. In addition to the tender annuals mentioned above, there is another group of veggies that often need to be started indoors. Home How To Which seeds should I start indoors? How To Top Stories. Share on Facebook. Sign Up. Co-ops that once brought electricity to rural Ohio work to offer high speed internet.
How to conduct a leaf chromatography experiment at home. Subscribe to Comments. About Farm and Dairy Newspaper. Make a donation. Sowing seeds indoors allows tender plants to be started off earlier in the season. When they have grown into young plants, they can be planted outside in the garden or vegetable plot once the weather is warm enough. Many vegetables, including tomatoes and runner beans, can be started off indoors. Some, like celeriac, need a long growing season to bulk up, so are best started off indoors rather than direct outdoor sowing.
Annual bedding plants , such as morning glory Ipomoea , sweet pea Lathyrus odoratus , marigolds Calendula and Tagetes species and sunflowers Helianthus cultivars can be started off indoors to create flower displays for the summer.
Some tender perennials, such as cannas , begonias and Diascia can also be sown from seed indoors, but generally take two years to reach flowering size. Perennials live indefinitely, so a slow start pays off in the long run! If you have a heated greenhouse or enough space and light in the house, you can sow some things indoors as early as January e.
Otherwise, most crops and flowers are started off indoors in February or March, for planting out in May or June when the risk of frost has passed. Damping off rotting of young seedlings can be a problem, especially for the novice gardener or where the seeds have been too wet. As plants develop, they may show signs of stress if short of water or fertiliser. Dull foliage may indicate drought stress and pale lower leaves may suggest a lack of feed.
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