June 1, 2009

Well, I'd love to be able to tell you how to successfully start seedlings every time.  But, it appears that what I'm really good at is killing seedlings.  Not to say that I kill them every time, but I do it fairly often.

Here are some sure fire way to kill seedlings:

Drown them - don't leave seedlings out doors in containers that don't drain if you're expecting rain.

Cook them - seedlings with bottom heat and overhead light are prone to drying out quickly.

Poison them - regardless of what you may read, dilute solutions of coffee or tea are not for seedlings.  It seems to work OK for mature plants as a foliar feed but NOT for seedlings.  Remember what Mom told you?  Coffee is for grown-ups.

Infect them - mycobacterium are fine to use with seeds if you are direct seeding into garden soil - there are lots of competitor microbes to keep them in check.  If you use it in seedling media such as peat moss and perlite you will get a fungus infestation and have to pitch your seeds  - they won't even germinate.  Same thing for adding stuff like alfalfa meal - great for garden plants, awful for seedlings.

Here are a few ways to stunt your seedlings:

Keep them in seed starting media without fertilizing them properly.  It is very very hard to find vegan fertilizers.  I have made do with a variety of potions but most lack sufficient phosphorus.  I know successful farmers who start seed directly in trays filled with soil and compost from their farms.  If you have good quality soil and compost, go ahead and try this.  The tomato volunteers in my backyard are bigger and healthier than my seedlings...

Wait too long to pot them up - the sooner the better and the more room the better each time they are potted up.  Use soil and compost if available to pot up - at this stage the plants really need nutrients.

Start them in the basement with shop lights.  Too cold, not enough light and a huge hassle when  you want to start hardening off.

BUT - plants are tough and really really really want to grow - so even if you have spindly leggy puny seedlings - get them in your garden - I've been amazed at how eager my pathetic little seedlings have been to get growing!

PS - Those are last year's cabbage and lettuce seedlings - I poisoned all of them with coffee this year...sigh...