Entries Tagged 'Planting' ↓

Science!
The pea experiments of Gregor Mendel,
the father of genetics

I’m doing an experiment this year. Not a scientifically-rigorous Gregor Mendel-style seven-year thousands-of-plants experiment. I’m just starting my seeds by three different methods, and we’ll see which has the best results (and look at considerations of energy usage and costs).

• Method 1: Winter sowing
  I started flowers, some perennial fruits, brassicas, some root vegetables, and one of each of the tomato varieties this way.
• Pros: Proponents claim that winter sowed plants are generally hardier than seeds started indoors. You can plant early in winter and don’t have to have space for the containers in your house. Seeds will germinate when the weather is appropriate. Can use plastic containers that would otherwise just be thrown away. Free, aside from seeds and soil.
• Cons: Some plants are not amenable to winter sowing (e.g. tropicals, although tomatoes supposedly can be successful). An early warm spell could cause the seeds to germinate too early, and be susceptible to later freezes. Most seeds will germinate later than they could be started indoors, which may not leave enough time for slow-growing plants to mature in shorter-summer regions.
• My thoughts thus far: A few seeds have sprouted! So far, just some of the cool weather plants, but given that this is the first time I’ve tried winter sowing, it’s very encouraging. I have noticed that my winter sowed containers are a bit too easy to ignore. At least one container dried out and I didn’t notice for a long time. Now that some of them are starting to sprout I need to be sure to check them often so sprouts don’t bump their heads on the container lids.
• Method 2: Indoors on the windowsill
  I’ve started brassicas, greens, and a few tomato varieties so far.
• Pros: By timing your sowing correctly, plants will be ready to transplant outside when the weather is likely to be best for them. Can reuse old containers – egg cartons, plastic six-packs from the transplants you bought last year, etc. No hardening off period necessary. Free, aside from soil and seeds.
• Cons: Requires a sunny windowsill. Takes up space in your windowsills, and makes it hard to close the blinds. The cats could knock them over. Small volumes of soil and the heat of the day results in a need to water often. If the weather is bad there may not be enough light and the seedlings could be weak and leggy.
• My thoughts thus far: It’s very enjoyable watching the seedlings emerging. Some of them sit right next to my office chair, so they get quite a lot of attention.
• Method 3: AeroGarden with seed starting tray
  I’m planting one of each of the tomato varieties, two of each pepper and eggplant, and squeezing in some chard and herbs.
• Pros: No dealing with dirt. Self-watering. Provides plenty of light.
• Cons: Costs money to buy new plugs and nutrient tablets for the seed starting tray. Uses electricity. May be necessary to transplant to larger/individual containers for hardening off and before transplanting outside.
• My thoughts thus far: I started almost all my seeds this way last year and was very happy with it, in general. A few varieties didn’t sprout, but that may have been old seed. (Although I have to say I simply never have any luck with cilantro, no matter how often or by what method I try to start it.) This year I have ambitious plans and simply won’t be able to start everything in the limited number of spaces in the AeroGarden. I’m considering buying replacement bulbs, but $21 for two (proprietary) bulbs (including shipping) makes me cringe.

AeroGarden with seed-starting tray

My mom gave me an AeroGarden a couple years ago, and while I greatly enjoyed the first year’s herb garden, I also used it last year to start seeds quite successfully. Since there are only so many spaces in the tray, I’m reserving it for the warmth-loving, slow-maturing plants that I want to make sure succeed.

First, you need some equipment
The only drawback to using the AeroGarden is the initial cost…and the ongoing costs. Obviously, there’s the AeroGarden itself, which comprises a stand, water reservoir and pump, florescent light bulbs, and one set of six or seven seed plugs and nutrients slated to last about 6 months (although I kept mine going quite nicely for nearly a year) – $99.95 if not received as a gift. To start seeds, you need to purchase an add-on kit of styrofoam insert and sponge plugs in which to plant and grow your seeds – $29.95. Subsequently, you’ll need to buy new plugs every year (or for every batch of seeds you start, if you start seeds indoors in the summer for a fall garden) – $19.95. It is recommended that you replace the proprietary bulbs every six months – $14.95. I haven’t replaced my bulbs yet, but I admit what I planted late this fall did not do nearly as well as the initial herb kit (however, I was also re-using old sponge plugs and using non-AeroGarden nutrients). My AeroGarden uses 42 watts when on, and is on 17 hours per day for starting seeds. That’s 22kWh per month, or $3.01 per month to run.

There are similar plug-style seed starting systems for use with regular grow lights or in a windowsill, but since I have an AeroGarden I might as well use it. The cost of the electricity is considerably less than the cost of the sponge plugs.

Planting time
Planting is easy once you have the equipment. Make sure the sponges are still moist – if not, soak them in a tiny bit of water until they are saturated but not dripping – and drop them into the holes in the styrofoam tray. Put a couple seeds in the divet of each plug. As with the other seed starting methods, be sure to write down what seeds got planted where! Put the styrofoam tray in the AeroGarden’s bowl and fill the bowl with enough water to cover the bottoms of the plugs. Cover the tray with a plastic bag to keep in moisture and reduce mold growth until seedlings start appearing. You don’t need to plug the AeroGarden in initially, but be sure to start the lights’ daily cycle as soon as seedlings start to appear.

As the seedlings grow, raise the height of the lights so they don’t accidentally touch the plants. You may need to transplant seedlings into pots for the week or two of hardening off necessary before transplanting outside, if all the seedlings aren’t going to be transplanted at the same time.

That’s basically it. Coming up: a summary of my seed-starting experiment and the pros and cons of each system so far.

Kale started using two egg cartons: seeds are planted in a paper egg carton, which sits in the flat top of a plastic egg carton, which acts as a watering tray. Keep covered until seeds sprout to retain moisture.

There are infinite sets of instructions on how to start your seeds indoors. Some say you must use florescent shop lights and heating mats, while others contend that you can just put them on a South-facing windowsill. I’m being ambitious this year, and only have so much windowsill, so decided to use it mainly for relatively fast-growing cool weather plants like greens and brassicas. I’m also starting a few tomatoes this way as an experiment.

Containers
The local, pastured co-op eggs I prefer come in those paper/cardboard cartons (which are compostable, by the way). Once in a while I buy eggs at the chain store across the street, where the nearest to pastured eggs come in a clear plastic carton. By cutting a paper carton to fit inside the flat top of the plastic one, I have a set of little ‘pots’ to plant seeds in. Cut off the paper carton’s top, the lip around the egg-holes, and the tips of the peaks so the cover fits, and poke some holes in the bottom of each cup. The flat top of the plastic carton serves as a drip tray, allows bottom-watering, and keeps the paper from letting water evaporate too quickly. I use masking tape keep the tray in place on the windowsill (in case of interested cats).

Soil
Don’t use regular garden soil – it’s too dense for consistently successful seed starting. You can use sifted compost or buy a seed-starting mix, which is what I did this year. Moisten your chosen dirt-substitute, mostly fill up each egg-hole, then put the whole carton in a pan (cookie sheet, casserole dish, etc) with an inch of water.

Plant your seeds
Take the carton out of the pan when fully damp, let drain a bit, and place in the flat plastic egg carton top. Put a couple seeds in each cup and cover with a thin layer of soil – read the instructions for the specific seeds you are planting. You don’t need to water again, just wait a couple minutes and the water will wick to the top.

Label!
Be sure to label what you just planted – I’m telling you, you’ll be sorry if you don’t. I used a Sharpie pen to write on the plastic tray what I planted in each cup.

Wait
Flip the other side of the plastic egg carton on top to retain moisture and put it in the windowsill. Once the seedlings start popping up out of the soil remove the cover – it could retain too much heat on a sunny day and cook the plants. Be sure to water when the soil even starts to look dry – I add about 1/4″ every day or two. Having cut off the tips of the ‘peaks’ between the egg cups left holes just big enough for me to (carefully) pour water through into the plastic tray, so I don’t have to take the paper carton in and out.

Transplant
Eventually it will be time to transplant your little seedlings, whether to bigger pots or outside (be sure to harden off before transplanting outside). Don’t wait too long though, egg carton cups are pretty small and don’t leave room for a ton of root development.

Even though the paper egg carton is compostable, I don’t recommend planting the seedling in the ground still in the egg cup. Last year I used purchased peat pots which you are supposedly able to just plant directly in the ground, reducing transplant shock – however, the pots didn’t break down nearly as fast as was claimed. Given how much thicker the walls of egg cartons are, I’m almost sure they would restrict root growth way too much. But once you’ve transplanted everything, be sure to throw the remains of the damp dirty egg carton on your compost heap.

Winter Sowing in Recycled Containers A month ago I had never heard of Winter Sowing.

“Planting in winter? I can’t plant outside when there’s three feet of snow! Even if I could get to the dirt, nothing would survive!”

Well, according to Urban Sustainable Living and Casaubon’s Book, it will survive – if you do it right.

What to plant
Some seeds require a period of cold (called ’stratification’) in order to germinate. Often these seeds have a hard protective coating that must be broken by cold before the plant can get out and start growing. Other seeds that are a good bet for winter sowing are those described as “self-sowing” or plants native to your area – after all, they come back every year all by themselves, so the seeds must be able to survive the winter. Surprisingly, tomatoes apparently also do fairly well winter sown.

How to plant
The method recommended at Urban Sustainable Living is to put a couple inches of moist seed-starting soil (not dirt from outside – you can buy your soil, or make it with compost and/or peat moss and vermiculite) in the bottom of a plastic container with a clear or translucent top. This can be a juice jug out of your recycling bin, milk jugs, plastic leftover containers, yogurt tubs (with the top cut out to just a ring and used to hold down a piece of clear plastic) or whatever you have on hand. To use milk jugs and similar small-topped containers, cut them in half a few inches from the bottom on three sides and bend the other side to open them. I’m using some of each type of container – whatever I could lay my hands on. Poke drainage holes in the bottom and a few slits in the top to allow heat to escape on sunny days. Plant your seeds according to packet instructions, put the lid on (tape top to bottom of containers you’ve cut in half), label on the side or bottom, and put the container outside. If condensation shows up soon, you’re doing it right. If you check your containers a couple days later and there is no condensation, then your soil was too dry or the openings in the top were too big. This happened to one of my containers – I had not taped the top and bottom milk jug together well enough and all the moisture had escaped. Oh well, I’ll replant and tape it together better.

Why not just plant in the ground? Well, you can do that too, but containers protect the seeds from pests and from just sitting in water-logged soil and rotting. Also, you can plant a container in your kitchen in the middle of January when your green thumb is itching and just put it outside the door in a howling blizzard. Anything you plant in the ground has to get in before the ground freezes and snow covers your yard.

When you see green
The seeds will start to sprout as spring comes and the weather is warming up – the seeds know what conditions they like, so your brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, etc) and greens will show up before the tomatoes. As the seedlings grow, widen the openings in the top of the container to avoid overheating and remove the lid entirely when the plant gets too tall and starts touching the container.

My experiment
I’ve never done winter sowing before, so although I’m trying it out, I’m not counting on it working perfectly. Seeds started by winter sowing will start growing later than seeds started indoors, and I’m not sure there will be enough time for my winter-sown tomatoes to get big and start producing in our shorter summer season here in Minnesota. So, I’ve planted each type of tomato outside, but also plan to start all my seeds indoors at the usual time in two different ways: using the AeroGarden (a gift from my mom) with a special seed starting insert (I’ll discuss this more in a later post, once I actually start some seed in the AeroGarden), and in small containers on my south-facing window sill (although I’m not sure I’ll have enough space for all of them there). I’ve got garden expansion plans, so I should have enough space, but won’t be terribly disappointed if something fails.

I’ve seen claims that winter sowed plants are hardier and sturdier and less susceptible to damping off, etc. We’ll see. I’ll do my best to keep track of which method is most successful and report back here.