From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Rhode Island

i should have made this post weeks ago but better late than never.(i just thought of it due to a couple phone conversation i had )

hundreds of valuable seeds are purchased at auction,club seed sales and raffle yearly. growers spend a lot of money to get the seeds they want.so why take chances?

before you get to that actual start date ,especially if your an experienced grower? you really need to perfect your germination skills.run a test batch or two with seeds that dont mean as much so once you get to start those auction and special request seeds? you will have the best possible chance of success.

4/9/2012 7:47:08 AM

Rhode Island

sorry meant to say "even if your an experienced grower" woops

4/9/2012 7:49:07 AM

Waterville, Ohio

I was just thinking about this, thanks for the reminder pap.

4/9/2012 11:24:59 AM

South Hero, VT

Good tip, pap. I've tried to help some new growers in the past who didn't follow this tip, and they blew through all the seeds I gave them before they said "They didn't grow." :-(

I always use my own, unproven, seeds to test my germination set up before I plant the heavy hitters, and plant back ups as well--just in case.

4/9/2012 12:14:12 PM

Valencia Spain

i messed up my dhaho seeds from being too wet, but rest of my seeds managed to germinate

4/9/2012 2:06:33 PM

Muddy Waters

Great advice I think I will try that this weekend

4/9/2012 10:19:27 PM

Rhode Island

i posted that because as growers sometimes we assume everyone knows the proper way to germinate seeds only to later find out they had cut their chances for success way down by using risky methods. to me the mmost inportant things regarding seed start is
1.dont over sand the seed --especially the tip
2.if you pre soak? do so for no more than 1 hr max
3.use professional seed starter mix not heavy dirt
4.poke three pencil size holes around middle of peat pot
5.keep peat pots moist not over saturated
6.constant heat between 85 to a max of 95 degrees-no window
sills ( this is where a lot of growers go wrong) this is
a big seed with a thick shell and requires
adaquate moisture and constant heat to germinate
correctly

4/10/2012 8:06:00 AM

Ireland

Pap, just out of curiosity, why do you poke three holes around the middle of the pot?
Thanks Micheál

4/10/2012 10:15:55 AM

Rhode Island

micheal--we poke the holes to allow good heat and air flow into the container.

4/11/2012 12:15:01 AM

Ireland

Thanks again Pap
Micheál

4/11/2012 12:40:22 PM