Skip to main content

Much too late for seeds, I know, I know

…But I’m a sucker, and I saw a mixed-seed packet at Plant World this morning and decided, why the heck not?  With bottom heat, I hope these will sprout quickly and grow fast.  I can always hope, right?

I also bought a cell-pack (79 cents) because, snapped in half, it fits in the square Jiffy 5 x 5 greenhouses I have been using.  I have decided to avoid peat pucks because they are SO hard to keep watered, and I’ve also installed self-watering mats under the plants I do have in pucks.

So half of the cell pack in a square greenhouse tray holds 24 plants.   I decided to use 12 for the new coleus seeds and half to transplant the “Black Dragon” coleus seedlings, which are getting too crowded in their peat pucks (and are too valuable to thin by snipping). 

Just noticed, by the way, looking back, I sowed these Black Dragon seeds just a bit less than a month ago, on February 14th.  So this is what they look like at ALMOST one month.  Not bad…

xplants 001 xplants 002

To replant these, I tore off the wrapping and split each puck, then untangled the individual roots, if necessary – so tiny!  Then I stuck them individually in cells (in some cases, I put two or three small ones in a single cell).  Here’s my favourite plant so far! 

 xplants 004

The colour got washed out in this shot, but it is nice and dark and the first true leaves already have a bit of their distinctive crinkled edge.

The soil I stuck the seedlings into is regular WalMart generic potting soil, but I did sprinkle a couple of teaspoons of name-brand cactus mix on top of each cell in an effort to keep the top of the soil dry and prevent fungus around the tiny stems.

In the remaining twelve cells, I seeded the coleus mix (“T&M Prize Strain Improved Mixed”).  There are still quite a few left over in the packet, but I didn’t want to have too many plants.  With a seed mix, though, you want the freedom to cull the ones that don’t look all that terrific, so I did seed generously. 

Looking at this picture, I realized I forgot to add cactus mix to the “seed-only” cells.  They are in a high-quality seed-starting mix, though, so I’m hopeful that will work well enough.

xplants 003 
To take care of watering, the entire cell pack tray is “sub-irrigated” with a section of Lee Valley Root Barrier Watering Mat, cut to fit the bottom of the 5 x 5 Jiffy Greenhouse, with a “tail” sticking into a nearby dish of water.  I hope it works!

xplants 005

The water shown here is actually chamomile tea, which I use for all seedlings since reading a rumour that chamomile fights fungus.  I don’t want to say anything just yet, but I didn’t have a single seedling damp-off last year when I first started using it (2009).  I add four tea bags (no-name chamomile tea – about $2 for a box) to a big plastic pitcher of boiling water.

  xplants 006

Finally, I taped a cover over the whole thing and transported it gently downstairs to the kitchen counter where it will sit on the heat mat, under lights, until the coleus sprout.  The packet says 10-20 days, but the last time I had germination in under a week with bottom heat.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

לימודי קודש/Limudei Kodesh Copywork & Activity Printables

Welcome to my Limudei Kodesh / Jewish Studies copywork and activity printables page.  As of June 2013, I am slowly but surely moving all my printables over to 4shared because Google Docs / Drive is just too flaky for me. What you’ll find here: Weekly Parsha Copywork More Parsha Activities More Chumash / Tanach Activities Yom Tov Copywork & Activities Tefillah Copywork Pirkei Avos / Pirkei Avot Jewish Preschool Resources Other printables! For General Studies printables and activities, including Hebrew-English science resources and more, click here . For Miscellaneous homeschool helps and printables, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you just want to say Thank You, here’s a

Hebrew/ עברית & English General Studies Printables

For Jewish Studies, including weekly parsha resources and copywork, click here . If you use any of my worksheets, activities or printables, please leave a comment or email me at Jay3fer “at” gmail “dot” com, to link to your blog, to tell me what you’re doing with it, or just to say hi!  If you want to use them in a school, camp or co-op setting, please email me (remove the X’s) for rates. If you enjoy these resources, please consider buying my weekly parsha book, The Family Torah :  the story of the Torah, written to be read aloud – or any of my other wonderful Jewish books for kids and families . English Worksheets & Printables: (For Hebrew, click here ) Science :  Plants, Animals, Human Body Math   Ambleside :  Composers, Artists History Geography Language & Literature     Science General Poems for Elemental Science .  Original Poems written by ME, because the ones that came with Elemental Science were so awful.  Three pages are included:  one page with two po

It's Heart Month: 3 days left to save lives!

Dear Friends & Family: Hi, everybody! Sorry I can’t stop by in person... you're a bit out of my area.  :-) We’re out walking up and down on our street on this beautiful afternoon to raise money for Heart & Stroke.  This cause is important to me (I won't say it's close to my heart , because that would be tacky!).  I hope you'll join me by donating online. Growing up, I watched as every single one of my grandparents' lives were shortened by heart disease and strokes, and my father had a defibrillator that saved his life on more than one occasion.  Heart disease and stroke kill 1 in 3 Canadians and are the #1 killer of women. Please click this link to be redirected to my main page at the Heart & Stroke website: http://tinyurl.com/AtlasHeart Thus ends my personal appeal.  Official information follows.  :-))) ----- Heart disease and stroke is the #1 killer of women - taking more women's lives than all forms of cancer combined. But no one is immune. Th