Seedling nursery - into the sun

-
Now that I am getting germination of the seeds, I have moved the seedlings out into the sun. The temperatures here in the desert have cooled off considerably in the last day or two, so the seedlings are in no danger of burning up, as they would have been just a week ago. In fact, they need to get out into the sun, or they will be spindly and *leggy*, stretching themselves out.

Another task that needs to happen now is to do some thinning, and replant seeds in the cells that are empty. I used a sharp-pointed scissor, but I also found that I could use my fingers very carefully. It's best to take the cut-down seedlings out of the cells as they can encourage disease as they rot. I put them out into the garden where they will dry up in a matter of minutes. As I've developed more confidence in the germination rate, I am being more careful with my seed planting. I am actually trying to plant one seed at a time. With the lettuce seeds, which are fairly big, that's pretty easy. The other seeds are incredibly tiny, so I put a few into my left hand and use the point of the scissors to guide them out, one by one, along the fold inside of my palm (not the lifeline, one of the other ones).

The little greenhouses have a bottom part that holds the water in, and you can also see that there are a few misters in this area, which help keep the moisture in. This is a tricky balance - you need sunshine for good strong seedlings, but you also need to avoid letting them dry out. This combination of the greenhouses and the misters seems to be working fine - as long as the weather stays cool.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Growing sunflowers from Pennsylvania in Arizona

-
Image
It's October 21st, and I just received some sunflower seeds from a friend in Pennsylvania. Their season is ending and the season for planting here in Arizona is just beginning, and I'm kinda wondering if the seeds are wondering what's going on? It's spring again already? If you're new to the Phoenix, Arizona area, and are from back east it must seem kinda strange that fall and winter is our flower season, but it is. By springtime it will start to get so hot here that the flowers will die, and of course back east the season is just beginning.  Sunflowers growing in Peoria, Arizona, about a mile from where I live I've seen sunflowers blooming around my neighborhood of Glendale, which is a suburb of Phoenix, in the winter, and although I've never grown them I understand that they're easy to grow. I guess I'll find out - I learn best by doing! The seeds arrived safely, and it's my understanding that they were still connected to the spent flower (I do
Read more

How to tell if your cycad (sago palm) is alive or dead

-
Image
Cycads are strange plants. They're beautiful, and look like small palm trees, or large ferns. They grow very slowly, and can be very expensive, even common ones like "sago palms". But sago palms, in spite of their common name, aren't palms at all. They belong to a group of plants called cycads. They are wonderfully weird, and grow in strange ways. And sometimes they lose all of their leaves. Of course, if it were a palm tree that lost all of its leaves, you would know that the plant was dead. But it's not true of cycads. So don't dig that cycad up and throw it away! Not yet. If you've recently transplanted a cycad, and the leaves have all faded away, hang on. Take a look at the top center of the plant, at what I call "the pucker". There you will see some stubby, soft fronds, no more than an half-inch or so. At least that's what you should see. That means that the plant is still alive, and has dropped its leaves to focus on building r
Read more

Rooting sago palm pups for more plants

-
Image
Once a sago palm ( cycas revoluta ) reaches a certain level of maturity, it starts to create pups. Like agaves, these are little plants that are exactly the same as the parent plant, only smaller. And yes, you can trim them off and grow them into new plants. This is how to do it. Cut them off from the parent plant with a sharp knife. If there are any roots at the bottom, try to save them, but chances are there won't be any. That's not a problem. The next step is rooting them. Douse the cut part and the bottom of the plant with some garden sulfur and some rooting hormone powder. Rooting hormone powder is pretty easy to find at your local Home Depot. I had to go to a real nursery to get garden sulfur. Anyway, the idea is to keep the little plant from rotting while giving it time to grow its own roots. Sago palm pups being rooted Bury them fairly deep in some free-draining mix. It should include volcanic pumice, if you can find it, and if not, you can use perlite. I
Read more