Topic: slight hiccup

[ACE]

I got myself some cheap greenhouse staging from Aldi, made one lot up and loaded it with my trays of seeds, then blundering around putting up the second lot I knocked a tray of recently germinated seeds off of the new shelves. Swept it all up and just chucked it back in the tray  shoved it under the bench and forgot about it for a few days. I was just about  to plant a fresh batch of seed when I noticed the spilt tray all happily breaking through again and growing quite well. So, all is not lost in fact they are growing better than the other seeds that were sown at the same time.

Have I hit upon a new formula for stronger plants? and do you think if I throw them a bit further next time they will be even better.  Should I patent the idea. Ace's 'plant it, chuck it and suck it and see method' might be the way to getting more from your seed and might even be the end to world starvation using my method to maximise your yield.

[goodlife]

You could call it 'instant pricking out' method Should we all start throwing seed trays about now..or is 'gentle' knocking over better method....can we have Youtube video of you in 'work'? ...just so that we do it right...
I'm glad it all turn out ok in the end..

[ACE]

I should start with gentle, then gradually increase the force until you get the maximum yield.

Throwing a tray in a temper will negate the effect as plants are very sensitive and could sulk for a long time. I suspect they are all female plants when they first germinate and only get to the male state as  they wise up and realise that they use up precious resources by constant nagging.

Of course there are a few that might be a bit light on the loafers, but these are usually flowers, no need to throw those about as they will always bloom beautilfully without rough handling.

[goodlife]

So....to make males, do they need to be knocked about more than once? Are these kind of plants going to be stubborn b****** that need constant watering and fertilizing to keep them happy? 

[galina]

 

[ACE]

Touche!

[goodlife]

Touche!

 

[kGarden]

Don't do it with Coleus ...

I knocked a 1/4 size seed tray of Coleus over yesterday. They had only germinated the day before ... if you aren't familiar with Coleus their seedlings are tiny, even when ready for pricking out ...

So I salvaged and pricked out the ones I could. The longest was about 7mm, the shortest probably 5mm.  Annoying!

Will be interesting to see if I can keep them alive - I'm misting the module tray, into which I pricked them out, ever couple of hours today, but I'm out tomorrow ... I wonder if I took them to my meeting, with my misting spray bottle, if the other people there would think I was bonkers?!!

[Nora42]

Ace you have just answered a question for me.
at last weeks seed swap I bagged lots of wild flower seeds for our wildlife garden at school. The seed packets say a lot about sowing on a fine bed and messing around with then no end. My mind says they are weeds so how much love and attention do they need?
at the moment they are in my freezer and on Friday I am going to mix them with dry potting compost and get the children to chuck them all over the scrappy land are where they are to grow and we shall see what happens - some of them ought to germinate? they will be trodden down and watered when it rains.

I will be thinking of you whilst chucking it sucking it and seeing what happens.

Nora

[ACE]

I done something like that with a wild seed mix. I needed some wild meadow turf for a show garden. So with the sweepings from a recently emptied hay barn and a few packets of wild flower seed I mixed it all up with a couple of bales of compost, brushed the pile into a smoothish area, layed clear netting all over it, then brushed some more on top. It came up beautifully the next spring and was much admired by the judges. The netting was so we could cut the turf and transport it without it breaking up.

I re-used it after the show in my orchard,  but with constant mowing it does not give the show it used to do. To keep wild flowers growing naturally you really have to have a wild patch and only cut it when everything has seeded. Preferably with a scythe or a bladed strimmer, then let the lot dry off like hay. Toss it all again until all the seeds have dropped out ready for next years show of flowers.

[Nora42]

that sounds fantastic Ace the area we want to cover is only very patchy grass , it's dappled sunlight and we do not mow it  - I will try to take some pictures as I would like a before and after record. as the saying goes nothing ventured nothing gained.
Nora

[jimc]

My slight hiccup about 3 weeks ago didn't end up the same way as yours did Ace.
I had about 4 pots with various tree seeds in them under a cloche. The wind got in the cloche and the plastic cover started to rip apart. I decided I would pull it off and replace the plastic cover on it. Unfortunately I hadn't noticed the shredded plastic was wrapped around one of the pots so it went tumbling to the ground.
What I found inside was 3 macadamia nuts just starting to germinate and were starting to emerge.
Now 3 weeks later the new growth looks very dead. TOO MUCH DISTURBANCE IN THIS CASE!