Allotments 4 All
Produce => Non Edible Plants => Topic started by: posie on March 26, 2008, 09:22:24
-
I have several lots of pansies allegedly germinating for the last 2 weeks. I have black beauty and Swiss Giant - however not one is showing its pretty face. As an experiment I had the Swiss outside in a propagator in my mini greenhouse and the Black Beauty in the propagator in the airing cupboard but nothing.
I've had a quick google and a few sites are telling me to use some kind of soil-less material to germinate them on - what the heck is that?!
Any ideas?
Ps - having same problem with Petunias! First time growing flowers from seeds, think I should have stuck to veg!
-
how deep have you sowed, posie..I covered small seeds with vermiculite and got some good results, also mixed some with the compost to open it up a bit :)
-
I don't think they're very deep - I honestly can't remember though. What's vermiculite? and where would I get some?? This gardening lark is hard work!!!
-
it's white, fluffy stuff, just covers the seeds but lets light through, I got some from b&q..also there's perlite, same thing really..I think it helps hold water..if they're really tiny, I just don't cover them, stick a plastic bag over and put them on the windowsill..I grew granny's bonnets like that, last year ..hate tiny seeds ;D
-
hmmm, may have to take a trip to garden centre today then, flippin plants more pampered than I am!! Lobelia seeds have to be the worst, mind you, they're not germinating either!!! rofl - i give up!
-
can't cope with lobelia, my finger and thumb on my right hand don't meet properly, I'll leave you to imagine what transplanting's like ;D
anyway, there's still time for them to emerge, I think..lots of luck, let's know what happens :)
-
I worked in a nursery pricking out plants into trays ,and with the lobelia we used to take a small clump and plant it like that . its impossible to plant in one by one.
I hope that helps .
Bridgehouse
-
Everything has now been vermiculited to within an inch of its life this afternoon!!!
-
Pansies need light to germinate and should therefore be sown on the surface.
As an option they can be covered with a light covering of vermiculite as this lets the light through.
See here; http://tinyurl.com/2eoocj for cultural information and here for an example of using vermiculite; http://tinyurl.com/yv8u2f i.e. the second example using the half tray.
-
Thanks for that TeeGee, think what I've done wrong is not to shade the seeds when germinating, your site is very very informative.
-
Some of mine got buried and some didn't; I checked while I was on the allotment today, and the ones I can see are just beginning to germinate.
-
Yay! They've started germinating - albeit a bit sporadically, but the Black Beauty ones are starting (the original ones that I was having problems with). The Swiss Giant however are proving extremely stubborn! ;D
-
That's really useful info - I've been frustrated by pansies refusing to germinate. Will try and remember this one!
Charlotte
-
Had about a 60% germination rate with the Black Beauty ones now. The Swiss Giant have done absolutely nothing, am wondering if maybe the packet was a duff one. Vermiculite seems to have done the trick!