How do you sow and thin your tiny seeds?
I'm used to veg and am just getting into flowers but some of the seeds are miniscule! My poppy seeds have germinated I have no idea how I'm going to thin them!!
Any tips?
Wait till the seedlings are big enough to pull apart! If the seeds are small enough to be a real problem planting, dilute them with dry sand and sow the mixture.
you need patience, time, good eyes and a tiny tool to work with but as Robert says you've got to wait until they can be handled properly anyway
Hmm.......Busy Lizzies, the same thing :-\ and my eyesight is rubbish :'(
watch out for the poppies as they have finished flowering, they seed themselves so easy and they'll be everywhere next year. Happened to us once, now we pull off the heads any before they get the chance. They like weeds.....
Quote from: calendula on March 24, 2008, 09:33:36
you need patience, time, good eyes and a tiny tool
I've got no patience, no time and bad eyesight and so one out of four is probably not very good for seed sowing!!!!!!!! nuff said I think.
can't cope with tiny seedlings but bit bigger ones, I use a toothpick to separate them ;D
With teeny seedlings I thin them but in little groups rather than trying to seperate these tiny fragile babies. They have more room to move and better air circulation, and then if I have the time and patience when they are a little bigger and easier to handle, I then thin them out again. If you have hundreds of seedlings and only want a handful, then you can always just nip off the ones that you don't need......I can't, those poor babies. I have a pot of teeeeny verbena seedlings which need thinning, wish the thinning fairy would come round and do it for me!
Quote from: star on March 24, 2008, 13:35:37
Hmm.......Busy Lizzies, the same thing :-\ and my eyesight is rubbish :'(
You can get busy Lizzies to germinate?? :o i've tried loads of times and they never take.
:) I'm with EJ- Emma Jane with this... spilt them in little groups and then wait until they are more established and split again... much easier to handle.
(http://www.animated-gifs.eu/flowers/0187.gif)
This is how I sow; http://tinyurl.com/yy5xkl and this is how I prick out; http://tinyurl.com/2z32f8
Snoozy, I only sowed them on the 21st March. They havent showed yet.
Its my first time doing busy lizzies, I will post if and when they germinate ;)
when sowing mix seeds with silver sand and then broadcast this over the surface of the compost or sow in lines on a seed tray and prick (in case this is changed by the swear word filter - I mean thin ;D :o ) out in clumps - for things like lobelia (see picture)
barkingdog