📌 In this diary:
🌱 Bathroom Heat Mats & Stubborn Eggplants
PoOlga said on Mar 7, 2021:
My germination issues are all tied to heating. I live in an older neighborhood… they keep the central heating at the absolute minimum, so it’s freezing in the apartment. Getting anything to sprout is a real struggle sometimes.
We live in a single-family home now, so we control our own thermostat. My eggplants and peppers are currently germinating on the radiant floor heating in the bathroom. The temperature there is constant, so that shouldn’t be slowing them down. I mean, I’m not going to throw the seed cups away for another month, but at this point, I seriously doubt the eggplants will sprout. The peppers still might, though. 🤞
🩸 The Leech Water Miracle
Natasha, just let them sit! I had the craziest experience growing cyclamens from seed.A friend of mine is into leech therapy. She keeps two leeches in a gallon mason jar, and she uses that water (gross, I know 🤢) to fertilize her houseplants. Her flowers are insanely huge and beautiful. Anyway, her gorgeous cyclamens produced seeds, and I just had to try growing such a treasure.
I sowed them in August and waited until April. Nothing sprouted. I dumped the potting soil into a plastic bag and totally forgot about it. A whole year later, right around New Year’s, I used that exact same dirt to plant some green onions in a plastic cake dome. Suddenly, an entire forest of weird sprouts popped up alongside the onions!
At first, I panicked – what kind of weed infestation is this?! Thankfully, I remembered what was in that soil before I pulled them all out. I potted up a few and gave them away as early spring gifts to friends.. 😂
PoOlga said on Mar 7, 2021:
Natasha, just let them sit! I had the craziest experience growing cyclamens…
OMG, what a wild story! I love it! 🤣👏
🍅 Tomato “Stragglers” & True Leaves
Lana_s_Kavkaza said on Mar 7, 2021:
Tomatoes can stagger their sprouting too, even in the exact same cup.
Yeah, that happens. But Sveta, it’s still usually within a 7-day window, right? You basically get two distinct waves of germination.
Nata N. said on Mar 7, 2021:
But Sveta, it’s still usually within a 7-day window, right?
Look at this, Natasha. The gap here is definitely more than 7 days. Honestly, this is the first time I’ve ever seen it this bad.
SvetaR said on Mar 7, 2021:
Look at this, Natasha. The gap here is definitely more than 7 days.
Sveta, getting a late sprouter happens, and not infrequently. But can you imagine looking at your cup and seeing 3 large “teenage” seedlings alongside 5 tiny, cotyledon-stage newborns?! That just doesn’t happen, right? Usually, you just get 1 or 2 stragglers.
Nata N. said on Mar 7, 2021:
Usually, you just get 1 or 2 stragglers.
Agreed. I had just never seen sprouts show up *this* extremely late before.
Nata N. said on Mar 7, 2021:
within a 7-day window, right?
More like 10-12 days for mine.
🧬 Seed Dormancy & Saving Practices
Nata N. said on Mar 7, 2021:
That just doesn’t happen, right? Usually, you just get 1 or 2 stragglers.
It’s about seed maturity. If they aren’t equally mature, they won’t be equally ready to germinate. One seed might have already finished its dormancy cycle, while the others are lagging behind. I read an article recently that said seeds go through an after-ripening phase that can last anywhere from 1 to 6 months. 🔬
Lana_s_Kavkaza said on Mar 7, 2021:
It’s about seed maturity… One seed might have already finished its dormancy cycle, while the others are lagging behind.
Sveta, I feel like that only happens if a grower mixes seeds saved from several different tomatoes into the same packet. I personally save seeds from each individual fruit separately, and I never mix the batches. Because of that, this literally *never* happens to my own stock. 🍅
SvetaR said on Mar 7, 2021:
Agreed. I had just never seen sprouts show up *this* extremely late before.
I’ve seen it. Like I said, exactly 1 straggler, very rarely 2. It usually happens when you sow a new variety from a seed swap or commercial packet (somebody else’s seeds).
