by Ale
Help! New windowfarmer starting from seeds
4:10 pm in Getting Started, questions, Seeking Advice, Starting Seeds by Ale
Hi!
I received my lovely windowfarm with seeds! I haven’t yet put it together, as I figured I should first have the plants (grown to at least some degree), before worrying about it.
Well, following Britta’s very helpful post, I pretreated my seeds, planted them in grow plugs, put them in an egg carton with some water, which was then put in a salad box that is transparent and can close, to preserve humidity and heat.
These are the results so far:
During 24 hrs they were covered and dark. These are after three days, I was very excited. Every day, the light has been on for about 18 hours total: As much sunlight when available, artificial light when sunlight is unavailable (we had a few cloudy days). I’ve ventilated and made sure the plugs are humid, but not moldy, and one week went by…
Then today:
All the previous seedlings are dead (not overnight, they yellowed three days ago (probably after the day I put them on direct sunlight), started falling two days ago and I removed them today). The new one is thai basil.
Any ideas as to what I might have gone wrong and what I can do to have better results? Also, can I reuse the plugs with new seeds?
Thanks!
UPDATE ON OCT. 1
Looks like the problem was indeed the humidity. I’ve added more water and the 2nd batch of seeds (which were not pretreated) seem to have done better.
When should I transfer them into the windowfarm and add nutrients?
Thanks!
Hi @Ale. Sorry to hear about your casualty!
The grow plugs look pretty dry in your second picture. It’s important to keep them moist throughout the germination process. I think that’s the culprit.
You can reuse the growplugs for a second batch but first you need to sterilize them. Boil a pot of water. Use a pair of tongs to dip the growplugs into the boiling water just long enough for the water to penetrate to the center of the plug. Have a second bowl of cool water ready and immediately soak each plug in the cold water. This will prevent your growplugs from cooking but will kill anything that could potentially contaminate the next batch.
Go ahead and give it a second try. Starting from seed is definitely a second level skill so give yourself some leeway to mess up. Good luck.
-Britta
Thanks Britta, I’ll definitely give it a try!
Best advice I’ve found so far on windowfarms! Thanks for sharing!
transplant as soon as you see the second set of true leaves…put in a little bigger pot until they get big enough for your window unit. Keep them moist all the time…They could possibly be put into the window unit this small but I would use the method I described above. ( I do know about plants but am just now learning about hydros)
Sometimes when you are working with this small a plant to transplant you really have to have some small tools…I use whatever I can find around like small spoons. I also know that tiny plants like these only like to be held by their leaves not the stems. If you have to hold them…So I water them really good, use small spoon to dig them up, Very gently grab hold of the leaves and drag them through water then through the dirt you are putting into their new pot. Tomatoes like to be buried in new pot all the way up to their top leaves…Very gently hold them