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ON THE GARDEN PATH
by Carolyn Herriot
Each month, Carolyn writes about what she is doing in the garden, the orchard, the greenhouse, with seed saving and soil building, with the intention of helping gardeners of all levels realize they can have the most healthy, productive, and beautiful garden without resorting to substances harmful to humans, animals, plants, or the myriad of soil-dwelling organisms.
If you have started plants from seed, you should have lots of seedlings to take care of now. The first set of seed leaves are called cotyledons; at this stage, roots are not developed enough, so do not disturb the seedling. It is not until seedlings develop their first set of true leaves that they can be moved into their own pots, a process called pricking-out.
When pricking-out, handle delicate seedlings carefully -- ideally, by their leaves -- rather than by their fragile stems; it's easy to snap a stem when handling. Use a dibber or a chopstick to make a hole in the pre-moistened medium and place the seedling into it. Carefully cover the roots and then water. The seedling is now in transplant shock, and needs to be kept out of direct sun for a few days until it recovers. In sun, it will wilt immediately and may never recover.
Keep seedlings evenly moist, and don't let them dry out completely. Watering in the morning is best, so seedlings don't sit cool and wet all night. This could trigger a fungal problem called damping-off, which is caused by soil-borne fungi, usually Rhizoctonia, occasionally Pythium and less often Botrytis or Phytophthora.
Seedlings put out a lot of new growth at this stage, so after three or four waterings, start to fertilize weekly with liquid fish fertilizer or liquid seaweed. Once their roots have established, periodically check that your plants have not become root-bound. Then either pot each plant into a larger pot, or harden it off to prepare it for transplanting outdoors.
Problems?
If seeds have not sprouted, they may not be viable. Check the date on the seed package. Do a viability test by sowing 10 seeds on a dampened piece of paper towel. Fold it over. Keep it damp. Check a week or so later to see how many seeds have sprouted. Three out of 10 indicates only a 30 percent germination rate. In this case, I would recommend buying a fresh packet of seeds. A germination rate of no less than 65 percent indicates acceptable viability.
If there is no sprouting, the seed may require a longer period to germinate. Sometimes, seeds take from four to six weeks. Parsley requires 21 days for germination. Check a germination guide before you give up on your pots of seeds.
If seeds are taking a long time to germinate, the temperature may be too cold. For heat lovers, such as peppers, basil and tomatoes, which require temperatures around 75-85°F (25-30°C) for germination, put seed trays on top of bottom heat, or just wait for warmer weather.
When seedlings are yellow, it's an indicator that they are starving due to lack of nutrients in the growing medium. Apply a weekly liquid feed of fish fertilizer or liquid seaweed.
If seedlings are spindly and leggy, there's not enough light. Increase the light by moving the pots closer to a bright window or use grow lights. Rotating seedlings daily helps them straighten up, or you can try planting spindly seedlings deeper.
If seedlings are growing very slowly, it may be due to overcrowding, or the growing medium may have insufficient nutrients to supply all the seedlings. Try to prevent overcrowding by sowing seeds less thickly. If possible, transplant seedlings into individual pots to relieve this stress, and then apply a foliar feed of liquid fish fertilizer or liquid seaweed.
If seedlings collapse at soil level, it is an indication of damping-off. Damping-off is aggravated by overseeding in warm, moist conditions.
If seedlings are being eaten, you've got a critter in the area. Check for slugs or sowbugs that love munching on tasty new seedlings. Check between and under the pots and trays, and find the culprit before it dines on all your plants.
Excerpted from A Year on the Garden Path, A 52-Week Organic Gardening Guide by Carolyn Herriot. $29.95. Earthfuture Publications, Victoria, BC. Available from Banyen Books and Duthie Books or
www.earthfuture.com/gardenpath
Carolyn Herriot has been operating The Garden Path Organic Plant Nursery in Victoria since 1989, from which grew her organic seed business, Seeds of Victoria. Carolyn shares her passion for gardening by way of lectures and as a garden writer, and appears weekly on Get Up and Grow and the Go show on Global and CHTV.
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