Paper Towel Germination Update

Upper Rack

      Last month on January 4th, I started germinating some seeds using the moist paper towel method. At the time I believed that the forecast for a big El Nino winter suggested that we would have a mild winter here in the Mid Atlantic area.  I should be able to get starts out early in the cold frames, right?  Not so fast.  I have been cold, and we are looking for a low of 3 degrees overnight on Saturday!!!  Not exactly early gardening weather.  Now back to the moist towel method.

                                                                                                     Germination
      On January 4th, I started:                                                            Results
Asian Pak Choi                  Livingston for 2013                                  Good
Mizuna Mustard                 GWD seed for 2012                                Good
Dwarf Chinese Cabbage    GWD seed for 2012                                 Good
Bloomsdale Spinach           Bulk seed from Alexanders, Year ?           Zip
Forellenschluss lettuce        Fedco for 2012                                         Zip
Winter Density Lettuce       Fedco for 2012                                         Zip
Lettuce Red Sails               GWD for 2011                                          Zip
Romaine Lettuce                Livingston for 2008                                    Zip

      On January 5th, I started:
Radish                               Burpee's French Breakfast for 2015           90 % +
Beedy's Camden Kale       Fedco for 2010                                          Good
Radish, Purple Plum           Lake Valley for 2015                                 90 % +
Swiss Chard                      Livingston Bright Lights for 2015                Only fair
Romaine Lettuce                Fedco Winter Wonderland for 2012          Good
Arugula                              GWD but unlabeled                                   Zip
Hardy Mild Mustard           GWD for 2012                                            Good
Curly Kale                          GWD for 2011                                            90 % +

      On January 6th, I started:
Sylvetta Arugula                  Fedco for 2010                                         Zip
Roquette Arugula                Livingston for 2009                                   Fair - Okay
Chinese Mustard                 GWD Thick Stem for 2014                       Good
Purple Kohlrabi                   Lake Valley for 2015                                Very good
Savoy Cabbage                   Fedco var Deadon for 2012                      Okay
Swiss Chard                        Burpee's Rhubard Chard for 2014             Good
Lacinto Kale                        Fedco for 2012 Nero di Tuscana               Good
Radish, Watermelon             Livingston for 2015                                    Good  

      What did I learn from all of this?  Early January is too early to be starting fast growing crops.  Had it been a very mild winter, the starting time could still have been delayed for probably two weeks.  The seeds for year 2012 seem to be the tipping point for germination.  Prior to that there were a lot of zero germinations. For 2013 and later, only the Livingston Bright Lights was spotty.  So a little later this spring I should use up all of my 2012 seeds, and only carry forward 2013 or later.  And maybe work hard to use up the 2013 seed as well.  The results also suggest that my own GWD saved seed have done quite well.
       With the exceedingly cold forecast for overnight Saturday, I am going to have to bring the starter trays back inside for some period of time.  Bummer

Middle Rack

Lowest Rack

     

Early Veggies, What to Do?

Veggie starts, January 20, 2016

      What happened to the warmer winter forecast?  El Nino was supposed to bring us a milder winter.  So I pushed the envelope and started seeds early, maybe too, too early.  I had moved these trays to the porch for more light and cooler temperatures.  But not brutally cold temperatures.  The porch stays about 10 degrees warmer than the outside temperature, so I figure the porch is alright for a forecast low of 18 degrees for these cold hardy starts.  But for back to back lows of 14 and 17 degrees, I figured these flats should vacation for a couple of days in the basement.  Now with the lowest prediction of 23 degrees over the next four mornings, these flats are going back outside today.  Just in time for the foot of snow predicted for Saturday.  That should make for lots of snow reflected sun light.

      The flats are all back on the porch for now.  I believe that the cold temperatures on the porch prevent the starts from getting leggy from growing too quickly.  That is why I wanted to get them back to the porch as soon as possible.

Radishes

      These little plants are Mizuna Mustard.  Despite the mustard in the name, they are really quite mild.  The frilly leaves are absolutely gorgeous in a salad and delicious to boot.

Ruby stemmed Swiss chard

      Last year I may have started some tomato plants from seed, but nothing else.  Just never had the proper urge to get started.  The problem is that the lazy method gets expensive having to buy all of the veggies as starts, and it may be difficult to find wanted varieties.  With all the news about a milder El Nino winter, I believe cold weather crops will be able to go out to cold frames very early this spring.  As in a couple of weeks.  Gasp.  Well anyway, that is my theory and I am sticking to it.  Plus I have tons of old seed that needs to be used or tossed.
      So it was time to start paper towel germination on January 4.  Not tomatoes, nor peppers or anything like that.  Lettuce, kale, arugula, pak choi, and similar seeds.
      Here is my method:

      First, take a paper towel sheet and cut it in two, yielding two smaller sheets that are 7 x 5.5 inches.  Place seeds in the middle of one of the sheets, Lacinto Kale being shown here.  Dampen the area around the seeds with water from about 1/2 of an eyedropper.  Just dampen the towel, don't flood it.

      Fold the bottom third of the towel over the seeds to start enclosing them.

      Fold the top third down.  Note the eyedropper used for dampening the sheet.

      Lastly, fold a little bit of both ends over to make an enclosed packet.  A drop or two more water on the fold overs helps to hold them in place.  I bought tons of little 2 x 2 plastic bags at a party store, and use them to store seed or in this case, hold labels to keep them dry.  The label and the dampened envelope go into a "snack" baggie for the germination process.
      So how long does that take?  I started damp towels of eight different seed varieties on January 4th, and here on the 6th I had to plant out some Pak Choi.  Wow.  I will now be busy.

      Here are the Pak Choi seeds which have broken through the shell and started to send out roots.  Using the little tweezers shown, I tease out baby plants, and put them two to a cell for grow out.  If you wait too long, the roots grow into the towel, making the baby plants difficult to capture.  If and when that happens, just plant little pieces of towel along with the babies.

      You can see a couple of the little Pak Choi plants in this picture.  I believe I got 100% germination for this seed packed for 2013.  Though this method may seem a little tedious, ypu can find out quickly if you will get seedlings without spending weeks waiting for flat after flat of supposed seeds to do something.  Been there, done that.  Wasted a lot of time.

Paper Towel Germination

      With the long miserable winter having dampened my usual seeding frenzy, I am behind in starting my veggies.  So to get started as quickly as possible, and to be able to monitor the progress, I started seeds on Wednesday and Thursday using the damp paper towel method.

      The paper towels are the ones that are about 2/3 full size, then cut in half. Seeds are put on that half sheet, which is then folded over two times, and dampened.  The paper towel and some sort of identification then go into the little snack baggies.  That should provide enough moisture for germination.  In just two days, I have my first rooting activity in my own seed saved of Golden Treasure Peppers!  And treasures they are. I am so glad that variety chose to be the first out of the gate.
   

  Started 4/9/2014:

   Malabar Spinach from my own 2013 seed

   Peppers:  Cubanelle, Golden Treasure, Poblano, and Sweet Banana

   Tomatoes:  Black Krim, Bloody Butcher, Brandywine Pink, Cherokee Purple,

        Chocolate Cherry, Glacier, Dr. Wyche, Jubilee, Ox Heart, Rutgers, and

        Sungold Cherry

Started 4/10/2014:

   Flowers:   Cardinal Vine and Spanish Flag - both from my own seed and both to

          attract Hummingbirds

   Peppers:   Green Bell, California Wonder mixed, Cayenne, Chuska, Golden

         California Wonder, and Jalapeno

   Squash family:  Buttercup, Butternut, Cucumber Poinsett, Delicata, Luffa Gourd,

         Marina Di Chioggia, Mesa Acorn, and Swan Gourd

   Tomatoes:  Big Red, Early Girl, German Johnson, and Marglobe

      The seeds planted were about 10 to 12 per paper towel, yet I only want about two plants from each variety mentioned.  I expect to get what I need, and certainly hope to have extras of lots of things.  Let me know of any interest and stuff to trade.

      These towels were planted from seeds on hand, some dating back to as far as 2009.  The paper towel method allows to see what germinates without wasting time to try to set out dozens of six packs.  What I am missing from my current seed stock and need to correct is seed for cucumbers, zucchini, and yellow squash.

      Please use the side bar to this posting to see more on "Paper Towel Seed Germination".

Paper Towel Germination Problem

      When I was reading about paper towel germination on the internet, nobody mentioned the problem that it might be too successful.  That when you wet about 100 of those little lettuce seeds, because there were so many in the packet, you just might get 99 little lettuce plants.  And every seed of cayenne pepper started from one of my dried peppers provided maybe 30 little starts.  That's a lotta hot.  In some cases, as I have been transplanting, I have also been snacking on the sprouts to cut down the work load.
      Then you have the problem of trying to grow these little seedlings.  That takes time and space.  I was hoping to cut back on my porch nursery this year.  Ha, who was I kidding!  Here is where I am at the moment with the porch.  And there is still so, so much stuff that I want to plant, that I have to plant.  What is an out of control gardening geek to do?

On the table, 2/10/2012

And on the shelf, 2/10/2012

I even resorted to planting things two per cell

Bright lights swiss chard in lower left corner

      One way to solve this problem is to build more cold frames :-)     Hmm, might work.

More on Paper Towel Germination

      I was waiting impatiently for my seed order from Fedco Seeds to be delivered.  They finally came in Thursday afternoon's mail, so that very day I planted Oak Leaf Lettuce, Winter Density Bibb Lettuce, Savoy Cabbage, and Lacinto Kale.  I was shocked to find that both lettuces had sprouted in only two days, and even more shocked to see roots starting for the kale and cabbage.
      New lettuce seedlings are soft and spindly, and thus difficult to transplant.  So my thought is to transplant the seeds with only 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch of root growth.  I know the seed is viable if sprouted, and can handle the seed safely using tweezers to grab the seed coat.  Then put them in cell packs, and expect them to put up leaf growth from there.  Eliminating the old problem of 6 to 8 seedlings per pack.
      I used the same reasoning to plant the kale and cabbage early when they still have the seed hull.  I got nearly 100% germination from all four starts!  Even planted the Lacinto kale two seeds per cell as I had so many of them germinate.  Here is a photo of the Oak Leaf Lettuce seeds with little root tails:

Only a day and 1/2 to sprout!

Upside Down I Planted, Duh

      Sometimes you can read too much on the internet.  I was researching leek seeds and sprouting, and saw a reference to leek seeds that said they were unique, as the plant emerged first from the seed, not the roots.  That confused me, so on my first transplanting, I stuck the black seeds in the soil with the "plant" up in the air.  Let me explain with pictures:

Leek seeds started on 1/12/2012

Leek sprout

     The first picture is the pile of remaining leek sprouts after my previous transplantings.  The picture above includes a shot of my trusty little 2.25 inch Swiss army knife for size reference.  The little tweezers are perfect for grabbing the seed heads to tease the leeks apart.  On the sprout above, the seed is on the left side, the green part is the stem, and the little white part on the right is the main root emerging.  So, if you plant the seed down in the soil, you have planted upside down.  Duh.  And now you need to go back and reverse 100 little plants that you did a couple of days ago.  Many do look like they will make it.

Eleven day old leek sprouts

      Having learned a bit from that blunder, the new plan is to put the sprouts on soil, then using a small screw driver, tease the white root part into the soil.  That works pretty well.  These plants are obviously planted too close to each other and will need to be separated after they are two to three inches tall.  They will then be put into a bed to grow to maybe a foot tall, when they should be transplanted one last time for final grow out.  All the transplanting allows for the leeks to be planted more deeply each time.  That will blanch the bottom part of the leek for that nice white appearance.

Leek harvested 5/5/2011

      This leek was actually a volunteer last year, and the one and only leek I had.  This coming spring I will probably harvest a dozen that are now in the garden.  They are one of the most cold hardy crops, and will overwinter successfully even without protection.   So what I am starting now are intended mostly for January of 2013 or next spring.  I cleaned up the leek from above:

and enjoyed his company immensely.  Had I transplanted the leek to a deeper hole last summer or fall, that nice white part would be maybe eight inches long.  So now, I am thinking about the leek and potato soup that  I woulda, coulda, and shoulda made last spring!

Be Careful What You Wish For

      Wow.  The paper towel germination method!  There have been times that no basil came up from a planting in cell packs.  Well these basil seeds are certainly coming up.

Boy did they sprout,  1/20/2012

A little closer, 1/20/2012

      Whoops, we have a little problem.  The shoots are doing so well, that they have rooted right through the paper towels.  Little white roots on the other side of the towel.  A picture would not really show the roots against the white towel, so you will have to believe me when I say, "I should have done this earlier".  So now it is too late to remove the sprouts from the towel, so we will plant them towel and all.

      With this method, I teased the towel into little pieces, then covered up those pieces with some dirt.  The towel will rot away, and I may try to divide the plants later.

Plan B,  1/20/2012

      Having quickly realized that Plan A was quite tedious, I moved on to Plan B.  I cut the towel into bigger pieces, then placed those pieces over dirt.  Then I sprinkled dirt over the sprouts, trying not to bury them.  If Plan B works, I will have very successfully delayed my greatest time requirement to another day.  Pretty clever, kidding myself.  So easy too.

Paper Towel Seed Germination

      The earlier post about the life expectancy of seeds got the old sap flowing in my veins to get some of those seeds started or trashed.  I have read about germinating seeds in moist paper towels to get little sprouts for transferring to cell packs.  The upside is that one can set the seeds up for germination in just a matter of minutes.  The downside is if you are successful with the germination, there is a heck of a lot of transplanting tiny seedlings required.  And yet, with all of the aging seed I have on hand, the temptation for easy germination has won out.
      The basic idea is to moisten a paper towel, place seeds on it, fold the outer edges of the towel over the seeds, then place it in a plastic bag or sealed plastic container to await germination.  Time required to germinate the seeds should be close to the suggested time on the seed packet.

Onion Seeds to dampen,  1/12/2012

      The photo above is of onion seed placed on a towel on 1/12/12.  I then used a small eye dropper to get a few drops of water to moisten the towel, not to flood the container.  The towel was then folded over the seeds and the container put on the shelf.

Parsley seeds,  1/12/2012

      I have found parsley seeds to be difficult to get good germination in the past.  This method seems worth a try.  These were dampened, and the towel folded over the seeds to make a little square packet.  This packet was then slid into a sandwich bag with a label.  You can watch the swelling and development of root hairs without having to pull the packet out of the bag.

Parsley ready to start,  1/12/2012

      On 1/12/12 I started this extra curled parsley, Krausa parsley, giant red celery (tiny seeds), American flag leeks, red burgundy onions, yellow sweet Spanish onions, giant winter spinach, American spinach, and sweet basil.  Yesterday, on 1/16/2012, I put on towels, more American spinach, corn salad (no germination last year), salsify (new to me), parsnips (no germination last year), Australian brown onions, and Lisbon white bunching onions.

Dollar store containers work well

      The basil I had started was not because of short seed life, but rather that in past years I have often had lousy germination.  Last year was pretty good, and this year is already looking good as the seed started five days ago is already sprouted!

Basil,  1/17/2012

      Lots of the basil seeds have sprouted roots, and some have little green buds that will be leaves.  I used my trusty little spatula (from my grandmother's kitchen) to move some of those budded seedlings.  Put them two to a cell, as they would not be too crowded if they all survived.  The cell packs were then covered with small panes of glass to maintain the high humidity for a couple of days.

Basil seedlings,  1/17/2012

      Peppers are next on my agenda, as they are slow to germinate and slow to grow.  This method seems to have promise, as it eliminates the possibility of waiting around for a month for a flat to show some sign of germination.  I will be very busy however, as the leeks, onions, and spinach planted on 1/12/2012 are all showing signs of root growth.  I might pot up the leeks even before any green stem growth.