Reaping those little rewards
HISTORY does not record exactly how Jack planted his marvelous beanstalk, but he probably just pushed a seed into some moist dirt with a finger. Though the results might not be quite as dramatic, sowing seeds in containers isn’t much more difficult. You’re more likely to succeed because containers make it easier to control temperature, humidity and other things that dramatically affect germination.
You can also get a jump on the planting seasons by starting things when the garden soil is too cold in winter, or too hot in summer. Sow seeds now and seedlings will be ready to pop into the garden when the ground warms this spring.
Why even bother with seeds? (“Can’t I just get plants at the nursery?”) Because you can grow an almost unimaginable variety of flowers and vegetables not found at the corner garden center. Many of the newest varieties, as well as many heirlooms, are only available as seed. Seeds of rare and exotic plants from around the world can be found in catalogs. Oh, seed is also dirt cheap.
But many gardeners consider sprouting seeds something of a black art, difficult and problematic at best. “It’s pretty easy, actually,” says nurseryman Ron Hill, who grows some lovely and exotic stuff from seeds, although his techniques are a bit more sophisticated than Jack’s. But experienced seed-planters like Hill have a few tricks up their green sleeves that will help any home gardener with the basics.
Ron and his wife, Junko, run Mariposa Garden in Lakewood, a specialty wholesale nursery known for its choice selection of plants found at upscale establishments such as Marina del Rey Garden Center or Burkard Nurseries in Pasadena. He has a greenhouse, of course, but suggests that home gardeners plant seeds in a container with a cover to trap humidity, then place it on top of the refrigerator.
Don’t worry if it’s a little dark up there. Light isn’t important at first. Interior lighting will do, at least until seeds have sprouted. Hill says the important factors are humidity and warmth. In his greenhouse, he shoots for 90% humidity and temperatures between 72 and 75 degrees, in 80% shade, to sprout most seeds.
Shirley Kerins, who runs the legendary Huntington Botanical Gardens’ plant sales (May 19-20 this year), has a greenhouse too, a brand-new one, but doesn’t use it. She and the volunteers sprout seeds outdoors in partial shade, using clear-topped, clamshell salad containers from the Huntington’s cafe, poking holes in the bottom for drainage. Sometimes they simply sow seed in leftover plastic nursery packs with no covering, keeping the seeds moist with a mist nozzle on the end of a hose. If seeds are started under a covering, be sure to remove it after they sprout. The seedlings will need good air circulation.
Once you’ve found suitable containers (they can be purchased, see the story at right), fill them with a quality, sterile potting soil that does not contain real dirt, or you’ll invite disease. Hill prefers potting soils that contain peat moss. Before sowing the seed, water the potting soil and let it sit until it is just moist.
Seeds must be planted at a certain depth, information usually found on the packet. Usually seeds are planted twice as deep as the plant is expected to grow. It’s best to cover the seeds with additional potting soil so they end up at the proper depth, rather than to push them into the soil. Sieve the covering soil first, if it is coarse.
Water the seeds with a special mist nozzle found at nurseries. Anything stronger, even a gentle watering can, will disturb, or actually move, the seeds. Once the seeds sprout, you can switch to a fine, rain-like nozzle. Each kind of seed will take a certain amount of time to sprout. Tomatoes, for example, will sprout in 48 hours, but a chile pepper takes a week, says Hill.
Kerins points out that while it is important to keep the seed damp and the humidity high by misting or other means, it is even more important not to let the soil get too wet. “It should be like a squeezed-out sponge,” she says. Too-wet soil brings on rot and the dreaded “damping off,” a disease that constricts the base of seedlings, killing them.
Admittedly, some seeds are temperamental and have special requirements that must be met before they’ll sprout. California natives have a reputation for being fussy and obstinate, though Holliday Wagner, plant ecologist and nursery manager at the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sun Valley, which grows all kinds of natives, says it’s not that difficult.
“It’s sometimes tough to get seeds to break dormancy,” she says -- but the foundation has a whole bag of tricks, including boiling, freezing, rubbing them with sandpaper (scarifying), even covering the soil with “charate” (ashes). The charate is made from live chamise slowly burned in a 500-degree oven (don’t try to burn dead or dry chamise, or you’ll start a fire in the oven). Many of our natives are fire followers, and the charate tricks them into thinking they just survived a big blaze.
NATIVES aren’t the only obstinate ones. Hill finds that delphinium seeds need to be frozen for three weeks before they’ll sprout. Cyclamen will only sprout if kept in the dark for a month after sowing. This kind of information often can be found in a search on the Internet.
Once dormancy is broken, the Payne Foundation sprouts native seeds in much the same way as the others, except it uses a leaner soil mix of 50% perlite and 50% washed plaster sand. The foundation sprouts seeds in “an impregnable seed house” that is fenced and screened. Wagner points out that lots of creatures -- from ants and slugs to mice and birds -- like to eat seeds and seedlings because they are such a concentrated food. So they need protecting.
Once seeds of natives or exotics have sprouted, they should be given more light and, after three days or so, a little direct sun (unless they are shade plants). Start fertilizing seedlings with a mild, balanced solution.
In about three weeks, after sprouts have at least one or two sets of true leaves (the first “leaves” are actually the cotyledon or seed embryo), they are ready to transplant into larger quarters. Hill moves his into 1-quart pots, Kerins into 4-inch nursery containers. Use a spoon or something similar to carefully dig out the little plantlets, and try not to shake off any soil that clings to the roots.
If you don’t plant the seeds too close together, it will be much easier to transplant them. Most plants develop better root systems if, each time they are transplanted, they are moved into containers just a little larger than the last. Don’t jump from small to large in a single bound.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
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Ground rules
How to sow:
* Use a good potting soil. No dirt.
* Keep warm, about 72 to 75 degrees.
* Provide 90% humidity.
* Keep the soil moist but not wet.
Provide 80% shade at first.
* Move sprouts into more light.
* Transplant after first true leaves.
-- Robert Smaus
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Gizmos that get the job done
Although many good gardeners germinate seeds with the barest of essentials, there are some fun gadgets that can make your sowing, sprouting and transplanting go even more smoothly:
Greenhouse effect
The most common are the covered trays that work like little greenhouses. Most have individual cell packs for seedlings plus special potting soil. The European designed Bio Dome, shown at far right, has a ventilated top and little, plantable “Bio Sponges” that substitute for soil. Seedlings are widely spaced so they don’t crowd each other. The Park Seed Co. (www.parkseed.com) sells a 60-cell version for $19.95; its 40-jumbo-cell version is $21.95.
The Ultimate Growing System is similar but uses a capillary mat so water is absorbed through the bottom of the cells, into the Super-Soil Growing Cubes, which helps to avoid over-watering. It’s from Burpee (www.burpee.com) and a 72-cell kit sells for $19.95.
Heating mats
Waterproof heating mats are an aid when temperatures are low. Most increase the soil temperature by 10 to 20 degrees. The trays and cell packs are simply set on top. Hydrofarm’s Seedling Heat Mat is available through retailers, such as Burpee, Park or Home Harvest (www.homeharvest.com). The smallest mat for a single tray measures 9-by-19 1/2 inches for $29.95.
Seed movers
There are several devices that make it easier to sow individual seeds, such as the $3.95 Seed Sower from Burpee or the considerably more accurate Pro-Seeder, for $17.95, from Thompson & Morgan (www.thompson-morgan.com). If you want to drastically improve on a kitchen spoon for transplanting, the $5 stainless-steel Widger is the best mini trowel made, from Bountiful Gardens (www.bountifulgardens.org). It’s hard to imagine transplanting seedlings without it.
-- Robert Smaus
