Tips for raising seeds

ringelstrumpf starts with ...
I have bought some seeds for herbs and trees but had bad luck. Most either didn't come up or died later.
There are so many interesting plants we can't buy here, but we can get the seeds, and it is very tempting, but before I try once again I want to ask a bit how do you get difficult seeds going? I have no problem growing vegetables from seeds and i sow direct or transplant.
Do you plant them in pots or do you have a seedbed? Do you sterilize containers? Put glass/plastic bag over them? What tricks do you use for getting difficult seeds going? Some seeds need endless to emerge and then maybe weeds are growing and I am often not very sure if there is a weed growing or my precious seeds. How getting a seed whisperer?

ringelstrumpf says...
I have got three ginko seeds in a pot since at least three month, I nearly gave up hope. But I didn't have a plastic bag over them and I didn't sterilize the pot either, but I cold stratified them.

Jason says...
I have in my garage an old fridge that didn't want to restart after the last house move. Which seems to happen to me all the time. So I stuck a desk lamp in it, if you get just the right wattage globe (about 20watts is good for my fridge) and close the cable for the lamp in the door. You end up with about 25c day and night (more less) and I can germinate almost any seed in there in just a few days. As soon as it's germinated and up I move them out of the fridge.

I haven't used this setup in a few years since I mostly ran out of planting room but it was very effective in quickly making as many plants as you can deal with. Worked good with cuttings too

ringelstrumpf says...
don't the seeds need oxygen? So you think that most seeds neat heat even when they come from a colder climate?
I ordered ramps last year and actually I don't know if it were the slugs or if they didn't germinate. They are cold climate and needed cold stratification. Do you still think that heat would have been good? (ramps or bear garlic is a herb that grows in Northern Europe in the woods and it is quite yummy)

Jason says...
Yeah snottie it worked good, I also had a fluro in there on a 12 hour timer (came on at night to give extra heat and a fake upside down daytime). I would have been more pro with a thermostat but even without it the temps didn't vary much, it was always under 40c so that was fine

Julie says...
I put a propagating mat inside a polystyrene veg box and cover with a lid. Works really well. But be sure to keep an eye on them - put out in the sun as SOON as they have germinated. Otherwise they will be leggy and spindly.

This setup works well for my sprouts too. I sprout chickpeas and brown rice before cooking.

Charles cant spell says...
Peter last winter I used an aquarium, a large one I had spare, bascially lined the inside with black plastic (except the sun facing wall, built brick pillars, placed tiles on top of bricks, and seedling trays on tiles. Filled with water to tile base. Put a lid on top, plastic is fine, need a balance between to humid and to much air circulation. Open it each day. If you get a hot sunny day though, i.e. today the plastic must come off else they get cooked. Free solar seed raiser. I would put pics up but they are not worth it at the moment as they are coming in so small you cant see anything. let me know if you want more info.

Charles cant spell says...
Ok I think you missed "filled with water", the bricks are to make a pillar through the water to place tiles on top of, one could used something that floats but its also likely to not be very conductive. So if you think of it as a table inside afish tank, brick are legs, tiles is table top, black plastic heats up water, water heats up tiles and bricks, etc. Clear as mud ?

ringelstrumpf says...
clear as mud!

denise. says...
They could go to about 7cms then pot with potting mix. Plant them out when at least 30cms tall. They are quite easy to grow so these sizes are not exact.

roborthudson says...
Hi Friends,
The information given by Charles is very informative. I also had a same problem. I used this method its workings. I find it helpful. Thanks Charles for an informative post.

denise1 says...
I have heatboards but they are not perfect. The temperature varies a lot. While warm the roots grow quickly and the next day it will be warmer and the roots get burnt back. The plants appear OK but will have little roots. You need to anticipate this and pot the plants up early enough or they will not grow properly and eventually die. Alternatively they could be plugged to a timer so they are on only at daytime or whatever. Think twice before using them beyond just for starting the seeds.