..many things I learned about growing food
I might be able to help people on that subject.
Are we going to have a gardening forum on this site

We've already got one on PM. IF you want start a thread.

done.

So, first question;
Before planting my garden (cilantro, jalapenos, bell peppers, and beans in a 4'X1'X1' wood box) I put the seeds in plastic baggies, between layers of wet paper towels and left them in a cabinet drawer for 2 days. This comes from something I read in high school when trying to grow pot. Not sure it was a good idea, as so far the only thing growing is the beans. I also planted watermelons and tomatoes in planters but did not put them in the baggies first, and they are growing. So did I ruin the seeds by putting them in the baggies?

 

Ok thats known as Germinating. You can do the paper towel method but I discourage it. Many seeds and even strains of seeds become extremely tempermental at this stage and will just die off after planting or will die by just shaking the pot with vibrations. As far as starting plants I do it inside under flourescents in dollar store foam cups and normal potting soil. I had one strain I used the paper towel method with and 1 of 10 survived to the pot. I took the exact strain and planted them in the foam cups, and 10 out of 10 survived. But watermellon should be fine, most larger seeds should be good in paper towels but when the seed gets smaller then a bb. I'd justplant it in cups with soil or get some rockwool cubes.

Also try cuttings or clones. They are very beneficial because you know the plant has good genes before you clip it, and you just need to keep the plant humid till it roots. Plus each plant goes through a maturity phase this is usually when the nodes(Where the leaves sprout from) start to stagger and seperate. For instance.
Young seedling or immature.
<-|->
<-|->

Mature ready to produce fruit.
<-|
|->
<-|
|->

 

Ok thats known as Germinating. You can do the paper towel method but I discourage it. Many seeds and even strains of seeds become extremely tempermental at this stage and will just die off after planting or will die by just shaking the pot with vibrations. As far as starting plants I do it inside under flourescents in dollar store foam cups and normal potting soil. I had one strain I used the paper towel method with and 1 of 10 survived to the pot. I took the exact strain and planted them in the foam cups, and 10 out of 10 survived. But watermellon should be fine, most larger seeds should be good in paper towels but when the seed gets smaller then a bb. I'd justplant it in cups with soil or get some rockwool cubes.

well, yeah, that pretty well describes it; all the ones that didn't make it were the very tiny seeds. oh well, try again good thing I didn't use every single seed in the packet.

 

Don't worry about seeds strantor I got you a nice package going out on Mon for yah. It'll keep you busy for quite a while. I'm gonna send a couple video's and books too on a DVD for yah. Very good stuff.
I'll include many vegatables that are easy to grow and many herbs like Licorish Basil, Sweet Italian basil thats crazy with oils. I've been selectivly breeding all my basils off and on for 10 years. I have lemon, lime, licorish, cinnomen, sweet italian, box, and many more. I'll even send you some of the dried herbs. I didn't have time to seperate the basil seeds from buds so I'll just send you both. You can easily pick em out. Anything special you want me to add? I really want you to grow my Burgendy okra. Grows 6ft tall in 2 months and puts off tons of okra. Turns green when you cook it though. I'll send a big assortment though.

In texas a cold frame or hotbox doesn't give you heat issues in summer? Just curious. Down here some stuff we can't grow in pots because the pots heat up to hot and stump the root system.

 

Oh also I have a nice vanilla orchid I'm about to make clippings from. Probably will have 2 to spare if anyone wants to claim 1 of them.

Also if anyone has any verigated Vanilla orchids or varigated herbs or vegies I'd love clippings or seeds.

 

Strantor,
Seeds need a very little amount of water while in the hull. I usually wet them well, drain the excess and give the towel a light wring. If I dont see activity in 2 days I mist it one time very lightly with a sparayer. Too wet will drown the seed in the hull. too dry and they dry up and die. Different seeds all need different amounts of water. I have had the best sucess the last two years with a 13 dollar germinator tray with 72 little cups with a lid and Miracle grow. Once the seeds sprout up pretty good I move them to a sort of shady and out of the direct sun area in the garden for a couple of weeks and then put them out in the open garden. I run a timer that automatically water 30 min in the morning and I manually water again for 30 minutes in the afternoon after the peak heat has passed. My hops plants have little cones already so they are doing much better than I expected for a first year Rhizome. Hope this helps and I use a lot of tips from the Mitleider Method group on Yahoo groups for nutrients and soil additives.
Bob

 

Don't worry about seeds strantor I got you a nice package going out on Mon for yah. It'll keep you busy for quite a while. I'm gonna send a couple video's and books too on a DVD for yah. Very good stuff.
I'll include many vegatables that are easy to grow and many herbs like Licorish Basil, Sweet Italian basil thats crazy with oils. I've been selectivly breeding all my basils off and on for 10 years. I have lemon, lime, licorish, cinnomen, sweet italian, box, and many more. I'll even send you some of the dried herbs. I didn't have time to seperate the basil seeds from buds so I'll just send you both. You can easily pick em out. Anything special you want me to add? I really want you to grow my Burgendy okra. Grows 6ft tall in 2 months and puts off tons of okra. Turns green when you cook it though. I'll send a big assortment though.

I grow & eat whatever you send me. I appreciate it a bunch!

In texas a cold frame or hotbox doesn't give you heat issues in summer? Just curious. Down here some stuff we can't grow in pots because the pots heat up to hot and stump the root system.

Heck, I don't know. First I've heard of it, but I haven't heard much. I guess this will turn out to be a proof of concept test or not. I plan to till up the yard and grow there, but the problem is the yard is entirely shaded by this ginormous tree, which isn't mine. I need to get permission to trim it. The only place I can grow with sunlight right now is in my driveway, and the HOA probably would have something to say if I cover my driveway with a garden. So I've got it in plants, I can keep it reasonably hidden behind my truck.

 

Where I live, the County Agricultural Extension Agent is in charge of telling people how to deal with local conditions. A phone call can get you informed about local pests and soil conditions like nobody here could.

 

How long will seeds keep? I noticed the ones I bought have an expiration date in 2012. I thought they would stay good for a long time. If I keep them in the fridge will they last longer?

 

Where I live, the County Agricultural Extension Agent is in charge of telling people how to deal with local conditions. A phone call can get you informed about local pests and soil conditions like nobody here could.

Doubtful. Most of those guys don't know jack. Gardening is a whole lot different then growing crops. He's gonna know much more about running agriculture rows and farms that infest massive crops. In gardens its more like running a small ecosystem becasue you have so many different plants from different places. Your Agri guys just gonna know about your cash crops in that area. Plus the info your talking about could take up books. Your best bet is search the net or ask a veteran.

 

How long will seeds keep? I noticed the ones I bought have an expiration date in 2012. I thought they would stay good for a long time. If I keep them in the fridge will they last longer?

Freeze em and forever. Refrigerate them yoru germ rates go down a couple % a year. Typically when you buy seeds from a high end producer they come with a germ rate of 87%-99%. That means they sent off a couple hundred seeds to another company and they germinated them and found out the percentage that are good and bad. Like I said it will be on most reputable dealers packages. So 2012 they came at 89% in 2014 in the freezer it will be 88%. In the fridge it will be 84%. In a drawer it will be around 79%. Each strain will degrade at different rates. I store my seedstock and pollenstock in a freezer in these types of bottles.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/110499085994?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_1430wt_1187

 

Strantor,
Seeds need a very little amount of water while in the hull. I usually wet them well, drain the excess and give the towel a light wring. If I dont see activity in 2 days I mist it one time very lightly with a sparayer. Too wet will drown the seed in the hull. too dry and they dry up and die. Different seeds all need different amounts of water. I have had the best sucess the last two years with a 13 dollar germinator tray with 72 little cups with a lid and Miracle grow. Once the seeds sprout up pretty good I move them to a sort of shady and out of the direct sun area in the garden for a couple of weeks and then put them out in the open garden. I run a timer that automatically water 30 min in the morning and I manually water again for 30 minutes in the afternoon after the peak heat has passed. My hops plants have little cones already so they are doing much better than I expected for a first year Rhizome. Hope this helps and I use a lot of tips from the Mitleider Method group on Yahoo groups for nutrients and soil additives.
Bob

This can be another drawback of the paper towel method. I also discourage wringing out the paper towels. Water will evaperate out of the paper towels quick. In fact I put the towel on a plate and add a lil water. If it dries in the middle of germing it will die immediately. But my point was some seeds take 30 even 60 days to crack and germ. So you will have a ton of mold and bacteria on that towel after trying to germ something for 45 days in a wet paper towel.

About the starter cups. These are great for some things but not for other. For some plants with weaker root stuctures they can't break thru the peat pots. Thats why I would go with rockwool cubs over peat started pots anyday of the week.

As far as Fertz I recomend General Hydroponics FloraNova line, or their 3 part line. Or if you want organic goto lowes and buy ALASKA 5-1-1. The order its blooming counterpart THUNDERBLOOM or ALASKABLOOM. No one carries it outside high end garden stores and internet so the bloom you will have to order. Also humic acid works really well with fertz. But since your outside I'd also look into bat or seagull guano from wormsway or another supplier and may be some worm castings to mix in the soil. Also save a bunch of money and buy garden soil and some perlite and mix it to proportion rathen then potting soil which is the same thing but x 2 the price.

 

You guys tried the new Tasti Lee tomatoes? Publix bought all the rights to it. Grows like a monster but like cooler temps. TN harvests them in AUG-SEPT, GA harvest them from SEPT - OCT, FL harvests them from OCT-DEC. But they are the biggest break thru in tomatoes ever! Its like eating a real fruit. Heres a link to the designer.
http://www.diamondtomatoes.com/tasti-lee.html
I have seeds already if you don't have a publix to buy them at. If you need seeds just paypal me $1 and I'll send you 10 seeds.
Heres a pic. Tasti Lee on the left, normal GMO tomatoe on the right.

 

ok groden is coming along nicely except for the cilantro and bell peppers

I have probably 50 tomato plants in one 1.5 diameter X 1.5ft deep planter. They're pretty crowded. Should I cull some of them or just let the stronger ones choke out the weaker ones?

I've collected a bunch of rain water in some plastic kiddie pools I've been using to water them .I find they like the rain water more than city water. But now I have mosquito larvae in my kiddie pools. Is there something that I can put in the water to kill the skeeters but not effect the plants? (other than fish) or maybe fish are best

I planted >50 cilantro seeds and only one plant came up. It hasn't grown at all in a week. I was wondering if maybe its getting too much sun? The package said it's a full sun plant, but the jalapeno package said it's a full sun plant too, yet my shaded jalapenos are doing much better than the ones in direct sun.

 

You have to kill the extra tomato plants or they will just fight each other for space and nutrients.

My method for tomatos is to make a 30 inch diameter tube out of 6" concrete reinforcing mesh and hold that 6 foot tube upright with an 8' 2x4 pounded into the ground. The tomatos climb the inside of the cage. It keeps the fruit from rotting where it touches the ground. In the beginning, give them nitrogen fertilizer. When they are nice and big, you give them potassium fertilizer to convert them from growing green mass to fruiting.

As I told you in PM, I was getting 75 pounds per plant. The amount of food you would get from 50 plants makes me dizzy!
50 plants in 18 inches?! What were you thinking? That isn't enough space for 1 plant.

You should tell which variety of tomato you planted. Some are called "indeterminate" and grow as big as you let them.
The "determinate" varieties might be cherry tomatos which stop at about 18 inches.

Put a clear lid on the kiddie pool so the water heats up enough to cook the larvae. Then leave the cover on to keep more from hatching.

 

It late to plant in Florida,best in the fall. Depends on the north or south fla.

 

It late to plant in Florida,best in the fall. Depends on the north or south fla.

we have strains for both. We just grow them last because everyone else is too cold. So that give us an isolated market, like our Feb strawberries back in the day. Also many crops aren't grow because of insurance. Insurance companies will only cover certain plants in certain regions. And its a big deal when they add a new one to the list. This is why it was cheaper to just plow up our strawberries then harvest them last year.

 

Update:
My cilantro is the worst failure of all. I planted a whole packet of seeds and only one plant ever came up. The one plant that did come up looks like a sickly runt. It seems to look healthier when I give it shade, despite the packet saying "full sun"

The bell peppers and jalapenos are the same story. The packet said "full sun" but the ones that are in full sun are stunted in growth and the ones that are in shade are doing alright.

The water melons took off and grew like crazy, and then started getting melons on them. I watched the melons grow from flowers into softball size melons in the span of a week. then they stopped growing. no increase in size in 2 weeks. And now the leaves are turning yellowish with spots. Maybe the melons are even getting smaller, or my eyes are playing tricks on me.

The tomatoes seem to be doing ok despite being overpopulated in their planter. no flowers or fruit there yet.

The beans are my only success yet. They grew way bigger than I expected and made a jungle in my little homemade wooden planter. They are the reason for the shade on my bell peppers and jalapenos. There are beans growing and they might be ready to eat but I'm not sure. I'll leave them a little while longer.

 

Update:
The water melons took off and grew like crazy, and then started getting melons on them. I watched the melons grow from flowers into softball size melons in the span of a week. then they stopped growing. no increase in size in 2 weeks. And now the leaves are turning yellowish with spots. Maybe the melons are even getting smaller, or my eyes are playing tricks on me

Strantor.. Do you have what appears to be a light/pale powdery substance on the leaves of the melons? That's what happens when we grow them.. I believe it's a type of fungus or something.. If that's what you've got, it will consume and take over the entire plant -- which spends its time trying to fight the invasion and looses power to grow the fruit.. I believe that IF you use drip irrigation and NOT an overhead sprinkler, that might help -- keep the water off the leaves and don't water at night.. Perhaps early in the morning... Checkout this link to see if anything matches -- If one does, look for organic fixes first before applying the nasty stuff..

 

Ok Strantor, a cap full of bleach in each kiddie pool will rid you of mosquito's. Did you plant your seeds in the dirt then put them in sunlight? This is a big no no. Plant you seeds in foam cups from dollar store, 1 seed per cup so roots don't intertwine. Then keep them inside or outside in the shade till it sprouts. Once it sprouts gradually bring it into full sun. Don't want it into full sun untill its established a nice root system.