Growing Seedlings At Home. Part 2

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Growing seedlings at home is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Nevertheless, this is also a kind of art that requires certain skills and knowledge. You should always try to provide vulnerable seedlings with optimal conditions for their good growth, and sometimes this does not begin to work well until after several seasons. As the saying goes, everything comes with experience

A place for seedlings

The volume of soil occupied by the root system of the seedlings, as well as the area allocated to each plant, determines not only the quality of the grown seedlings, but also its potential yield. The rate of biomass growth in vegetable crops in the first weeks of life is not the same, respectively, the living space of each crop should be different. Eggplants and tomatoes need the most space.

It is no secret that there are often not enough window sills to accommodate the entire volume of seedlings. In this regard, it becomes necessary either to expand the window sills, or to build additional shelves on the windows. An excellent material for expanding window sills is timber grating. Additional shelves are usually made at half the height of the windows. If there are long side vents on the windows, the seedlings should be isolated from them. In the daytime, it can be taken out to loggias or balconies, but this is done only when the daytime air temperature begins to reach 10 degrees and above.

Seed selection and sowing time

The selection of varieties of various crops and the selection of seeds is an extremely important step in growing seedlings at home. It is best to purchase seeds from reputable growers who pre-treat seed from pests and diseases. In addition, these seeds are immediately ready for planting, as they do not require presoaking.

When using self-harvested seeds, you should be extremely careful. It is better to harvest seeds of zoned varieties, since if you take seeds of hybrid varieties, then after a year they can split into paternal forms, and the result will be very far from expectations.

It is not difficult to distinguish zoned varieties from hybrid ones. Hybrids are marked on the packaging with the F1 symbol. These seeds are best used for only one year.

When sowing seeds, it should be borne in mind that seedlings spend about six to eight weeks indoors, in other words, about two months before the end of the last frost. In the event that the average date of their end is at the end of March, the seeds begin to be sown at the end of February. If the average date of their end falls in April - May, then the seeds can be sown in early March. Of course, it is important to understand that year after year is not necessary. Also, when sowing seeds, it is necessary to adhere to their seeding rates.

Temperature regime

All vital processes in vegetation take place, as a rule, only in the presence of heat. And depending on the phases of development, each plant can have completely different requirements. As for the germination of seeds for seedlings, the most optimal temperature for this will be about 25 degrees. But after the first shoots appear, it should be slightly lower (by 3 - 4 degrees). This is the so-called critical point for growing seedlings at home. If, immediately after germination of seedlings, the temperature remains rather high, and even the lighting will leave much to be desired, the root mass of the plants will increase, their respiration will increase, and the shoots will stretch out and become thinner. And if this moment is missed, then it is necessary to provide the seedlings with sufficient lighting as soon as possible and immediately lower the temperature. This "treatment" is usually carried out over two to three days.