I found this site on the internet: robsplants.com Alot of information in there. He tells how he starts his seeds from a method called 'baggy method'. So I thought I would try it out. It was early anyway when I first did this. (1st of March) just to see if it would work. I've had good results. And alot of seeds have sprouted early then the pkg even said. I used coffee filter. Cut it half. put on my seedlings and folded it over. put them in a baggy and sprinkled them for dampnes. labled the bag. And some within a week already sprouted and needed to be planted. These are hollyhock blend that were sent from wintersown.org: notice the date. Can you see the beginning root in this next picture? and today is April 2nd. Thats only 6 days. I'll be planting that one today. Here's a few of my new plants that were started by this baggy method. These are some red & yellow hollyhocks: Now I know the yellow hollyhocks already need their own home. That'll be done soon too. These last ones are just a few of my herbs, basil and rosemary. The basil also will be needing tranplanting into new homes. I'll soon be starting some of my vegetables. Boy, our snow better hurry and melt away, I'll be needing that garden soon.
They look awesome, I have been trying to figure out on how I was going to start my seeds this year, I am going to try that out. Thanks for the tip. :-D
Just look at www.robsplants.com for any further info. also remember I have found that the seeds seem to germinate much quicker. I am presently taking that into account as I figure when I should be starting my vege's.
Heyyyy congrats Petunia! Brilliant. Boy, oh boy...you are well on your way aren't you? I can also vouch for this method as I have used it myself. In fact, I had to do it last year for my parsnips. Nothing else would work cos they absolutely refused to germinate in the earth--they just rotted. The only thing that I did extra was to add heat underneith them just to speed them up a little bit more because I was in a desprate hurry. It is a very good and useful post, Petunia. I'll bet lots of folks will be trying this one.
I tried this method for my last set of seeds and I was really thrilled with it. I actually found it somewhere here on this site...quickly after that I joined!
Say Petunia, have you only planted the two sorts of hollyhocks--or are there more? I am very interested to see how they do.
Sjoerd: I have red hollys and yellow ones. The above pictures are called hollyhock blend. ? Not sure what color they'll be. I received those from 'wintersown.org' I can piture the red and yellow if you'd like. I just separated the yellow ones into their own individual pots.
I've never tried that way,, maybe i might give that a shot for my lemon balm,, i have tried everything short of goin out an buying a plant to get those seeds to sprout. I've had no luck at all with those. This might be worth it to try,, Thanks Petunia!
I'm quite happy with this method so far. I just replanted marigold seeds today that I put in a baggy on April 1st. I never had any luck with marigolds before this. If I should get too too many this way, I'll take them to our roadside sale we have and sell them.
Hi Petunia, I was wondering if you had put any drainage in the styrofoam cups for your beautiful seedlings. Thanks, Sarah
okay Petunia,,,I have tried today this method. I am at wits end with my dang Lemon Balm seeds. so if it works an they start to sprout,, i'll post here on this thread. Thanks again for the idea,, ( i use lots and lots of lemon balm with my fish, jams, chutneys so its a must have for me ) thanks again.