Author Topic: Too Cold (Read 4123 times)

sabrina · « **on:** June 13, 2012, 07:06:10 pm »

Having sown seeds 3 wks ago still no sign of anything. Our weather is still far to cold for June and even the plants in the pollytunnel are taking there time. Planted salad seeds and not one plant showing. Getting fed up.

Fleecewife · « **Reply #1 on:** June 13, 2012, 11:51:35 pm »

Hi Sabrina

If it's lettuce and mizuna you would expect them to be up now as they don't mind the cold, in fact lettuce germinates better in the fridge in very hot weather. I would suspect that the seedlings have been eaten by slugs before you even saw them. For that reason I start all my lettuce off in small pots under cover then plant them out with some protection from the slugs when they have several leaves. There is plenty of time to sow more and get a crop. Don't give up

Bramblecot · « **Reply #2 on:** June 14, 2012, 07:39:13 pm »

Hi S, I planted pumpkins over a month ago in the greenhouse. Hardly any came up so I've overplanted with sunflowers (can't be bothered to fill all those fiddly pots again). Today I have pumpkins popping up through the sunflowers. I think it is this weird weather, don't give up yet.

More torrential rain today

sheep paddling in mud, had to move them again last night, grounds for divorce

Plantoid · « **Reply #3 on:** June 16, 2012, 10:21:00 pm »

Length of day light with enough growth spectrum light as well as stable warmth over 50 oF ( 10 oC ) is often an ignored factor when wondering why your plants seeds have not germinated .
There are numerous charts available on line if you put " optimum germination temperatures " into your favourite search engine.

I am playing at getting " Express seed sprouts " , using two slightly heaped teaspoons of Xaantham gum powder made to a paste by dropping in a drop of water at a time then adding luke warm water to make 1/2 a pint and then boiling it up and whisking it till all lumps have disappeared , leaving to go cold in the lidded pan cold .

Then slip two egg cups of the solution into a thin clear poly bag adding a few seeds of what I want to grow . Knot it and place it in the airing cupboard with date and time marked on it .
I now have sprouting carrots after four days , a few cabbage after three days etc.
All I have to do in another two days time is to snip offf a tiny corner off the poly bag and do an icing cake type squeeze of the sprouted seeds into preprepared pots or drills of the correct depth. Some of the sprouted seed will also be potted up and placed in the glasshouse till the plants are a few days over being able to be viable for planting out in the beds.

I don't know just how many species of seeds this works for at present but I am going to try with all seed types I have including all the flowers.

I have done it with many times before with carrots , radish and kohl rabi several years ago .

MAK · « **Reply #4 on:** June 18, 2012, 03:57:01 pm »

The cold Spring delayed or thwarted many of my seedlings. Tomatoes, squash and courgette were a disaster BUT I seem to have good tomatoes and maybe butternut or courgette popping up all over ( from last years compost). I transplanted several and they are doing great.

sabrina · « **Reply #5 on:** June 18, 2012, 04:04:07 pm »

Peas are now popping through and the ones I started in the pollytunnel are now outside. going to try salad greens in pots. Planted out some turnip this morning, still no sign of carrots. Tomato plants are coming on at last, they are in the tunnel. Weather due to get warmer so should give things a boost.

MAK · « **Reply #6 on:** June 18, 2012, 06:58:26 pm »

Sorry Sabrina but tonight we are eating our third lot of carrots, roast beetroot and our first new potatoes. Still using up frozen parsnips so I did not pick a cabbage.
Its go go now in the veg plot. Garlic up on the 22nd

YorkshireLass · « **Reply #7 on:** June 18, 2012, 07:23:12 pm »

Do you think I should re-sow lines that haven't emerged (beets, brassicas) or wait a bit longer? The squash plants seem to have frozen in time too

MAK · « **Reply #8 on:** June 18, 2012, 08:50:24 pm »

When did you sow them ? I would say yes if it was more than 2 weeks ago. The squash will catch up when you get some heat. I water early evening with water that has been in the sun. the squash get a drink without dropping the soil temperature then the darker ( MOIST SOIL) gets warmer quicker. The dry soild is never as warm so the trade off is reducing the overnight temperature too much - hence using warmed up water from tubs.

YorkshireLass · « **Reply #9 on:** June 18, 2012, 09:56:12 pm »

Try two months ago, if not longer

I looked again tonight, I think i have one whole beet coming up

The squashes are on the "hugul-pile" (bodged hugelkultur), with a black wool mulch for the slugs which also gets hot, and are south facing. Not much more I can do there.