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Hello peoples and welcome back to spring! This is my 3rd year having a vegie garden. The last two years I planted "pre-grown" plants for my garden. This year I've decided to start with seeds! To start the seeds off I am currently using "Jiffy Professional greenhouse" that holds 72 Peat Pellets. (I only used 38 of the pellets and also, I wasn't sure if I could just plant the seeds outside to begin with.) I originally was just going to plant the seeds outside in the totes and containers but my brother advised me to use the greenhouse kit. So I did.

Well, so far, I have a few that have already sprouted and growing! I just planted all of the seeds on the 14 of this month. I would have never guessed that they would sprout that fast! So far, the ones that have sprouted are: 1 corn, 2 green onions, 3 green beans, 1 snap pea, and 1 pumpkin. They are growing A LOT FASTER than I ever anticipated! As of today, the corn and the pumpkin are too tall for the greenhouse kit.

So my question: Am I able to put them in a tiny pot and begain "training" them to be transplanted outside. Okay, well, nevermind. I still think it's too early to put them outside. Would it be okay for me to put them into small pots and leave them by a window plus my plant light. Or do they still need a greenhouse invironment? I was thinking I could maybe make my 46 gallon fish tank (never used for fish) into a greenhouse. I could put saran wrap over the top to hold in the moister and then hang my plant light over it. Or something like that. Not only is it too early to put them outside but one of the plants, the corn, still has no leaves. Just a "pole".

So anywho, some advice and guidance would be great! Share all you want to. When I get back home after work, I'll do some more research. Like I said before, I really wasn't thinking I'd be at this stage yet! Thanks for all of your help!


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I never use a greenhouse environment for my seeds. I plant in pots and just sit them up on my fridge.

You have to be careful though, leggy plants will fall over and wilt easily.

I have a very short growing season and plant peas, corn, beans and onions right in the ground.

When is it time in your area for outside planting? You might have to transplant to bigger pots.


~~Tam~ You can bury all your troubles by digging in the dirt.
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How can I tell if the plants are getting too leggy? Is there a way to fix them if they have gotten leggy. (I really don't think they are seeing how they are just seedlings, I'm just curious.) What exactly makes plants leggy?

I believe I'm in zone 7. I usually plant my plants outside after Easter. However, seeing how Easter is early this year I'll probably wait till the end of April ... I guess. I just usually step outside and "feel" to see if it's time to plant outside yet.


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1 corn, 2 green onions, 3 green beans, 1 snap pea, and 1 pumpkin. These plants need not be started in the greenhouse. With your climate you can plant sll these in the ground with better sucess. zone 5 and below some plants ar started in the grenhosue due to the short season. Corn, beans, and Pea are a total waste of time starting in pots.

Leggy plants are due to lack of light. Grow lamps are useless after the seedlings are established. Even the dullest outside day is superior to lamps after the seedling have germinated. I use a South window for germination. Here is my simple method used for all seeds. I have abandoned grow lights altogether.

http://chazaf.notlong.com/ 31 January 2008 Starting tomato seeds. Pictures of method. Probably humidity does more to encourage germination than soil moisture,and since the seeds are close to the soil surface the seeds tend to dry out rather quickly if not in a high humidity environment. The top of the clear plastic covers are opened when the seedlings are about one or two inches high.Then the seedling are put outdoors during warm days to get LIGHT.

Jiffy pots and expandable peat slugs are almost useless, since they act like a wick in the case of the jiffy pot and literally dry out the seeds, when they need humidity the most.



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See, I had originally planned on just sowing the seeds straight into the totes I have outside, but then I got scared out of it. Out of 5 corn seeds I planted so far, only 1 has sprouted. This worries me seeing how they need to be planted in rows for pollination. (I planted 5, one extra incase I needed a "substitute" and here the "substitute" is the only one that grew. HA!) By-the-way, looking at the corn seed ... do I only need to remove some kernels from an ear of corn, allow it to dry out and then plant that next year?

I only have 1 window that is cat free. Which is a East window, the sun rises right outside my window. Come to think of it, there's not any window on the South wall of my house. Anywho, the main reason they are where they are now is, again, because that's the only cat free area.

Unfortunately, a few of my plants did get leggy. :( My lettuce got leggy quick. Not to mention it grew on the exterior wall of the peat soil. I transplanted it just incase it decided to come back. Five of my carrot seedlings are also leggy. I'll be transferring them tomorrow. All the plants mentioned in my earlier post were transplanted to pots the day after that original post. They, I think, are doing okay so far with maybe an exception of the corn. Never grew corn before so not entirely sure of what it's appearance should be at this time. It's now grown 2 blades of leaves, though, it might be a bit skinny.

Researching on "leggy veggie plants", I just found out that I'm suppose to use a small fan or "pet" them to build them up. So I've started that. Other than the fact that we are still getting nippy nights and sometimes days, when would you plant them outside? Meaning, if not for the weather, would I be able to plant any plant outside with them being tiny? Next year, (or even this year) I'm going to try the cups with plastic over them.


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You have to harden off plants that are started indoors. If you directly plant them outside, they are sure to die with the temperature changes.

Why not try direct seed planting in those outdoor pots? That way if your seedlings have trouble, you'll still have something to fall back on.


Corn will look like grass while it is growing, as well as carrots. You can save seeds....I have but since seeds are so cheap here I always just buy fresh.

Slowly fan your fingers across your leggy plants a few times a day. Hopefully it will strenghten them for you.


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Can someone explain to me what "leggy" means. And what I should look for in my plants if they are "leggy"

Thanks

Lori

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Leggy just means they're tall and spindly. Those pic's of yours don't show any legginess. It's usually caused by lack of light.


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you can move those to the garden, you're in arkansas, just watch your temps and cover with a bucket or 2 liter soda bottle if the temps drop below 40 at night


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here are your frost dates for Arkansas and we are past all but one of those and don't think we'll get a frost again this late in the year
http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/ar.html

Last edited by suzydaze; Apr 18th, 2008 at 07:37 AM.

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