In the forefront: carrots germinating. I have already forgotten what kind. ;-)I used my mini blocker last weekend so I could start some finicky seeds indoors. I started seeds that typically hate transplantation: carrots, fennel, dill, and several others.
During the spring I had great results with starting corn inside in regular sized soil blocks and moving them out as soon as they sprouted. Corn is traditionally a crop that needs to be sown directly into the soil where it will grow. One of the tricks to success with plants such as this in soil blocks is to get them outside immediately after germination. This way, they don't get acclimated to the 'indoors'. That would necessitate hardening off, traumatizing the delicate taproot.
I have read online of people hardening off corn in soil blocks for a week. I feel this is too long and unnecessary if the plants are transplanted within a day of germination. Hardening off is definitely important in most cases, but not here.
'Fall' Plants I would like to pre-germinate indoors:
Some of the plants I am trying out in the soil blocks this year are carrots, dill, spinach, lettuce, and, peas. I will try the mini blockers with these this year. I always have mixed results with the above seeds. The carrots, dill, fennel and spinach can take up to a month to germinate (during which time the soil must ALWAYS be kept moist). The carrots and dill hate being transplanted via typical transplant means. The peas and lettuce don't take long, but they either all germinate really well, or germination is entirely dismal.
'Fall' Plants I always direct sow:
Some of the plants I always direct sow are mustard and turnip greens, radishes, and arugula. These never give me any trouble, usually germinating within 2-5 days.
See my post this past spring showing the difference between an eggplant seedling started in soil blocks (with homemade 'soil') vs in a peat pot with commercial seed starter mix.
0 comments:
Post a Comment