On Wed, 14 Nov 2012 19:18:10 +0000, stuart noble
wrote:


Sowing in the open means that the very young plants are at the mercy
of the elements. Indeed, here, the ground is way too waterlogged
anyway. I sow in 40-cell trays, 2 or 3 seeds to a cell.

The problem for me is isolating 2 or 3 seeds when they're as fine as
dust and you get 500 or so in a packet. Not getting them all in the same
place is the best I can hope for.

My approach is that I'm never going to have space for 500+ of one
plant so if they're too small to handle I just scatter them over the
surface (mix in with some silver sand) and thin them out later if I
need to. But, IME, the smaller/larger quantity seeds don't germinate
at such a rate as the larger/smaller quantity ones. I usually use a
pack of 1,000+ amaranthus seeds and end up with a couple-of-dozen
plants which is more than enough.

Most of the autumn hardies I sow are big enough for the "thumb and
forefinger" treatment though. The 2-3 seeds per cell is, I suppose, an
uneducated guesstimate of what ends up in them. Poppies, for example,
are probably 20-30 seeds per cell

Cheers, Jake
=======================================
Urgling from the East End of Swansea Bay where sometimes
it's raining and sometimes it's not.