Thanks Warren and Jackie. I germinate mine in damp paper towels. As soon as they pop they go into starter trays with domes and seed starter soil. I’ve been doing it the same way for 6 years now and it’s worked well. Now all of a sudden I’m not getting much germination in the paper towels and the ones I’m getting are dying when transfered to the starter trays. I don’t know what to think but I’m disappointed.
Seil,
I find moving the trays-seedlings to a colder place gets rid of a lot of problems.
Neil
One week later. Not a lot of change but hardened off. Keith’s Delight had a lot of germination and though a lot of single rooted seedlings, look about the same. Earth Song had poor germination and the seedlings are a lot smaller, so it’s hard to believe these could turn into a large bush.
Neil
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My Keith’s Delight OP seedlings look just like yours Neil. I do have a few in the lot that might be miniature and that would be nice for me. I’ve not had any set buds yet when other hybrids are. Could that be the rugosa background influence?
I prick mine out and transplant them when I get the first set of true leaves (sometimes the second or third if I have been busy with work and neglectful of my seedling duties). A few lessons I have learned in doing this:
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I originally used a couple of flattened forks to tempt the seedling out of the flats. I ended up sometimes with broken tap roots. I planted these anyway and it didn’t seem to impede the plant too much.
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I changed to a surgical forceps that are an 8" long set of tweezers. I slide these down alongside the seedling and ease it out of the tray.
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I took on Warren’s suggestion on this forum of slow release fertiliser in the bottom 1/3 of the pot. This made a huge difference to my seedlings!
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All of my seedling start in a 50/50 mix of coco peat and vermiculite.
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They get potted on into 3" tubes in the same mix with the slow release towards the bottom of the tube.
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After their second flower showing potential they get potted into 5 1/2" pots in a 50/50 mix of potting mix and vermiculite.
The ones with weak root systems to start with tend to be weaker plants and often are the first to be discarded. I throw them onto the lawn near my benches to get mown over.
My latest attempt with very small seedlings. If this works I’ll need another box of 1000 cups.
Neil
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