Propagation
Germination, seed depth, punnets, heat mats and hardening off: getting seed from the packet to a strong seedling.
Articles tagged Seed Starting. All propagation
11 articles
Smoke water and smoke treatment: waking Australian native seed
Many Australian native seeds wait for a bushfire, and the cue is smoke. The Kings Park science behind karrikinolide, which species respond and which do not, and how to use smoke water, smoke discs or granules at home, with the fire rules and seed collecting law to check first.
Which way up? Sowing beans, pumpkins, corn and other big seeds
A seed senses gravity and turns its root down whichever way it is sown. For big seeds the position can still cost time and an even row: lay beans and pumpkin seeds flat, and watch it happen in a bean jar.
Punnets, cell trays, paper pots or soil blocks: what to raise seedlings in
Open punnets, cell trays, peat and paper pots, toilet roll tubes and soil blocks compared: what each does to the roots, what the trials found on biodegradable pots, and which crops hate being moved.
Inside a Seed: What Is in There, and How Germination Actually Happens
A seed is a sleeping plant with a packed lunch. What is inside it, how germination unfolds step by step, the soil temperatures each crop needs, and why seeds fail.
How to Sow Tiny Seeds Without Losing Them (Including the Sand Trick)
Poppy seed runs to ten thousand a gram. How to bulk tiny seed with sand, sow it on the surface, keep it damp, and thin it, so the smallest seeds become the easiest crops.
Planting Out Seedlings: How to Transplant Without the Setback
The right size, the right day, the right depth. How to move seedlings from punnet to bed without transplant shock, and what to do in the first week.
Leggy Seedlings: Why They Stretch, How to Fix Them, and How to Stop It Happening Again
Long pale stems and a lean toward the window mean not enough light. What causes leggy seedlings, how to rescue them, which crops can be planted deeper, and how to prevent it next time.
Soaking, Scarification and Cold Stratification: Which Seeds Need Help, and Which Do Not
Most seed needs nothing. For the few that do, here is how to soak big seeds, scarify hard ones, chill cold-climate ones and smoke Australian natives, safely and at the right time.
Direct Sowing: When to Sow Straight Into the Garden, and How to Get It Right
Direct sowing skips the trays and the transplant shock, but it only works when the soil is warm enough and the seedlings are protected. Which crops to sow in place, which to raise first, and how to do it.
How to Protect and Care for Young Seedlings
What a seedling needs
Seedlings are the most fragile stage in the life of a plant, and a few days of the wrong conditions can undo weeks of work. N...
Sow to the Seed, Not to the spade: How Deep Seeds Really Want To Go
Most spring seeds that never come up were buried too deep. The twice-the-width rule, which seeds want light, and how to keep a shallow sowing alive.