Seed Starting as MOTHER's Gardeners Do It

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

A BIT MORE ABOUT DAMPING-OFF

What if damping-off does strike, and some of your nurslings begin to keel over from this seed-starter's plague? First off, dig out any afflicted plants and dispose of them in a place where they can't infect other crops. (Then clean your hands and tools before you touch healthy specimens!) Increase the ventilation around your remaining starts, and if the area is fairly warm, cool their environment some, too. You can also lightly dust the trays with flowers of sulfur (available at drugstores) to help "treat" the seedlings.

If a whole flat has been infected, you'll have to dump out all the plants and soil mix, and start over. But first try to determine what caused the problem, and do what you can to prevent recurrence. Maybe you're using "green" (non-broken-down) manure in your mix (or tea)? Do you need to add more sand to your flat mix to provide better drainage? Are you reusing the same soil mix? (Don't.) Are you thoroughly brushing out all flats with a wire brush and then sun-airing and -drying them before reusing them? (Do.) With a little care and thoughtfulness, you should be able to bring this common problem under control.

Of course, the best cure for this malady is prevention: Always provide adequate ventilation and drainage. In addition, Walker and Olivia use another prophylactic measure you might want to try: They mist their seedlings every fifth day or so with a foliar feed tea made from Equisetum arvense, a type of horsetail. They boil the equisetum for twenty minutes, strain it off, dilute the liquid, and spray. According to the biodynamic school of agriculture (explained in MOTHER N0. 86, page 82), this substance will resist fungal infection by enhancing the plants' light-absorbing ability.

If you'd like to use the tea, you can order a 1-1/2-ounce portion of dried equisetum (enough for two gallons of spray) for $2.25 postpaid from Bio-Dynamic Account, E.S. Courtney, Rt. 1, Box 139A, Woolwine, VA 24185.

Some other growers highly recommend a foliar feed of kelp (add two-thirds cup of the seaweed powder to a gallon of warm water) or of chamomile tea (made from soaking dried blossoms in water for a day or two) as good fungal preventives. The chamomile tea can also be used-to the same end-as a seed soak before planting.

GARDEN TIME

Taking care of pricked-out seedlings is very similar to managing just-started ones: Give them lots of light, thorough waterings as needed, and occasional fertilizing with a homemade plant tea or similar nutrient. When the time to put them out in their real garden home is only a week or so away, you can begin hardening off your plants (adjusting them to the outdoors) by setting the trays outside for a few hours a day or moving them into a cold frame.

Then late one afternoon or on a cloudy day -don't set plants out at the start of a sunny day you can grab a trowel and, just as you moved the starts before, set them out in your prepared garden soil . . . hale, hardy, and ready to grow! You'll have successfully nurtured dozens or hundreds of young plants from mere seeds to healthy garden stock. And that's a feat that any gardener could be mighty proud of! *

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print