Act II: Sowing Time

It had been 24hr since the seeds were first presoaked so it was time to plant them.  The soil used was a 50/50 blend of some old potting soil and some new organic miracle grow soil.  The old soil was from some dead potted plants.  I threw the whole plant and soil into a storage container and mixed into it one tablespoon blood and bone meal per gallon of soil.   Then it was allowed to break down and rejuvinate until now, or about 5 months later.  The new soil didn't have any perlite in it so I added a few handfuls of that and some leaf litter.  In the fall it is a good idea to save some of your leaves.  This tends to lighten up the mix for seedlings, and I believe it helps to condition the soil. I like to use clear cups.  That way I can see what they are doing and how they are developing above and below the ground.  I only drill one hole in the bottom so I can plug it up if I need to, but also because fungus gnats like to live in them.  Some say the more holes, the more aeration the roots have, but as the soil dries it pulls away from the sides of the cup leaving behind air pockets and the soil is light so aeration is never an issue with a 16 ounce cup.

I add the seeds using tweezers for larger seeds, and a 1ml dropper for small seeds.  It's kind of cute watching the float around in there too.  The dropper is by far the most noninvasive procedures for planting soaked seeds that I am aware of. When using the tweezers I literally just push them into the ground(about three times their seed diameter) and then let go of them.  When using the dropper it can be difficult to spread the seeds thinly so I often stir them in. 

Make sure the soil is already somewhat wet before you add the seeds.  There needs to be a good deep soaking to make sure the seeds aren't being dried from the bottom up.  After the seeds are planted, again water the soil and pat gently to insure good contact between the soil and seeds.  If the soil was already really moist, not so much water will be used that you run the risk of washing away the seeds. I ran out of plastic trays so I used some pizza boxes I save for drying seed balls.  Look at this space saving germination tower.

I've made sure to cover my seeds so I don't have to spray the surface all the time.  The heater mat from the earlier photos was thrown in for extra warmth.  The temperature in the morning was 72°F.