Welcome to Part 2 of our Seed to Bloom series! If you missed Part 1 we were outside checking on the seeds that were directly sown in our new tester bed. Now we are on the inside giving you an update on the seeds that were sown in 6 cell trays on April 10th and are growing under grow lights. The goal is to eventually transplant these out and compare them to the ones that were directly sown outside to see what works best for us here in Zone 8A Alabama.
Let’s get into it!
Sunflowers
We have three sunflower varieties all from the American Seed brand which we picked up from Dollar Tree. Tray number one is the Autumn Beauty and we have four out of six that germinated. Tray number two is the Mixed Colors and we have five out of six germinated. Tray number three is the Mammoth Russian — also five out of six — and those are supposed to get really tall so we are excited to see how those do!
Zinnias
Our zinnias are in trays five through nine and we have five different varieties. Tray five is the American Seed Purple Prince with three out of six germinated. Tray six is the Fairy Morse Scarlet Flame and we are especially excited about this one because my mom’s favorite color is red and we have not been successful growing this one before so we are really hoping for it this time! Tray seven is the Back to the Roots California Giants with three out of six germinated. Tray eight is the Fairy Morse Giant Double Enchantress — we only had one out of the six cell trays germinate but there are actually two little plants in there. And tray nine is the Fairy Morse Giant Mix Colors with three germinated.
Cosmos
Our cosmos are the American Seed Sensation Picotti mix and we have five cells that germinated with some cells having more than one plant. Now we are going to be honest — we have a little bit of a love hate relationship with cosmos. When we grow them from seed they tend to get really leggy and tall and that is what is happening right now. Just to be clear though these were brought up for the video but they normally live on the lower shelf with the light source two to three inches from the seedlings. It may be getting close to time to go ahead and direct sow those outside but we will keep you posted.
Dahlias
We are growing dahlias from seed this time around instead of tubers! We have the Fairy Morse Rainbow Mix and it looks like two germinated in one cell tray. We are really excited to see how these develop.
Marigolds
The Fairy Morse French Double Dwarf marigolds did not germinate and we are not sure what happened there. We love growing marigolds for their help with pest control so we are hoping we can get some going. We went ahead and put them back under the humidity dome just in case.
Nasturtiums
The Fairy Morse Empress of India nasturtiums have not germinated yet either but we are not giving up on them. According to our notes and the germination days on the seed packet we have until April 25th since nasturtiums can take anywhere from 7 to 15 days. So we are giving them more time and keeping them under the humidity dome.
What We Are Watching For
We are waiting until all of our seedlings have at least two sets of true leaves before transplanting them out. In the meantime we are making sure they are watered well and looking happy. We are also being careful not to fertilize too early because that can burn the seedlings. We will just watch them closely and pay attention to what they need.
We are so excited about this Seed to Bloom series and cannot wait to see how everything develops! When we transplant them out we will provide another update and continue to monitor everything as it grows.
As always we are learning as we grow. Chat soon! 🌱