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 Posted: Thu Jul 19, 2012 10:56 am
So far I am only planting indoors, but as soon as my little sandbox thing gets here I will be planting outdoors too (because I am renting this residence).
Things I am growing:
Basil
My basil grew just fine and looked really happy until a couple of days ago. I had it in a pot by the window and misted it consistently. Some of the little leaves (the plants are probably over an inch tall right now) started to look pretty sick so I did research and I think maybe I was overwatering/getting too much water on the leaves. I lucked off the sickly leaves and drained the pot. But also we recently started keeping the AC on so maybe it's too cold for them? Can I keep them inside?
Sunflowers
My sunflowers did not sprout at all and I am pretty confident they were overwatered (I guess I misinterpreted the directions).I had a kit for growing them which came with a greenhouse dome and it seemed to keep too much water in.. They were kept outside in a pot in the sun. I dug out one of the seeds and saw that it had started to grow but never enough to come out of the soil and grow (I did not plant them very deep either).
Lavender
My next seeds waiting to be planted will be lavender. I plant to keep atleast one lavender plant inside.
Also, I read online that you can grow plants in just a jar of water. I don't fully understand this. Do I just have to transport them after they sprout?
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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 1:48 pm
Try again with the sun flowers you have to really fluff up the ground for them. Sunflowers do very badly in pots since they rely on a deep tap root for stability and water. They're also very heavy feeders, so you need to scratch in compost or fertilizer. You might want to invest in a little netting to prevent slugs from eating the cotyledons. I found loofahs work pretty good. biggrin they're just not very wide, good to protect small seedlings until they get a few good leaves. You can sprout the seeds in a jar, but once they pop open put them in the ground.
Sunflowers take time to pop out. they're very....chill plants, they take their time. I've dropped seeds on the top of the soil and just sprinkled a top layer and I've really pushed seeds down far, and they've all popped out no problem.
Did you keep them in the pot and the dome in the sun? If you did it may be you're steaming your seeds. Domes are usually used to increase humidity to encourage seeds to sprout. But I usually scrap the dome once I move anything outside, unless its in the shade.
Plants in water.
A few plants can "survive" in just water. But growing a plant in water is usually referred to when you want to root a cutting; if you're not referring to growing aquatic plants. Rooting is, you cut a leaf/branch and want it to grow roots you can just put in water for a while until it grows roots. Then you should transplant them.
You can start seeds in water, its called "Sprouting" normally people put seeds in a jar/cup, and cover it with just enough water and let the seeds sit, get fat and sprout, then the seeds are transplanted into the ground or their own pots.
The second concept of growing plants in water is hydroponics, but unless you have a filter system along with water soluble nutrients and a water pump, I wouldn't recommend you do hydroponics unless you have the time and money to build and actual system.
A basic rule of thumb when it comes to watering with plants indoors is, don't water until the top feels dry, then take them outside and water them from the either the bottom, or top water them thoroughly, let the excess water drain out and bring them back in. Or you water inside, water them slowly until water starts to drain.
If your plant is right next to the AC or near it, you're increasing evaporation from their leaves, that can make them look sickly, and it can be too cold for them. If you have central air keep them away from the vents and by a warm window.
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Posted: Sat Jul 21, 2012 8:11 pm
Not much can be started in water, true. But once they are grown, green onions can be moved into a small jar with water and will actually shoot out new bits of plants. I've had mine in water for 2 weeks or so and I have had 3 new tops come out and grow over 6 inches each, and there are only 3 green onions in there biggrin
Also, if you are trying to "force" bulbs, you use water and small stones, no dirt. There are detailed instructions online.
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