Fastest germination ever!

[Karen]

Just checked on my seeds sown on 21st March.

My Sweetheart melon just emerged today! Just took only 2 days! I am speechless. Does the 2 days sowing before Full Moon truly work? Seems like it.

My tomato seeds usually emerge within 4 days and I thought these were the quickest. These were all placed on top of our fireplace.

I am still waiting for my lettuce seeds to emerge as they were sown on the 19th (leaf day) . They are sitting in the polytunnel. Should I bring them in and place them on top of the fireplace?

I am still finding it a little hard to breakout from planting on the designated plant part days by Maria Thun.

Anyone who had sown on the 20th/21st has had any of their seeds emerge yet and what were they? I am really curious. I am sometimes unsure if I should place all the seeds with warmth? Or just leave them in the polytunnel.

And more specifically… do most of you sit your seeds (especially cool tolerant plants, e.g. lettuce) on top of some warmth to help speed up germination or just leave it undercover in a polytunnel or greenhouse or conservatory?

[Leif]

I’m curious to know where you sourced your seeds. Very fresh seed harvested from fully ripe fruits or seed heads will germinate rapidly although 2 days is fast. My record for several species of chillis is 5 days. Bear in mind that that is the time taken for the seedling to break through the surface of the soil, so if you are germinating seeds on a damp tissue for example, you will see earlier germination.

Tropical plants do require some warmth, especially chillis and tomatoes. My outdoor beetroot and pak choi (in a coldframe) were up in about one week, carrots took much longer but they were sown in late February (early, I know, but they are outdoors in pots near a south facing wall, nothing ventured etc.).

[Karen]

Hello Leif,

The seeds were sown in module trays. My tomatoes have emerged after 3 days now, broke my usual 4 day record.

I usually order my seeds from Amazon UK (mainly Premier Seeds Direct, Just Seed and recently Viridishortus) as the seeds in Germany have rather limited varieties and also a tad more expensive. I am mostly looking for variety.

The only problem with the melon seedlings now are that they LEGGY! 🙁 Will have to wait for the next opportune time to pot them deeper. I just didn’t expect the melon seeds to germinate this quickly. Figured it would take at least a week or so.

[charles]

Hey Karen you are record breaking, as Leif says that is exceptional.
I noticed today that some beetroot sown on 21st is showing small red leaves, that is unusually fast. Sowing two days before full moon does speed things up – but the Thun’s might say, speed is not everything. I think that the speed translates into vigour through the plant’s life but the whole question of sowing by the moon is criss-crossed by all the other variables to do with germination and growth, so conclusions are rare.
Warmth speeds up germination of almost all seeds and I use my hotbed for that mostly. Then move plants to a bench in the unheated greenhouse to continue growth.

[Rhys]

Tomatoes through In 4 days sown on 21st. No sign yet of the chard or beetroot.

[Karen]

Hey Charles, the conundrum between speed and if the seed will ever germinate (i.e. seed viability).

Can I clarify if all your warm-loving plants (e.g. tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, squash) are always in the unheated greenhouse after they have germinated from sitting on top of your hotbed?

Let´s say if you didn’t have a hotbed. How would you go about with starting these warm loving plants? My apologies if my question sounds silly. I have read your books and I am still always uncertain about these warm demanding plants.

All my tomato seedlings (even those that were sowed end of February) are still sitting by the windowsill in our living room. I have this fear that they won´t survive the temperatures in the polytunnel, especially in the nights when it is about 1-3 degrees. I am always uncertain about this.

Perhaps I should just be brave enough and sacrifice some plants and leave them in the polytunnel.

[Karen]

btw, the melon seedlings are like 12cm long now! Oh gosh! 🙁

[Rhys]

Karen

I germinate my tomatoes sitting on top of our outside boiler and bring them indoors once germinated. I use old ice cream tubs, saturate a lower layer of seed compost with Luke warm water, then lay a thin bedding layer dry on top. I place the seedlings on that dry layer, cover them with a thin layer of dry compost, cover the tub in aluminium foil and put it on newspaper atop the boiler. The aim is for moisture to rise warm to drive germination.

I check daily after 3 days and bring indoors as appropriate.

Has worked very well the past three years for around 10 strains of tomato.

[Karen]

Heya Rhys,

I gather that your tomato seedlings are always kept indoors until it is suitable to be planted outdoors? I do recall you mentioning that you don’t have a polytunnel and that your toms are planted outdoors.

Are your tomato seedlings leggy too?

I just found out from a friend that he just pricked out his tomatoes and on 21st and they are now sitting in an unheated greenhouse.

I am just too terrified to try it. i.e. to put these seedlings in the polytunnel even overnight.

[charles]

Karen you could sow later next year, my tomatoes sown 10 days ago are still on the windowsill of the conservatory, then will be pricked into modules and live over the hotbed for 2-3 weeks until risk of frost in the greenhouse has passed. If I had no hotbed, I would sow later, say last week of March. Or bring seedlings into the house if frost is forecast. Tomatoes survive ok at say 3C overnigh,t if its not every night! They just grow more slowly.
And yes, on the windowsill my toms are growing a bit leggy. I shall sow melons in early April.

[Karen]

Hey Charles… definitely common sense to not sow too early. It does make perfect sense. Moreover, it makes even more sense to sow later since some of us have a polytunnel or greenhouse and the plants will possibly catch up as opposed to sowing them too early. Fortunately, I only sowed a few melon seeds and will sow a few more in April.

Thanks again for clarifying and your infinite wisdom and practical experience. 🙂

We definitely will also attempt to start a hotbed if we are able to get fresh animal manure in late winter.

[Rhys]

Karen

I keep my tomatoes inside until mid April or so, then adapt them to outdoors in the day, leave them in the garage overnight if necessary until they are happy to live out all night. All are grown in pots.

My late Feb sowings: Red Alerts are leggy, the rest not. Rest are: Black Krim, Black Russian and Super Marmande; Madkotka and Black CHerry.

[Karen]

I hesitate to still bring mine out into the polytunnel coz their (Toms and peppers) leaves always start to turn kinda white.. have tried a few times. Even when the temperature is about mid 20s to 30 degrees on a sunny day in the polytunnel. Am just a chicken! ha!

Gonna practice more restraint next year! and only sow in late March or early April.

[Rhys]

Karen

Chard and beetroot sown on 21st came through between days 7-10. Beetroot modules look very good with high germination frequency. Chard with older seed less efficient but more than the dozen I need to transplant into pots.

The borage, thyme and cinnamon I sowed also came through at same rate as beetroot/chard.

So the fruit seeds came through very fast and the leaf/roots/flowers were no quicker than expected.

Consistent with Maria Thun’s thoughts but not a big enough sample size for it to be evidence.

[Karen]

Hello Rhys,

Ha! I suspect that it possibly had much to do with the fact that the 20-21st were fruit days. Hence the fruit plants germinated quicker? My Sweetheart melon and toms were kinda proof of that?

I didn’t dare plant other plant parts, so I cant really say. Will try to pluck up some courage and experiment on my 2nd sowings of lettuce in June/July. June´s 2 days before full moon is leaf day. Ha! Will see how long those lettuce germinate. And I might experiment with some root seeds. So I might have to experiment in July as it has a mix of Fruit and Leaf days 2 days before full moon.

Also I am trying celeriac first time this year and I had 2 different seed packets of Monarch (2016 and 2018). And I guess not surprisingly, the 2018 (fresher seeds?) seeds germinated 13 days later. I am really excited about it. While the 2016 seeds are still in hiding!

ps: Really gotta Thank Charles for this brilliant website with the forum and updates. It certainly has gotten me motivated with trying more different vegetables! I need to look for more space in the garden by re-landscaping and re-adjusting the beds!

[Author]

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