Hulless happiness, germination damnation
A while ago I ordered some different grain seeds from Salt Spring Seeds, a heritage and heirloom seed supplier on Salt Spring Island, BC. I was looking for hulless grains in particular – grains that have naturally loose hulls that can be separated by rubbing or shaking. Most grains these days need to be hulled, which is generally done mechanically, though I'm sure there are many non-mechanical ways of accomplishing it, too (this is why I must spend some time visiting some traditional cultures). Since I'm interested in self-sufficiency, I'd like to grow grains that require a minimal energy investment. A rudimentary search for hulless barley and hulless oats (the only hulless grains I've yet discovered) led me to the catalog for Salt Spring Seeds, so I ordered from there.
I got the seeds a couple days ago, along with golden flax and Indian Blue corn I'd also ordered. It wasn't a new moon recently – rather, quite the opposite – but it's getting late in the season, so I thought I'd forgo the cosmic calendar this once and sow seeds anyway. Meta also thought it would be nice for some morning glories to swallow the backyard's ramshackle fencing. So I sowed.
It seems I haven't been doing a very good job getting my tomatoes and sweet peppers to germinate. In case you were wondering, none have germinated yet, and it's been several weeks for some of them. I don't know why I thought it would be okay for my ungerminated tomatoes and peppers to spend their nights at or below 10ºC. I guess I forgot to read the instructions. I read some guidelines today, which clearly state that peppers germinate best between 24ºC and 29ºC (at least above 18ºC) and that tomatoes germinate best between 21ºC and 27ºC (and never below 10ºC). Maybe that's why most greenhouses have heaters, hey? Yet the concept still seems kind of wrong to me. :) I suppose I should really just stop trying to grow tropical vegetables in Toronto.
So I sowed the last of my pepper seeds and a bunch more tomato and groundcherry seeds, and this time I've brought them inside to germinate. One of the articles I read suggests putting the trays on top of the fridge. I think I'll try that and see how it goes.
Labels: germination, hulless grains, lunar cycle, peppers, seed propagation, seeds, tomatoes
posted by FarmerPauly @ 8:20 PM
2 Comments:
How's the damping off? Also, what variety of peppers and tomatoes are you growing? (maybe you've already mentioned that.)
Damping off - depends on which definition you mean. I read somewhere that damping off refers specifically to seedling death resulting from a damping off fungus. I read somewhere else that it means sudden unexpected seedling death for any reason.
I have a feeling my poppy seedlings just died from climatic shock (moderate indoors -> cold frame extremes). My parsley may have died from a fungus: the seeds germinated, I put them into soil, kept them indoors, and then they just never came up. The valerian too. But everything else seems to be doing fine (besides the chard, which will be blogged about), though everything definitely seems to be growing more slowly than I expected. Blame it on a lack of peat moss?
My peppers are Frank's Sweet and my tomatoes are Ruffled Red and groundcherry.
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