Newbie seed starter made a mistake. Help!

I have some seeds I started in a tray and a couple days ago I left it outside with the clear plastic dome on while it was about 80 degrees outside. Well the next day they looked like this. The ones that wilted and turned brown are romaine, swiss chard, broccoli and cauliflower. Will they come back or did I kill em?

Thanks,

Oh dear! Lesson learned ... time to start over .

Bummer!!

Maybe I'll look for some starter plants at the nursery to replace what I killed. Shoot!!

The tray also had Cucumbers that seemed to survive

There's also a bunch of carrots and onions I'm assuming are ok still. The ones that have greens popped up are still green so I guess they are good still.

I guess that's gardening. Live and learn!

Thanks for the quick response.

Beav395 wrote: Bummer!!

Maybe I'll look for some starter plants at the nursery to replace what I killed. Shoot!!

The tray also had Cucumbers that seemed to survive

There's also a bunch of carrots and onions I'm assuming are ok still. The ones that have greens popped up are still green so I guess they are good still.

I guess that's gardening. Live and learn!

Thanks for the quick response.

to another sounthern Californian.

When it was 80 degrees it probably got over 100 in those little domes. So you lost the cool season veggies.

I had my seedlings out in the sun for only a couple of hours.

Wow, that's unfortunate Beav395!!!

How much time did you have into those lost seedlings? If it was only a couple/few weeks why not just re-seed.

You're in California with heat wave like temps of 80*? Wish we had that kind of problem up here in the PNW. What have your night temps been averaging lately?

Possibly you can now just skip the indoor seeding, and just direct seed into the Mel's Mix in your box? Would that work? If that's possible, you would save the effort and time delay of having to harden off the next batch of seedlings and avoid any delay due to transplant shock.

If the temps are reasonable, I'd just seed direct. And I could also re-seed in the tray to have plant starts for insurance. What do you got to loose? It's just seeds!!!

Well which ever you decide with Plan B, I hope it works out!!!

---Dave

I have to agree with dsfin on this one.
If you decide to sow indoors again, when you put your seedlings out to harden off, I'd place them in light shade and either remove or put the lid askew if the temps are 60 or more.

I started that tray on Feb 6th. So only a couple weeks invested in those little guys.

Night time temps are in the mid 50's now and afternoon is around 70, pretty mild. I had them started in the tray because at the time I was still building my box and figured I would just start seeds in a tray to get a jump start on things. I don't know why I had that plastic dome on there in the first place. Totally unnecessary.

Yea, weather wise here in so cal, it's probably completely fine to just start seeds in the SFG at this point.

I went to the nursery and got some some little veggie starters. I'll get those in the box along with some new seeds and see how things go. This being my first attempt at gardening, I'll be interested to compare the plant starts to the new seeds. Its a huge learning experience at this point.

Love the forums here,

Brian

I would not bother with starting seeds of spring plants. Get them out in your garden now! Just direct seed. This is almost the last month to plant most of those.

EDIT:
...oooops - missed the part about not having boxes ready. No worries. Just seed right into the box and leave some squares for the upcoming summer veggies.

Interesting idea about saving some squares for summer crops.

When would be the time of year to plant seeds for summer crops?

What are some good summer crops to grow?

Beav395 wrote:Interesting idea about saving some squares for summer crops.

When would be the time of year to plant seeds for summer crops?

What are some good summer crops to grow?

Funny you should ask. As you know it can get hot fast in So Cal so trying to push the spring too far is not always a good idea. In OC you may have a better chance than me in the IE. So here is a sneak peek of what to plant in March and in April. You can still plant lettuce in March, but it is not recommended in April. If it gets too hot too soon they will bolt of course. But you should be safe. March is a mix of spring and summer plants but by April you are done planting for spring, of course. I ended up with 8 boxes because I got carried away with each box and planted the whole thing and then when it came to the next crop, the boxes weren't ready and I was impatient. LOL.

March:
Beans, Bush
Beans, Pole
Beets
Cabbage
Carrots
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Herbs
Lettuce
Onions/Garlic sets
Peppers
Potatoes
Spinach
Squash, summer
Squash, Winter
Sunflowers
Tomato plants

APRIL:
Beans, Bush
Beans, Pole
Beets
Cantalope
Carrots
Corn
Cucumber
Eggplant
Herbs
Jicama
Lima Beans
Melons
Onions/Garlic sets
Parsley
Peppers
Potatoes
Pumpkin
Squash, summer
Squash, Winter
Sunflowers
Tomato plants
Watermelon

WOW thats a great list. Copied and pasted

Thanks Chopper!

At the beginning of each month I put the 'what to plant this month' on the Regional Forum for Southern California. FYI.