Petunia seedlings

**llama momma** 3/13/2013, 1:45 pm

If you recall in the 1st edition of ANSFG where Mel says there can be 10 thousand petunia seeds in a teaspoon, he was not joking. I got quite the visual stamina test while seeding 300+ of those teenie tiny babies in one flat of 300 little seed blockers. If I can raise half of them to a transplanting stage = to 4+ flats, it will be awesome and save a chunk of money from about 4 dollars of seeds. Shocked

quiltbea 3/13/2013, 2:03 pm

Wow, sounds like you'll have oodles of color in your gardens soon. Good luck.

**llama momma** 3/13/2013, 2:35 pm

Thanks I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Icemaiden 3/13/2013, 2:37 pm

Not the song for you then? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJUoVkGM4jY
Laughing

plantoid 3/13/2013, 2:40 pm

LM
Petunia seed do well on fine damp vermiculite . Prick them out with a cut down plastic teaspoon so it looks like a long little finger nail .

Prick out as son as you can manipulate them styarting at one end of the tray and methodically work your way to the other end.
Pot up in well watered potting compost as pairs into 2 " pots . You'll have hundreds and hundreds

**llama momma** 3/13/2013, 3:36 pm

Thanks a bunch plantoid. I was thinking when I up pot from the little 3/4" mini blocks I would only put one seedling in a 2" block. Now I know if I have extras I can certainly double up. Will also keep the modified little spoon idea for the future.

Though, before any of that, I very gently poured about 3-dozen seeds at a time into the palm of my hand and switched from a wet pencil tip to grab them, to a wet tipped toothpick. The light colored toothpick made it easier to see the dark seed. The pencil lead tip was the same color as the seeds and dark colored soil less mix. I keep reading how vermiculite works well. I believe it but the other part of this old brain keeps resisting. I did crush some coarse vermic. into fine and sprinkled it on top as I believe I've seen QB put v. on top in her video. Watered w/a spray bottle and took two aspirin for the tired eyes and headache.

quiltbea 3/13/2013, 3:47 pm

LMomma.....I often sow seeds on top of starting mix, but cover very lightly with vermiculite. Less chance of damping off for me.

I like the idea of using a toothpick for dark seeds, but its too small for me to handle well. Maybe a wooden skewer would work. I'll have to try that. Thanks for the new idea LM.

**llama momma** 3/13/2013, 4:07 pm

Your welcome! Hope a skewer works for you. My other problem was rolling the seeds off the pencil onto the mix. It was awkward with crummy finger arthritis. Holding a toothpick was easy and pain free.

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Petunia seedlings

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