Sowing Experiment! Anyone Tried This?

I scooped out almost all the coffee grounds out of a used kurig pod, filled it with MM and dropped in a couple tomato seeds.  I just moisted the top and put it in about a half inch of water inside a plastic cup. Once the pod is used their is a small hole in the bottom already.  Not sure if it will work and I doubt very seriously if it does that I'll be able to actually grow the plant, but I though it would be cool to see what happens.  I like experimenting when the risks or minimal to none !

Any thoughts, predictions, suggestions or ideas to improve on this concept???

Should work to get the plants started.  How big is the hole in the bottom?

I sometimes use the depressions in egg cartons to start things. Cardboard egg cartons act like a wick all over when water gets onto them.

You have to be prepared to move the seedlings to a bigger pot/container before they get root bound.

Keep us posted, Brian!

Scorpio Rising wrote:Keep us posted, Brian!

Yes, please.

What a great idea!  I love recycling as opposed to buying.  I don't see any reason why these won't make great seed sprouting containers.  Once I run out of all the empty 6 packs a neighbor just gave me I'll ask my other neighbor to save me her spent coffee thingys.  They'll be perfect for starting leafy greens and other spring crops that won't need up-potting.

I didn't have any luck getting these seeds to sprout.  I'm not sure what, if anything I did wrong.  I guess it could be that these pods aren't good for that?  Too much nitro from the coffee grounds that remained ?  I think I will read up more on sowing tomato seeds and try again.

How is the moisture level of the MM? If it was soggy, or dry, rather than moist, that could be the problem.
Otherwise my guess is temperature. Was it warm enough - 70-80*F? (That's soil temperature - rather than air; bottom heating helps.) Conversely, if you had them in direct sun they might have gotten too warm; tomato seeds don't need light until after they germinate. (This isn't true for all seeds.)

In regard to level of moisture, I would say if I did anything wrong it would be too wet.  Temperature of the air was a fairly constant 72.  Don't know about the soil.  I had them on top of the refrigerator, but the top doesn't feel warm to me.  After a week without sprouting, I put them in the sun for a couple hours and then brought them back in.

Honestly i predicted success....maybe not warm enough.  I sprout my hotties together, maters, peppers, ground cherries and melons on heating pads in the basement.  Some in peat pots, others in regular cells.  The mix is pretty warm.  

Scorpio Rising wrote:Honestly i predicted success....maybe not warm enough.  I sprout my hotties together, maters, peppers, ground cherries and melons on heating pads in the basement.  Some in peat pots, others in regular cells.  The mix is pretty warm.  

The heating pads specifically made for starting seeds right ?

Too wet can be a problem because seeds need oxygen to germinate.

There are heating mats made specifically for seeds. I think some use people-heating-pads (make sure you read any instructions with regards to moisture safety.) I use an LED light string under the tray the pots are in - plus a spare meat thermometer so I can make sure I'm in the right range.

20 days later.  Glad I didn't give up and scrap them.  


Now what do I do?

One drop of baby bio plant feed in a pint of water  , add a teaspoon of this elixir once every three days & no more ,

Move plants to day light but not direct sun & don't leave then on a window cill as cold air runs down off the glass chilling & killing the plants .

 Once the plants have the second set of leaves ( aka true leaves )  try using he back of a teaspoon handle to ease the pot contents out  when you repot into a larger pot .

 Tip :-

Fill your bigger pot with growth medium that has been damped with the elixir  ,  put your small pot in the almost filled  bigger pant pot ,  then add more potting compost round it , till it is level with the top , gently firming it down a little .  .

Carefully wiggle the small pot around & gently pick the small pot out , you'll have a perfect indentation to slip the contents of the small pot into , once it is in place gently flood it with a little water to settle the plant in .

Since you are in zone 9 I expect you can grow things better in the winter than in the summer.  Do you get any frosts at all or does it stay growing temp all winter long  After potting the tomatoes into larger homes (I like to use the red solo cups for this stage) keep them in good strong light until they get to be about a foot tall.  If weather permits, ie no frosts anymore and warming up, transplant into your beds or containers outside.  

Kay

walshevak wrote:Since you are in zone 9 I expect you can grow things better in the winter than in the summer.  Do you get any frosts at all or does it stay growing temp all winter long  After potting the tomatoes into larger homes (I like to use the red solo cups for this stage) keep them in good strong light until they get to be about a foot tall.  If weather permits, ie no frosts anymore and warming up, transplant into your beds or containers outside.  

Kay

Yes Kay.  We do normally get a few frosts. They are very few and far between, but we do.  According to the charts, the first is around 11/15/17 and the last is like 3/15/18.  The temperature is really only right for frost in January though.  But, I am very near the gulf, so there is a lot of moisture in the air and as a result, we do get really weird early and late frosts on occaision.  I do plan to go ahead and put out a couple every month between now and march and just keep more going to replace them if and when a hard frost does occur.  Will even a light frost kill a tomto plant?

plantoid wrote:

 Tip :-

Fill your bigger pot with growth medium that has been damped with the elixir  ,  put your small pot in the almost filled  bigger pant pot ,  then add more potting compost round it , till it is level with the top , gently firming it down a little .  .

Carefully wiggle the small pot around & gently pick the small pot out , you'll have a perfect indentation to slip the contents of the small pot into , once it is in place gently flood it with a little water to settle the plant in .

I use this tip when planting the seedlings. That way the depth of the hole is just right.

I put it on a south facing windowsill today.  I only did so because it is in the 70's.  I will not do that when the temperatures get lower.  My plan is to keep it there and watered until I get a set of true leaves.  Then I will up pot it as you guy's have instructed.  Like i said much earlier in the thread, this is more of an experiment. If I can get it grow to full size that will be great, but with cooler temperatures coming, I really don't see how that's going to happen.  I do plan to continue to practice the sowing to seedling process with a seed or two every couple weeks and who knows, some of them make make it to adulthood.  
When I up pot, can I use some of my seed starter mixed with compost?  If so, does it need to be a blend like I have in my mix or will one kind do?  I have read I don't want to use my mix from the garden bc of pests and stuff, but I'm not exactly sure what to use.

brianj555 wrote:

Scorpio Rising wrote:Honestly i predicted success....maybe not warm enough.  I sprout my hotties together, maters, peppers, ground cherries and melons on heating pads in the basement.  Some in peat pots, others in regular cells.  The mix is pretty warm.  

The heating pads specifically made for starting seeds right ?

Nope, just a cheap heating pad with foil over it so it doesn’t get wet!  $10

brianj555 wrote:I put it on a south facing windowsill today.  I only did so because it is in the 70's.  I will not do that when the temperatures get lower.  My plan is to keep it there and watered until I get a set of true leaves.  Then I will up pot it as you guy's have instructed.  Like i said much earlier in the thread, this is more of an experiment. If I can get it grow to full size that will be great, but with cooler temperatures coming, I really don't see how that's going to happen.  I do plan to continue to practice the sowing to seedling process with a seed or two every couple weeks and who knows, some of them make make it to adulthood.  
When I up pot, can I use some of my seed starter mixed with compost?  If so, does it need to be a blend like I have in my mix or will one kind do?  I have read I don't want to use my mix from the garden bc of pests and stuff, but I'm not exactly sure what to use.

When you pot up, use a good potting soil or fresh MM.  I use potting soil, so the plant has some nutrients.  Starter mix doesn’t have many nutrients, just to get it started!  It will need light, south is best but east is OK.   So exciting....

brianj555 wrote:
When I up pot, can I use some of my seed starter mixed with compost?  If so, does it need to be a blend like I have in my mix or will one kind do?  I have read I don't want to use my mix from the garden bc of pests and stuff, but I'm not exactly sure what to use.

Keep in mind that all starts will eventually end up in MM.

sanderson wrote:

brianj555 wrote:
When I up pot, can I use some of my seed starter mixed with compost?  If so, does it need to be a blend like I have in my mix or will one kind do?  I have read I don't want to use my mix from the garden bc of pests and stuff, but I'm not exactly sure what to use.

Keep in mind that all starts will eventually end up in MM.

I have used starter mix, potting mix and Mel's Mix to start seeds. I've also started some seeds on damp paper towels inside plastic bags. When I transfer the starts I do NOT use starter mix but I do use potting mix and MM. Sometimes I have MM left over from filling new SFG beds and that is what I use indoors for some of the starts. Unfortunately for me, I don't have any MM leftover this year. So when I start seeds indoors I probably will be using store bought starter and potting mixes. In the past I have also made up my own "indoor MM" using medium/fine vermiculite, peat moss and compost. I would not bring in anything (MM, soil, etc.) that was already used in the garden. The bottom line for me is that I like to experiment with different methods. Enjoy the experience and learn from successes and mistakes. 

Update on the Cherokee Purple kurig pod seedlings!

I’m guessing not too much longer until the first up pot.

Suggestions?

Lower the fluorescent light to near top of plants, raising as they grow.  It looks like they are a little leggy??