Seed germination gap

When growing in a seedling container-indoors).... is there a "thumbrule" on the gap in time beween when the first seed sprouts & when you know "anything that hasn't sprouted yet, isnt going to sprout)?

Once I get one sprout (I assume that means I did the planting right) ... do I replant anything that doesnt sprout after a week, month, decade??

I don't want to toss out any slow-sprouters & I don't know how to tell when they are "done".

I wait at least 7 - 10 days cause that's waht it says on most of the seed packets and if it doesn't show then I plant again and just consider it sucession planting. I know Mel says just one seed and I really like that cause I don't want to waste them but sometimes I'm waiting and if it does'nt sprout then I feel like the time was wasted! so if it is something I know I want alot of I will plant extra just in case. Some of the seeds catalogs have info for growing specific seeds. What does everyone else do?

I'm just trying it for the first time this fall, so I can't give you specifics, but I can tell you that I had a bell pepper seed take about 5 weeks. I'd totally given up on it!

I have had seeds I had given up on sprout as well. My Lavender took well over 2 months to sprout but is huge and beautiful and looking froward to it wintering and being bigger next year!

Some things I have tried and tried and tried and just cannot get to sprout...spearmint and cilantro...no dice. Have tried at least 5 X.

Shrug..I'd replant when you are ready to give up....but definetly watch that pot in case it just is taking forever....lol.

Acara....

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middlemamma wrote:Acara....

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No worries..... "I dunno", "no clue", "I guess", "I think". "stop whining and just wait" ......

It's all valid input when you don't kow anything yourself

Last winter, my broccoli took forever to sprout, so I re-planted--a couple of times, in fact. I ended up with three plants in one square! I've come to believe that sprouting times are unpredictable.

I had some carrot seeds sprout months later than I expected, but most stuff is fairly predictable. I always give it at least a week, and sometimes more, past the first group of sprouts before giving up and replanting. Stuff that takes longer to sprout (like carrots), I wait longer proportionately, but I don't have any actual science to back it up, just seemed to make sense to me.

Radishes pretty much sprout all together, rarely have a straggler, beets (and it's relatives) often seem to have stragglers, lettuce is fairly reliable within strains, but different types will sprout at slightly different times (all my red oak leaf sprouted at nearly the same time, the green a day later, buttercrunch mostly a day later yet, etc.

I've also found that sometimes the later plants will catch up and outdo the earlier stuff, especially if I've pushed the date a little in the spring (planting at the earliest date recommended). The seeds planted 2 weeks later got more favorable conditions and sprouted quicker and grew like mad right from the beginning instead of having the slow start that earlier seeds got.

So, take the sprout times on the pack and take into consideration if you've had a particularly cold week (or spring) right around planting, or something similar that might delay sprouting.