Vegies from seed

[Brerfox]

G'day from Brissie,
I have a relatively new (12 months old) vegie patch and am having moderate
success with a few vegies.
However, I find that hardly any seeds germinate in the bed -- nothing much
comes through. I can germinate the seeds successfully in seedling
containers in my fern house, then transplant them, and they grow OK. Over
the period I've tried direct seed sowing of beetroot, lettuces, silverbeet,
tomatoes, broccoli, all to no avail.
Could it be ants? We have millyuns and millyuns of little tiny ones all
over the place.
Help?

[Chookie]

In article >,
"Brerfox" > wrote:

> However, I find that hardly any seeds germinate in the bed -- nothing much
> comes through. I can germinate the seeds successfully in seedling
> containers in my fern house, then transplant them, and they grow OK. Over
> the period I've tried direct seed sowing of beetroot, lettuces, silverbeet,
> tomatoes, broccoli, all to no avail.
> Could it be ants? We have millyuns and millyuns of little tiny ones all
> over the place.

More likely snails -- have you laid any bait? I get carnage in the snail
population when I bait new seedling beds.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.

[Brerfox]

Thanks for that Chookie, but I've never seen any snails at all around here.
A few slugs only, but still it is worth a try to lay snail bait next time I
sow some seeds direct.

"Chookie" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> "Brerfox" > wrote:
>
>> However, I find that hardly any seeds germinate in the bed -- nothing
>> much
>> comes through. I can germinate the seeds successfully in seedling
>> containers in my fern house, then transplant them, and they grow OK.
>> Over
>> the period I've tried direct seed sowing of beetroot, lettuces,
>> silverbeet,
>> tomatoes, broccoli, all to no avail.
>> Could it be ants? We have millyuns and millyuns of little tiny ones all
>> over the place.
>
> More likely snails -- have you laid any bait? I get carnage in the snail
> population when I bait new seedling beds.
>
> --
> Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
> (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)
>
> "In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
> nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
> Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.

[Nancy]

"Brerfox" > wrote in message
u...
> G'day from Brissie,
> I have a relatively new (12 months old) vegie patch and am having moderate
> success with a few vegies.
> However, I find that hardly any seeds germinate in the bed -- nothing
> much comes through. I can germinate the seeds successfully in seedling
> containers in my fern house, then transplant them, and they grow OK.
> Over the period I've tried direct seed sowing of beetroot, lettuces,
> silverbeet, tomatoes, broccoli, all to no avail.
> Could it be ants? We have millyuns and millyuns of little tiny ones all
> over the place.
> Help?
>
I am in Esperance in WA and have a thriving vege patch.
I grow all mine from seed.
for beetroot, lettuce, carrots, onions etc I buy the seed tapes.
they work a treat but i have trouble sometimes with cabbage,
cauli and broccoli seeds when planting them straight into
the ground. I think it is slaters that eat the seeds.
happy gardening
cheers
Nancy

[John Savage]

"Brerfox" > writes:
>G'day from Brissie,
>I have a relatively new (12 months old) vegie patch and am having moderate
>success with a few vegies.
>However, I find that hardly any seeds germinate in the bed -- nothing much
>comes through. I can germinate the seeds successfully in seedling
>containers in my fern house, then transplant them, and they grow OK. Over
>the period I've tried direct seed sowing of beetroot, lettuces, silverbeet,
>tomatoes, broccoli, all to no avail.
>Could it be ants? We have millyuns and millyuns of little tiny ones all
>over the place.
>Help?

I'd guess that the seeds are drying out. It is difficult to keep a large
bed moist right to the few mm depth of newly-planted seeds. Most of those
vegetables do well transplanted as seedlings, anyway, and that way you can
select the most vigorous individuals to plant out. If you really must plant
direct into garden beds, try covering the soil where you've dropped the
seeds with a wispy layer of browned-off lawn clippings or natural sawdust
(without chemicals) thick enough to block the worst of the sunshine but thin
enough that the emerging seedlings can push their way through, and lightly
water the soil 2 to 5 times a day, depending on the season.

I'm sure that ants would take away some seeds, but unlikely to take all.
I once was finding all my snail pellets were disappearing within two days
of them having been spread around. I discovered it to be a rat, raiding
the garden bed in broad daylight to gather up the pellets one by one!

The ideal time to plant seeds is the day before a week of showery weather
if you can arrange it! This applies especially when planting carrots and
that way you'll get most of them up.
--
John Savage (my news address is not valid for email)

[David Hare-Scott]

"Brerfox" > wrote in message
u...
> G'day from Brissie,
> I have a relatively new (12 months old) vegie patch and am having moderate
> success with a few vegies.
> However, I find that hardly any seeds germinate in the bed -- nothing
much
> comes through. I can germinate the seeds successfully in seedling
> containers in my fern house, then transplant them, and they grow OK.
Over
> the period I've tried direct seed sowing of beetroot, lettuces,
silverbeet,
> tomatoes, broccoli, all to no avail.
> Could it be ants? We have millyuns and millyuns of little tiny ones all
> over the place.
> Help?
>
>

It could be one (or more) of these problems:

- ants carrying them away
- rodents eating them
- seeds drying out and not germinating correctly
- something, eg snails, eating the new shoots off
- soil too cold for germination (probably not in Brisbane)
- warm damp conditions encouraging fungus diseases (quite possible in
summer)

Some detective work will be required to find out which and take the
appropriate action.

David

[Andrew Gabb]

David Hare-Scott wrote:
> It could be one (or more) of these problems:
>
> - ants carrying them away
> - rodents eating them
> - seeds drying out and not germinating correctly
> - something, eg snails, eating the new shoots off
> - soil too cold for germination (probably not in Brisbane)
> - warm damp conditions encouraging fungus diseases (quite possible in
> summer)

A couple more that I've run into:

- Too hot/dry in direct sunlight - needs covering with mulch, paper,
etc. until seedlings emerge. Most common problem with eg carrots
here in mid-summer. I thought the problem was ants, but turned out
wrong.

- Too tamped down and then too wet when watered.

Otherwise I usually get 90% germination or better.

It varies with the plant. Sweetcorn hate cold soil for example.
Beans and peas have trouble if the soil's too wet for the first 2-3
days.

Andrew
--
Andrew Gabb
email: Adelaide, South Australia
phone: +61 8 8342-1021, fax: +61 8 8269-3280
-----