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Invite Spring
Early - Grow in Your Basement
by Jim Kennard |
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Now's the time to get ready
to grow your own seedlings! It's not really difficult, and can
extend your growing season by many weeks. For example, by planting
brassica's (cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower) in February in
your basement under grow-lights, you can put large, sturdy transplants
into your garden by the end of March or early April, and be eating
them when others are just seeing them come up! However, remembering
that photosynthesis, using light, heat and moisture causes plant
growth, you must follow a few key natural principles very carefully,
or you will be disappointed.
First, seeds must have moisture to germinate and grow. And the
soil mix must be moist, but not soggy, or you'll drown the new
plant, since it must also have oxygen!
Second, while heat is essential,
temperatures must be maintained in a narrow range for ideal germination
to occur. Most vegetable seeds germinate quickly between 75 and
80 degrees Fahrenheit. After plants are up, many of them will
grow in cooler temperatures, but most all will become dormant
(stop growing) at temperatures below 50 degrees. |
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Third, light is not necessary for
seed germination, but as soon as your seedlings begin to emerge
from the soil, maximum light is required immediately for proper
development. Therefore, to grow in your house, make sure your
plants have a strong (but not hot!) light source directly on
the plants, for up to 16 hours per day. Pictures of two grow-light
shelves can be seen in the Photos section of the free gardening
group at MittleiderMethodGardening@yahoogroups.com. The metal
one is 6-shelf Commercial Chrome Shelving, from Sam's Club costing
only $70, and will hold 20 flats of plants. Suspend shop lights
with 2 cool and 2 warm 40-watt tubes 2 to 4" above the plants.
The fourth principle relates to feeding. A balanced nutrient
mix of 13 minerals is essential to plants immediately after germination.
Those nutrients are mineral salts and must be very dilute in
the soil moisture, otherwise osmosis will cause the salt to draw
the life-giving moisture out of the plants, and they will die.
To ensure you never burn your plants, water seedlings daily using
the "Constant Feed Solution" of one ounce (2 level
tablespoons) of Weekly Feed dissolved in 3 gallons of water.
For the free Weekly Feed formula, go to the Gardening Techniques
section at www.foodforeveryone.org, and look on the Fertilizer
page.
Next, it is important to separate your small plants before their
leaves begin to overlap with others', or the tiny stems will
become very weak and spindly as the plants all stretch - looking
for more light. By the time the plants have their first or second
true leaf, this step should be completed. Failure to wait even
a few hours can result in spindly, weak plants, which never recover.
Transplanting seedlings into 2" 6-paks or pots will provide
adequate space for them to grow an additional 2-3 weeks, depending
on variety. If it's still too early to put them out into the
garden by the time plant leaves are again beginning to overlap,
prune the leaves, transplant again into larger pots, or separate
pots, so the plant leaves always have maximum light.
Before transplanting into the garden, "harden-off"
your plants outside, off the ground for 2 to 3 days, to acclimate
them to direct sunlight, temperature, wind, etc. This is important
so the plant doesn't have the shock of a new environment added
to the shock to its root system caused by transplanting. If the
weather turns cold at night, bring the plants back in the house.
The temperature adjustment needs to be gradual.
For many of your plants, the pruning process does double duty.
In addition to assuring maximum light, it shocks the plant mildly,
causing it to pause in its growth and produce a thicker, sturdier
stem. This process makes the plant much better able to endure
the vicissitudes of the outside environment, such as cutworms,
ants, etc. that often quickly decimate plants with weak, spindly
stems.
For tall-growing plants, like tomatoes, by the time they are
12" tall, provide small stakes tied to the plant stem to
prevent them from falling over. And with tomatoes, begin immediately
to remove all sucker stems as soon as they appear, to assure
a single, strong stem and maximum production from your plant. |
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Author: |
Jim Kennard, President
Food For Everyone Foundation
"Teaching the world to grow food one family
at a time."
www.foodforeveryone.org |
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Article Source: Courtesy of ARAcontent |
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Article Posted: February 23, 2005 |
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