Friday 15 October 2010

Let's panic!

My vegetable seeds are reluctant to germinate! I sowed them 3 weeks later than last year (and that was already late), but thought with the lovely spring weather (warm and sunny) they'd be rushing to germinate. Nope! The buggers are sitting there and not doing anything.
Usually the tomato seeds start germinating after 3-5 days. This one popped up after 14 days!
And there are rows and rows of pots that show no sign of seedlings. Every morning I hope that I will be greeted by dozens (preferably hundreds) of seedlings. No such luck! If things don't change rapidly, I'll be in a real pickle!

6 comments:

Sue Garrett said...

I don't know about compost in your part of the world but here in the Uk there are lots of complaints about the quality of compost this year. WE had some bags of compost which seemed to be really poor when it came to getting seeds to germinate.

Anonymous said...

If its any consolation mine are also slow. I think the vaqriable temperatures have something to do with it. Mine are in the hothouse and it got down to 3 degrees last night. I know you grow yours indoors, so can't blame temperature I suppose, but it does seem a slow year. I suspect they will come through when they are ready. They "know" when the conditions are going to be right for their survival and so be patient ;)

Mickle in NZ said...

The same is happening for me across the ditch. Mine are also sown in pots inside.

Veggie Gnome said...

Thanks for all the comments! :)

I don't think it's the compost (I make my own potting mix and I am sure I didn't stuff up).

It's the temperature difference. The pots are on the window sill and it's nice and warm during the day, but it cools down a lot during the night (outside temps 2-8 C!).

Usually I have them near the wood heater and cover them during the night so the heat doesn't escape too much. They only get to the window sill once they are little seedlings. I thought I could skip this step as it would be warm enough. Big mistake!

So, I'll just have to wait and see.

Phoebe said...

Hi Veggie Gnome!
Im in melbourne and i have had so much trouble with seeds not germinating at their usual rates and in some cases they do germinate but they just dont seem to grow!!! The last week or so that has been warm they have grown a little but its so frustrating!!! Its going to set the harvest back at least a month i think.
Cheers,
Phoebe

Veggie Gnome said...

Yes, Phoebe, that's the problem. The harvest will be late - and if autumn (plus frosts) hit early, we won't have much to harvest. Otherwise I wouldn't really worry too much about it.

It's weird to hear that so many people seem to have had the same problem with germination.