gunDriller
4th June 2010, 04:56 PM
I have had mixed success making food seeds.
CORN
I got some of the ears of corn left on the ground after a neighbor's harvest. saved the kernels & planted them. a lot of them sprouted but a lot of them died.
i also bought corn seeds at the farm supply store. i started about 20 on the first of Feb. but they all died.
then one of the guys at the garden said i should plant the corn seeds directly in the ground, and they would grow best that way. so i did; none of them sprouted. i planted them about 3" deep in loose soil and, as it turned out, it was still during rainy season.
Brussel Sprout
i had a plant start making seeds last year, so i let it go. now it's making a bunch more seeds, i got about a 1000 seed pods. the seeds are viable, i got about 8 bigger ones planted and maybe 8 more babies.
Wheat
I planted some seeds, and used the seeds from that crop to start a new crop. Then that crop was stolen.
So I have a bunch more seeds started at home. I got the used flats from making wheatgrass juice at the smoothie store. It is growing out and looks like normal organic wheat.
In a month I will know if the seeds from that are good. If they're good, GREAT. If they don't sprout, it's a sign that the smoothie place uses GMO wheat for their smoothies.
Tomatoes
One of the guy's at the community garden dropped out but left a crop behind. I got permission to take a few tomatoes and I ended up squishing them out on a piece of plastic and letting that dry in the sun. Then when I peel the dried slime off the plastic, the end result is sort of like paper, except it has tomato seeds in it. So when it's time to plant I just tear off a piece, drop it in the hole in the dirt, and it grows.
I'm curious what the other gardeners are doing along the lines of making their own seeds.
Also, I'd like to find out what I'm doing wrong with my corn. Why am I having such terrible luck ? Maybe I just have 2 batches of bad corn seeds and need to buy some more.
CORN
I got some of the ears of corn left on the ground after a neighbor's harvest. saved the kernels & planted them. a lot of them sprouted but a lot of them died.
i also bought corn seeds at the farm supply store. i started about 20 on the first of Feb. but they all died.
then one of the guys at the garden said i should plant the corn seeds directly in the ground, and they would grow best that way. so i did; none of them sprouted. i planted them about 3" deep in loose soil and, as it turned out, it was still during rainy season.
Brussel Sprout
i had a plant start making seeds last year, so i let it go. now it's making a bunch more seeds, i got about a 1000 seed pods. the seeds are viable, i got about 8 bigger ones planted and maybe 8 more babies.
Wheat
I planted some seeds, and used the seeds from that crop to start a new crop. Then that crop was stolen.
So I have a bunch more seeds started at home. I got the used flats from making wheatgrass juice at the smoothie store. It is growing out and looks like normal organic wheat.
In a month I will know if the seeds from that are good. If they're good, GREAT. If they don't sprout, it's a sign that the smoothie place uses GMO wheat for their smoothies.
Tomatoes
One of the guy's at the community garden dropped out but left a crop behind. I got permission to take a few tomatoes and I ended up squishing them out on a piece of plastic and letting that dry in the sun. Then when I peel the dried slime off the plastic, the end result is sort of like paper, except it has tomato seeds in it. So when it's time to plant I just tear off a piece, drop it in the hole in the dirt, and it grows.
I'm curious what the other gardeners are doing along the lines of making their own seeds.
Also, I'd like to find out what I'm doing wrong with my corn. Why am I having such terrible luck ? Maybe I just have 2 batches of bad corn seeds and need to buy some more.