Good-Bye, Seeds

All of my seeds have sprouted and been planted. Yes, even the habaneros! I was expecting a longer wait, but I'm happy to have been misled.

The cukes outgrew their plugs a few days ago, so I transferred them to proper pots. They'll be transplanted to their final growing spots once the weather warms up a bit more.

The cups are there so the cukes don't fall over.

Everything else is growing well. The nasturtium especially has really taken off! Last year they wouldn't even germinate, but this year they grow like crazy. Maybe it was all that therapy I made them go through.

The nasturtium is on the left.

The salvia and basil need to be thinned.

Too many plant babies, not enough space.

And by that, I mean I need to abort some. It's standard practice to plant 2-3 seeds in one hole, because it gives you better odds of having sprouts. Sometimes, only one will sprout, but sometimes, all three will. In that case, you wait until they're a couple inches tall, and then you kill the weaker ones.

Well, I'm a human being, so I'm naturally inclined to help weak things. And I'm an American, which makes me want to root for the underdog. So it's very hard for me to destroy some of my seedlings.

But unfortunately, Mother Nature demands that I reduce some seedlings out. She's kind of a hardcore bitch. Only the strong survive. But she's been doing this a lot longer than I have, so I guess I have to listen to her. The basil and salvia are still only about an inch tall, though, so I have some time yet to get myself ready for the killin'.

There is something known as "damping off" which refers to several plant maladies, but most commonly is what you call it when a seedling falls over and dies for no reason. It's Sudden Seedling Death Syndrome (SSDS). It's caused by a fungus in the soil or something like that. It happened to many of my seedlings last year because I was ignorant of a few things, and I've lost a couple this year (possibly not to damping off, but they sure did just fall over and croak for no reason). I decided to do something proactive about it, and I made a concoction of mostly water with a bit of hydrogen peroxide mixed in. I mist the seedlings with that, and also water them with it. Hopefully it works.