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What better place to grow your own plants from seed or cuttings than in our Garden Path Greenhouse.
This course covers fertilizers, growing mixes, seed selection and transplanting, as well as insects, disease and other environmental problems in your greenhouse. (4 week class meeting for 2 hours each week) Fee: $40.00. Includes tray, soil and some seeds
Register for these programs online at www.thanksgivingpoint.com or call 801-768-7443 or toll-free 1-888-672-6040 (select Education option) to register
Each year, gardeners start or buy millions of plants get started by and for gardeners. Who starts these plants and how do grow them? Plant propagation is a fascinating and mysterious process involving science, patience and a lot of luck.
No one knows when humans noticed they could put seeds in the ground and watch them grow. Others cut sticks, put them in the sand next to the river and watched them grow. Since that time, gardeners have always been propagating new plants.
All seeds need the right conditions to germinate. These include heat, water, light and oxygen. The same environmental conditions help you start plants without seeds. Provide the right conditions and you can easily start many new plants. Failure to provide those conditions means you will have to let some one else start your garden plants.
There are two basic ways to start plants. Seed or sexual or propagation combines two sets of chromosomes from flowers on the same or different plants to form seeds. In other word, seeds have two sets of parents that produce offspring.
Vegetative or asexual propagation clones new plants. While everyone is very interested in the animal cloning, this is old hat in the plant world. Anytime a plant does not grow from seed, it is cloned. This propagation method produces exact duplicates of the parent plant.
Propagating plants from seeds is easy and fast for many plants. Most seeds are easy to harvest store and germinate. Seeds are easy to store and last well in most conditions. Starting seeds requires the right conditions so make a checklist and follow it carefully to insure good results.
Most seeds need warm soil near 75 degrees to germinate successfully. Set them on a windowsill during the winter and the cold temperature and evaporation drops soil temperature to near 45 degrees. That keeps seeds from germinating and stifles your plant production.
When starting plants from seed, light is also an important factor. Seeds fall into three categories. Some need light to germinate, others need total darkness to germinate and others have no light response. Most garden vegetables are not fussy about their light needs for germination while a few flowers do have very exacting light responses.
While most seeds are not fussy, ALL seedlings need light. Lack of light is the single most frequent cause of seedling failure. The sprouts must have adequate light as soon as they emerge from the soil. Seedlings that do not have enough light become long and leggy. They never make good garden plants if they do not get off to a good start.
The easiest way to provide enough light is to start the seedlings under fluorescent lights. Get a rack of tubes that you can easily raise and lower. Place them right above the plants. The closer the lights are to the plants the more effective they are in helping the plants grow.
As the seedlings grow, raise the lights but try to keep them about two inches from the tops of the plants. Otherwise, the plants do not get enough light and they stretch out. Never use incandescent bulbs as they get too hot and do not give enough light to grow quality plants.
Check the calendar and count back before staring seeds. Starting plants too early is a frequent mistake of inexperienced gardeners. Plants that are too large or too old do not make the transition to the garden very well.
Utah State University Extension Service is offering Growing Plants in the Greenhouse with Larry Sagers and Gretchen Campbell. Tuesdays, April 4, 11, 18, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM.
Larry Sagers Horticultural Specialist Utah State University Extension Service Thanksgiving Point Office © All Rights Reserved
