Today 1-23-2010
When I start potting seedlings up I reuse the sterile seed starting mix and add about 10-15% cow compost to it and the rest I use peat moss. About like 10% compost, 45% peat moss and 45% seed mix. This makes an inexpensive mix that they seem to grow well in. All I have ever used for the past 5 or more years now. I am adding a little perlite now starting this year to see if it helps with drainage and aeration to the roots.

Once I blend all the seed starting mix containing nematodes together with everything else it seems to inoculate everything with nematodes and I have no problem the rest of the year with gnats. Really helps keep the plants healthy.

I don't know if I mentioned this farther down but the biggest secret to keeping hosta seedlings healthy is to never let them dry out from the minute you plant the seed until the time you plant them out. They need a constant supply of water to keep them growing healthy. Nematodes need a great quantity of moisture as well to move throughout the soil and destroy the gnats as they hatch.

Some Crazy Quilt seedlings on 11-11-2009, these were the second batch I started this fall.
Some of these and some Dorset Clown seedlings are really colorful already.

Seedlings on 11-22-2009, transplanted to about 8 to 10 to a pot for awhile until they get some size. Then they will be culled again, transplanted to maybe 2 or 3 to a pot until larger.

I change my method a little each year and am sure you will too. This will give you somewhat of an idea how to begin and then you can adapt it to what works best for you. Two things I will mention is I started them too early last year and they got too large(will start them at about Nov 15th to Christmas from now on) and also I will always use beneficial nematodes for gnats, they worked like nothing else I have ever tried. If you keep things clean, one thing might not have potted houseplants around them, and start a little later in the fall you might never get gnats but if you start to get them, don't let them get too thick or they will do great damage to your seedlings.

Wanted to add you can start with just a few pots and a flourescent shop light with cheap bulbs and do fine, you don't need anything more expensive than that to begin. That is all I ever use, I run them 24/7. You could get by with less hours but if you get many lights going it is hard to get them all going each time. I have 2 metal halide lights and never even got one out of the box yet and probably never will. Never used the other one either. These flourescent lights below cost $10-12 each, I have 4 going in this photo. One light will do 2 flats. And once you get a little size to a seedling, maybe 4 or more leaves, you can grow them on in a south window until spring and save some electricity costs.

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I am using a whole flat this year instead of individual pots. I have been using flats with holes in them just to make sure I am not overwatering the seed later on. (Can put another flat under this flat without holes if needed to keep them from dripping as the seed grow.) I spread the mix 3/4 of the way to the top of the flat and moisten it. Then I sow the seed and sprinkle more mix lightly over the seed. Then I use a small amount of captan fungicide in the water I use to water them in and gently tamp the mix down. I also keep a close eye on them to make sure no molds start growing, if so I mist them with a captan solution. Then cover the whole works with a dome. I will keep watch until the seed come up and then put them under the grow lights, or turn the lights on. The most critical time for seed is from the time it germinates until it comes up, they can't dry out nor let them get mold on them.

Photos taken 3/21/2009

Photos taken 5/1/2009     Half the seedlings for the year

Someone asked when is the proper time to harvest seed, thought I would add a line about it here. I wait until the last minute if they are outside until the pods turn brown. I have been reading where they are probably ripe within 6 weeks though. If it is a special plant and I want them to be on the plant longer I pot the plant up and bring it inside. It is almost the first of November and I still have two plants inside the house and probably will have for another couple of weeks. Another way to extend the time is to cut the scapes off and place them in the house in sugar water for awhile. I add about a teaspoon of sugar to a glass of water and in goes the scape. Every few days or so I cut the bottom off the scape and clean it some and replace the sugar water.

Another thing to consider is seed quality or what the seed parents are. If a person is interested in growing new variegated plants you need to start with seed from streaked pod parent hostas, using a streaked pollen parent alone or a green plant will just produce more green plants, or blue plants if they are used. And usually not a very good quality plant. It is too hard to explain everything here but a person needs to consider what they want to do and where they are going with their hybridizing. The worst thing to do is buy seed from variegated plants and hope to get streaked or variegated plants from these. If you just want to grow a large amount of plants for some reason I would at least suggest buying seed of a plant that has a lot of substance or thick leaves and not from just common variegated plants. A few examples would be elegans and Love Pat, they are nice and blue with thick leaves.

Once the seed are harvested I let them dry for awhile and then clean them. When I harvest I write the name of the plant on a brown paper bag like they used to use to carry lunches in and put either the scapes with pods or just pods in the bag, pods dry faster. Then I usually leave them in an unheated area of the house or garage for a few weeks or longer. This dries the pods and helps the pods split open for easier separating from the seed. I use collanders or wire strainers of various sizes like used in the kitchen to separate the seed from the pods. Then I mark the plastic seed packets and put the seed in the crisper in the refrigerator. If a person lets seed dry in a house unprotected with forced air heat eventually it will dry too much and die before you get a chance to plant it. Many people put plastic seed packets in a protective container like tupperware and store it in the freezer for long term storage.

Some say you can plant seed immediately and some say you should wait a while and maybe cool the seed for a few weeks or so. I don't know for sure which is right but most of the time I don't plan to start many until December or so anyway so it is a moot point.

When I do start the seed first I get quart plastic pots, ones that measure about 4" by 4" and about 6" deep. I have also used gallon pots as well. Most years I soak them for a while in a 10% bleach solution, this year I just washed them with soap in the sink. The cleaner and more sterile you get them the better though. You might get away with being less than sterile 9 times out of 10 but I would bet about anything the tenth time they will croak and it will be the most expensive or rare seed you have. I also mark each pot with white paint pens, these last for years, and it helps keep the name and date.

Then I use only sterile seed starting mix, buy bags of it from nursery centers. Otherwise the seed might be overcome with pathogens and die if you use unsterile mixes. This really helps control or eliminate damping off as well. Another way to beat this is to microwave the mix on high for 10 minutes or so, get it really hot. It is like the Bird Flu, if you don't have the disease germs around or kill them they can't do any damage to your seed. You could use other mixes but they should be made completely sterile. Online recipes for making your own say use vermiculite, perlite, etc but have you ever really tried to find these lately. Almost impossible.

I moisten the mix with water until it gets pretty wet. Then I fill each pot almost to the top and then compact the mix, just press it down a little to firm it up and level it. This year I sprayed the bottom part of the mix with a weak spray of diazanon. Want to get the jump on fungus gnats if I would happen to get them. I sow the seed, maybe 30-50 in a pot making sure to take out as much foreign material from the seed as possible to keep molds from growing on the refuse. Then I sprinkle a little dry mix over them until they are covered. This year I am trying spraying the mix I cover the seed with water containing captan until the soil is moist, to help control any soil fungus that could possibly be present and damping off. I have also heard of No Damp although I have never tried it.

When I am all done I take a gallon sized bag, cheap ones from the grocery store that don't zip, and cover the pot completely, and tie it. If you ever moisten hosta seeds and then let them dry out you might as well kiss them goodbye. A bag helps prevent that from happening. Some people used trays with domes(ebay) for this. Keep them warm for about 10 days, around 70-80 degrees if you can, and then you will see them start popping up. Some probably faster, many a bit slower. If too cold they take forever to germinate and some probably never will. I wanted to mention the Dorothy Benedict and the DB seedling seed is just now coming up, I was beginning to worry about it. It took between 3 weeks and a month to germinate.

You can also purchase plastic domes(JR Johnson) for your trays. Here they sell them by 50s. You can probably find them elsewhere individually.

Lighting (See my lighting setup at the bottom of the page)

I have grown them very well under shop lights 24/7 (doesn't need to be this many hours a day though), in front of south facing windows once they get up and some size to them, and also outside. You can also buy metal halide lights. I am trying these out this winter. Below are photos of shop lights and metal halide lights.

When the seedlings start to get a little height to them I start to open the bag slowly. I don't get into too much of a hurry to do this unless there is a problem. Not all the seed germinates immediately and it is best to give the stragglers a little time to geminate as well. After a few days of opening the bag a little more each day until it is off, I start bottom watering to keep the soil moist when needed. This helps to keep damping off down as well and once the roots get down a little you don't need to keep the top as moist either. This helps control fungus gnats which need a damp surface to survive.

I read where diazanon controls gnats very well, both the flying insect and the grubs. Another way I have heard that is effective and I am trying it this year is mosquito dunks that are normally used to control mosquitos in standing water. I tried beneficial nematodes this year and they worked excellent. I bought them from this place because the shipping was free, everywhere else they wanted as much for the shipping as they wanted for the nematodes. You can also find them at the same place they sell domes above. I mixed the nematodes in about a quart of potting mix and then a pint of water and mixed well. Then I put a marble size piece in each pot and took a baster and watered them in. They haven't killed all the gnats but there aren't too many after about 6 weeks.

I reordered the nematodes on 1-8-2008 and as of today, 3-8-2008, I see almost no gnats. This is great not have to mess with them for months at a time. I worked with the plants all day today and really can't rememeber seeing one gnat. I never had that kind of control with anything else I have tried.

Below is probably a Dorothy Benedict seedling, I lost it last spring when we had a cold snap.

I will add to this about tranplanting and hardening off later.

Questions? Comments! Cussing!!

Thanks
Bob