discussion Sea Foam

[Fernando N]

Hi mate.
Good , now the watering, that compost looks very prone to over watering. It has no grit in its make up.
Several of those compartments look damp still. You need to do one droplet, doesn't seem much but at this stage seedlings can suffer very quickly for too much .
John .

Will take care regarding the watering John, when I planted the seeds I did make sure not to compact the soil too much so the loose make-up of it will aid in drainage.
I also use a shot-glass and a pipette for the watering to keep the compost slightly moist:
View attachment 308863
When these are ready for transplant, I'll add some grit to their new soil.:smiling3:
Two days later more have sprouted:
View attachment 308862
Happy gardening guys.:thumb2:

 

[Guest]

That is a good sign Fernando when more start to emerge.
John

 

[Jim R]

Hi fellow gardeners
I have a veritable forest growing on the window sill in the study :smiling5: I even have flowers growing - like what John said!!
View attachment 309179View attachment 309180
At the moment they are 4 in a 3" pot so do I leave them or transplant them to their own pot?? Also do they need plant food??
Farmer Jim

 

[Guest]

Farmer Jim .
To get bigger plants you could transfer 2 per pot and go up to a 4 ".
As for food no ! Those plants looks healthy, the pink will start soon, with the leaf tip.
Give them as much sun as possible.

Dzhon Thrower.

 

[Jim R]

Hi fellow gardeners.
I have a veritable forest now. All seem to be growing well. I have transplanted about half of them into individual 3" pots. This is a typical example.
View attachment 309894
What is next John? How big do they get?
Jim

 

[Fernando N]

Looking very good Jim.:thumb2:

 

[Si Benson]

Looking lovely Jim,


Here’s mine.....
View attachment 309904

Not as tall as yours but getting there.
Si

 

[Guest]

Hi to the Gardening section.

Jim the height looks ok to me, those smaller flower branches will look like this.

View attachment 309905

Ht looks about the same, remember you will tend to break the side stems off and use them as a tree. Here are some from 2016, dried and still ok . The black in some of the plants are seed heads ! in fact its where this years crop came from even thought they have been treated !

View attachment 309906

Its the growth of the side stems we are interested in, they soon start to thick out Ive just been to the green house and took these shots.

View attachment 309909View attachment 309910
Notice the difference in the age of the growth between plants. Some are fuller, these are the earliest ones that emerged first from one sowing.
When the sun comes out again remember to keep turning them. As they mature the pink will start to appear as the flowers set .
I shall discuss the harvest and further treatment soon .

Si... just crossed, those look very good indeed.

Ivan Thrower

 

[Fernando N]

Si, nice tall lot and you have rain, so jealous....:upside:
John, great to see the various stages of growth next to one and another and thanks for the tips.:thumb2:

Had the first one's popping out their second set of leaves this week, with more following yesterday:
View attachment 309911
Although the hot and dry weather wreaks havoc on the regular plant life, these seems to like it pretty good.:smiling:

From a hot and too dry Holland.
Fernando

 

[Guest]

Fernando .
They do look good, no doubt this hot weather has suited them. Even with your fresh seed you cane see late comers. This is what makes it so interesting. You think only a few have germinated and then suddenly a whole lot more appear. Do you keep turning them into the light ? they need this to enable them to grow straight.
Remember to give them the water !
John .

 

[Fernando N]

Fernando .
They do look good, no doubt this hot weather has suited them. Even with your fresh seed you cane see late comers. This is what makes it so interesting. You think only a few have germinated and then suddenly a whole lot more appear. Do you keep turning them into the light ? they need this to enable them to grow straight.
Remember to give them the water !
John .

Thanks and yes I turn them each evening and give them a handful of drops of water per square.
Noticed when the first came up they grow to the light, at the end of each afternoon all are slightly bent to the window....:smiling4:

 

[Si Benson]

Fernando.....I hope yours are coming along ok with this hot weather!

Mine seem to have stopped doing much.....they don’t seem to have Changed at all since last update!!!

View attachment 310736

No real pinky bits. How’s everybody else doing?
Si

 

[Guest]

Evening fellow gardeners.
Si.
All's well with those, you will start to notice that the small side shoots will gain in size , once that happens then you will start to get the pink .
Remember to water the saucer , only water from the top of you let them go too dry and they fall over ! Yes this can happen, in fact last week I had mine out side for the day, the sun completely dried them out. Some had started to wilt. Having returned them to the g/h they were given a good soaking. By the next morning all had fully recovered. Now back to watering from the base , but twice a day while this hot weather persists .
John.

 

[Si Benson]

Hi John,

Good to know that I’m still on track:smiling4:. I’ve had to water mine twice a day like you say...they really wilt when they get thirsty!!
I’m having to water the sun flowers to, or the triffids as I call em....but they are beautiful thoughView attachment 310738


View attachment 310739

View attachment 310740



I took this pic just before they flowered just a fraction under 10ft was the tallest. The bees and kids love em:smiling4:
View attachment 310741


Si

 

[Peter Gillson]

John

We save the heads for the birds in winter, just hang the heads outside and let the birds feed to thier hearts content.

Peter

 

[Guest]

Si .
Wow don't they look good , we had one come up on its own.! Around here there is a farmer who grows sunflowers for the bird seed. Its called Vinehouse Farm , and he's doing a great job .
Had 7 blooms, of course not as big as the first , but what a show of color. The other year when I had the workshop we grew some deep red ones, they were stunning .
The seagrass seem to drink the water, of course our pots are not like growing naturally, where the roots could go deep into the soil. Keep up the watering, and it won't be long before the shoots come .
John.

 

[Guest]

John

We save the heads for the birds in winter, just hang the heads outside and let the birds feed to thier hearts content.

Peter

Peter.
Yes will do that, we are lucky that during the winter we get a nice variety of birds.
John.

 

[Guest]

Si.
Just some photos to show you the difference in the growth stage, These are from the same sowing. All the plants are at differing stages, depending on when they germinated.
This one is one of the early arrivals, notice the thin and the quantity of the small branches. The pink is just starting to appear as the plant starts to mature.
View attachment 310745
now this is more like yours, less full bodied and a lot younger than the one above.

View attachment 310746
You can see the difference between the 2 plants, so just keep doing what you are. :thumb2::thumb2::thumb2:

John.

 

[Si Benson]

Ahh I see,
Thanks for that John, there was me thinking that I’d upset them:smiling5:
Yours look great in that first picture :thumb2:
Si

 

[Jim R]

Hi fellow gardeners.
Just caught sight of Si's sunflowers and it had me worried. Thought his sea foam had gone ballistic!!
My plants are doing OK. I will have to do some culling and only keep the best as the study window sill is looking like the Amazon rainforest. A typical example of what mine are like.
View attachment 310748
View attachment 310749
Dr Jim Livingstone - jungle explorer.