Got my plants in the ground

[BassAssasin]

Originally Posted by mcjaredsandwich

If you go the drip irrigation system, you will be happy. Less water wasted and more on the plants. It can be a pain to take care of, check it routinely for cracks or areas of failure and you should be good. Some people use very small tubing with nozzles and the like to where the it drips on the plant, but the same can be achieved by building your rows a little wider. Put a normal garden hose running parallel to the plants on the extra bit of row, and poke a hole where each plant is on the hose. Cheaper in the long run and accomplishes the same job.

man you sure do know alot about growing....................................

[mcjaredsandwich]

Originally Posted by BassAssasin

man you sure do know alot about growing....................................

General agriculture major/wildlife management minor. Had a lot of plant science classes. Taking a soil fertility class right now. Also interned at the Louisiana Environmental Research Center a couple summers ago. Did a germination study on a native prarie plant. Found some good info for those who grow legumes.

To those planting this spring, try this with your plants that have a harder seed coat. High grade sand paper in the bottom of a shoe box, same grade wrapped on a brick. Place about 40 seeds in the shoe box. Dont force the brick down but let its weight do the work. Move back and forth about 15 times. The bad seeds will crack. Take the good ones and plant. My study showed this method had a 95% germination rate over the 6 week study, with 78% coming in the first 2 weeks.

Any questions feel free to ask. I will help if I can.

[Gerald]

Originally Posted by mcjaredsandwich

General agriculture major/wildlife management minor. Had a lot of plant science classes. Taking a soil fertility class right now. Also interned at the Louisiana Environmental Research Center a couple summers ago. Did a germination study on a native prarie plant. Found some good info for those who grow legumes.

To those planting this spring, try this with your plants that have a harder seed coat. High grade sand paper in the bottom of a shoe box, same grade wrapped on a brick. Place about 40 seeds in the shoe box. Dont force the brick down but let its weight do the work. Move back and forth about 15 times. The bad seeds will crack. Take the good ones and plant. My study showed this method had a 95% germination rate over the 6 week study, with 78% coming in the first 2 weeks.

Any questions feel free to ask. I will help if I can.

In your study..... 1) without doing this "crack" test, what was the germination rate. 2) what percent of the seeds "cracked" doing this test?

Last spring I had very low [~40-50%] germination with my yellow squash & Zucchini and cucumber success was not much better. I had to replant several times. I had ordered seeds from Gurney's.... same as other years, never had this bad luck planting these type seeds.

[mcjaredsandwich]

Originally Posted by Gerald

In your study..... 1) without doing this "crack" test, what was the germination rate. 2) what percent of the seeds "cracked" doing this test?

Last spring I had very low [~40-50%] germination with my yellow squash & Zucchini and cucumber success was not much better. I had to replant several times. I had ordered seeds from Gurney's.... same as other years, never had this bad luck planting these type seeds.

The control group (no method) had a 36% germination rate over 6 weeks. We took temps from jan-march on 2010 and averaged the lows and highs. Seeds were planted in a petri dish with miracle grow soil. 10hr cycle in the germination "fridge" with 70 as high temp and 45 as low temp. Day cycle ran a light inside. Baptisia sphaerocarpa (wild yellow indigo) was the plant I used. Very hard seed coat. Pods were bean like thag held seeds.

Usually 1-3 seeds would crack each time I scarified them.