El Nino and Seedlings

We are not having a typical March in Southern California this year, or for that matter did we have a typical February.

This is an El Nino year, which occurs approximately every 5 years. This means that we get a lot of rain and temperatures are much cooler than normal.

This weather has wreck havoc on my seedlings. I have lost all of my Winter Melon and Charentais seedlings.

My Cherry Tomato seedlings have survived but have definitely not thrived. I had one Cherry Tomato seedling that was tall enough to transplant (see this blog entry). I transplanted that seedling two weekends ago and it has surprisingly done very well (see this blog entry)

Unfortunately, my other Cherry Tomato seedlings are much smaller (see the pictures at the top and below)

Because of a problem with my Grow Light setup, I only got one Cherry Tomato seedling during my first attempt at seed starting this year (see this blog entry). This was the Cherry Tomato seedling that I transplanted 2 weeks ago.

My other Cherry Tomato seedlings germinated 2 weeks later. We had decent weather in the last half of January and that enabled the first seedling to get a good headstart. The other seedlings suffered through the cold and wet February, which has stunted their growth.

See this blog entry and this blog entry for how my Cherry Tomato plants look a year ago at this time.

I probably made a mistake by turning off my Grow Lights right after the second batch of seedlings germinated (see this blog entry) But, I don't like to have my plants under the Grow Lights for too long. The light from the Grow Light is not the same as the natural light from the Sun. I find that if I leave Cherry Tomato plants under the Grow Light for an extended period, the plants grow long and spindly (i.e. "leggy").

I would rather take them outside and let them grow naturally. In the past this has worked well, but the El Nino weather pattern has messed this up.

Still, if you look at the Cherry Tomato seedlings in the pictures above, they look fine ("not leggy"). They have just not grown as well as you would expect 6 week old Cherry Tomato seedlings to look. I think they will be fine. If not, I can always clone new plants from my first Cherry Tomato seedling.

It was very windy today and I thought that the wind chill would lower the effective temperature that it might harm the Cherry Tomato seedlings, so I brought them all back inside tonight. Hopefully, the wind will die down tomorrow and I will be able to take them outside again.

My Dove Melon Hybrid seedlings are doing ok (see picture below). The seedlings are bigger than they were last week (see this blog entry). However, I am still waiting for them to grow their second set of leaves.

I started another batch of Winter Melon and Charentais seeds this past weekend. I am not using Grow Lights this time. Just leaving them outside like I did the Dove Melon seeds (see this blog entry)

Cherry Tomato Seedling Update

The Cherry Tomato seedlings are growing.   They have tripled in size in the 6 days since I have transplanted them into the APS-6 unit (compare the top and bottom on the picture to the right).  

However, the seedlings are leggy.  See how high the leaves are from the soil mixture.  

At the rate the seedlings are growing, they will reach the bottom of the grow light in a couple of days.  So, I needed to transplant them into a different container.

I use 6 inch diameter round containers as my next stage.  These containers require me to water the seedlings on a daily basis.  The APS-6 (and APS-24) have a capillary mat and water source, so I just need to keep the water tray filled to an adequate level every few days.

 One advantage of transplanting the seedlings again is that I can bury the seedlings under more soil.  This makes the seedlings less leggy and encourages deeper roots, which will make the plants healthier in the long run.

I need to start hardening off the plants soon. Unfortunately, it has rained the entire day and the forecast is for more rain in Southern California in the next week.

Transplanting Seedlings from APS-24 to APS-6

Transplanting a seedling from the APS-24 is very easy.  There is a hole at the bottom of the cell that is used to connect the soil mix with the capillary mat so that water can transfer.  Just stick your finger through the hole and push.  The cell pops out and the moisture in the soil mix enables the soil mix to retain the shape of the cell.

Then it is a matter of placing the cell into the APS-6 unit and putting soil mix around the cell so that the seedling is in the middle.

Ease in transplanting is one of the main reasons I use the APS system despite the problems I have with Algae growing in the unit.

Fast Growing Winter Melon Seedling

The seedling that emerged from the Winter Melon seed that I got from my Mother-In-Law is really fast growing.  The picture below shows snapshots of the seedling in the first 8 days after germination, during which I had to transplant it twice because it outgrew the container.

On Day 1, I transplanted the seedling from the 2 inch APS-24 cell  to the 4 inch APS-6 cell.  By Day 4, the 1st true leaf emerged and by Day 6, the seedling was almost touching the grow light. 

I had too stop using the grow light and take the seedling outside.  Fortunately the weather in Los

 Angeles this week was warm (70 to 75 degrees F in during the day).  By Day 8, the seedling had outgrown the APS-6 and I had to transplant it into a 6-inch diameter round container.

This is the fastest I have ever had a Winter Melon seedling grow.  At this rate, I will have to transplant the seedling into the ground by February 1 (about 1 month earlier than I planned).

One of the other winter melon seedlings is growing at a much more typical rate. The picture on the right  shows the seedling 6 days after germination.  The height is about 1/3 of the height of the fast growing seedling.

First Seedling

This morning, I found that one of my Mother-In-Law's Winter Melon seeds germinated and produced a nice seedling.  

It took 6 days for this seed to germinate.  I expect more seedlings to emerge over the next 3 to 4 days.

Since this is a Winter Melon seedling, I had to transplant it right away.  The APS-24 cell is only 1.5 inches tall and from past experience, I know that the roots of the Winter Melon and Pumpkin seedling are quite long.  With the tomoto seedlings, the roots  do not grow as fast and I typically leave them in the APS-24 cell for several days.

When I lifted the APS-24, I saw roots dangling from the bottom of the cell.  If I had waited another day, the roots would have started growing into the capillary mat.  Once that happens, it is almost impossible to transplant the seedling without damaging it (i.e., need to cut the roots), and then I would have to remove the left over roots from the capillary mat.  

I transplanted the Winter Melon seedling into an APS-6.  I used generic potting mix that I got from my local garden store.  It cost me $4 for a 8 quart bag.  In contrast, it cost me $12 for a 9 quart  bag of Gardener's Supply Germinating Mix when you include shipping costs.

I filled each of the 6 cells halfway with the potting mix so that the APS-6 unit stays firmly on the capillary mat.  I then transplanted the seedling into one of the cells.  

The nice thing about the APS-24 unit is that the cell pops right out when I push my finger through the hole in the bottom.  Moisture keeps the cell intact so that it is easy to just drop the seedling into the APS-6 unit and fill with potting mix around it.