seeds Putting seeds directly into the soil

SadisticPeppers

SadisticPeppers

eXtreme Business
I had a thought about something, and wanted to see if anyone had any luck/experience with it before I did anything rash
 
Has anyone tried to put seeds directly into the soil and try to germinate them that way (and got decent germ rates), instead of the seed tray/transplant route?
 
I did four seeds that way last year and all of them came up and did well. Does that count? ;-) These were started late too, but I still had Jalapenos up through to December.
 
That sure counts.
 
One of my concerns is soil temps, since its under a black-colored fabric, and the temps are getting into the high 80's here. With the daily rainstorms here, keeping the soil at least damp shouldn't be an issue, but I live high enough up that I doubt any flooding will go on any time soon ;)
 
Last summer, before I knew better about the growing conditions/climate up here, I did just that with Cayenne, Bell and a few other generic Annuum's I picked up from Walmart, etc. All I used for soil was a mix of our existing ground (primarily clay.. yuck), compost/partial compost (primarily a mix of wood shavings, bird seed and bird crap.. joys of having tons of pigeons as pets) and generic 3-in-1 soil blend from the local supermarket. I planted them in mid-May and, as I've only clued into -this- year, our cold/frost lingering around till at last mid-June..  Somehow the majority of those buggers germinated - even after the massive flooding my garden experienced in late May - and I'm sure they would've done well if I'd known then what I know now about caring for seedlings.
 
Aside from the heat, I'm guessing you could do pretty well just because of the fact of the long grow season you have down there. :)
 
Hrm, OK. I realize that, at least for the first week or so at least, I may have to run the drip irrigation every day to make sure the soil stays sufficiently damp...
 
elcap1999 said:
I had a thought about something, and wanted to see if anyone had any luck/experience with it before I did anything rash
 
Has anyone tried to put seeds directly into the soil and try to germinate them that way (and got decent germ rates), instead of the seed tray/transplant route?
Click to expand...
 
What is rash about putting a seed in the ground? Nature does that all the time. So do farmers. You are in Florida, so the only thing that could stop you is, as you've already noted, flooding or even torrential downpours (possibility of washing seeds away), but you've already eliminated flooding, for the most part. When I lived in Houston, I only ever direct-sowed. The whole using trays and cups thing isn't needed where you are, other than if you want to get a jump-start on your grow before the chance of cold is gone.
 
geeme said:
 
What is rash about putting a seed in the ground? Nature does that all the time. So do farmers. You are in Florida, so the only thing that could stop you is, as you've already noted, flooding or even torrential downpours (possibility of washing seeds away), but you've already eliminated flooding, for the most part. When I lived in Houston, I only ever direct-sowed. The whole using trays and cups thing isn't needed where you are, other than if you want to get a jump-start on your grow before the chance of cold is gone.
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I've just been so accustomed to doing them in the trays, I never tried to do them directly into the ground, and didn't want to end up potentially wasting seeds lol
 
And like I mentioned in my glog, the odds of frost/cold here are quite low, and we may only get one night of frost every 5-10 years
 
elcap1999 said:
That sure counts.
 
One of my concerns is soil temps, since its under a black-colored fabric, and the temps are getting into the high 80's here. With the daily rainstorms here, keeping the soil at least damp shouldn't be an issue, but I live high enough up that I doubt any flooding will go on any time soon ;)
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If you've eliminated flooding then I think you should do a test run with spare-able seeds and see how well they do. I can see where high temps and black plastic could be an issue. Mine were just plunked into the ground near a trellised pumpkin plant and ended up germinating and growing in its shade. I eventually dug them up and moved them else where though. I think when I put them down, my temps had already started creeping into the 90s. Keeping the soil moist was definitely the hardest part.
 
elcap1999 said:
I had a thought about something, and wanted to see if anyone had any luck/experience with it before I did anything rash
 
Has anyone tried to put seeds directly into the soil and try to germinate them that way (and got decent germ rates), instead of the seed tray/transplant route?
Click to expand...
 
I think they've been farming that way for centuries. It should be fine. It will even save you from having to harden off
 
filmost said:
 
If you've eliminated flooding then I think you should do a test run with spare-able seeds and see how well they do. I can see where high temps and black plastic could be an issue. Mine were just plunked into the ground near a trellised pumpkin plant and ended up germinating and growing in its shade. I eventually dug them up and moved them else where though. I think when I put them down, my temps had already started creeping into the 90s. Keeping the soil moist was definitely the hardest part.
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Like I said, the nigh-daily afternoon storms would help, as would my drip irrigators. I'll also put in some epsom salt into it since my mom swears by helping her bell peppers to germinate with water that has a couple tablespoons of it mixed in, with great results.
Buzz said:
 
I think they've been farming that way for centuries. It should be fine. It will even save you from having to harden off
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And this may sound like a really silly noob question, but as I said, I've never actually done in-ground seeding before, but I'm guessing about a half-inch should be sufficient depth for the seeds in the ground?
 
Half inch is almost too deep. eighth to quarter inch is plenty enough. Think about how nature works. The pepper plant drops the old, dried, unpicked pod directly on the ground. The pod rots and the seeds sit on the ground, slowly getting covered by falling vegetation that composts on top of it.... it rains.... so on and so forth... Barely beneth the surface should be sufficient. Allow some room for the water to drag the seed down some and for the soil to settle. If you plant a half inch, it could end up an inch or more deep by the time nature finishes with it.
 
Buzz said:
Half inch is almost too deep. eighth to quarter inch is plenty enough. Think about how nature works. The pepper plant drops the old, dried, unpicked pod directly on the ground. The pod rots and the seeds sit on the ground, slowly getting covered by falling vegetation that composts on top of it.... it rains.... so on and so forth... Barely beneth the surface should be sufficient. Allow some room for the water to drag the seed down some and for the soil to settle. If you plant a half inch, it could end up an inch or more deep by the time nature finishes with it.
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Duly noted, thanks! 
 
Best of luck, and I highly encourage you to try this method! Saves SO much work! But it will test your patience. The plants won't get big anywhere near as fast as growing in trays under lights. They'll have a lot of space for roots to work on before they establish and take off..... but it'll be well worth it in the end
 
Buzz said:
Best of luck, and I highly encourage you to try this method! Saves SO much work! But it will test your patience. The plants won't get big anywhere near as fast as growing in trays under lights. They'll have a lot of space for roots to work on before they establish and take off..... but it'll be well worth it in the end
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Oh I recall the Yellow TS Morugas I transplanted from trays into the containers, for the first couple weeks, barely grew at all, and I was about ready to start over, but then they just exploded in growth, and could almost see the difference in them from one day to the next.
 
elcap1999 said:
 
Oh I recall the Yellow TS Morugas I transplanted from trays into the containers, for the first couple weeks, barely grew at all, and I was about ready to start over, but then they just exploded in growth, and could almost see the difference in them from one day to the next.
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Bingo...
 
Just placed an order of Butch T seeds from Judy since that's the only one I forgot to order them with my last round of ordering from her, which will give men (hopefully) enough seeds across all the types I want to grow in the garden and put them directly in the soil. One thing I definitely will do beforehand is soak them :)
 
I've also got some Reapers from Buckeye's but I'll save those for when I get these other plants going, and that triangular area tilled and read to go. Just have to remove a small tree and a couple other plants from there first. Good thing is, it's a short garden hose away from my other spigot in the backyard (the one I'm using for my Yellow TS Morugas), so I'll get another Y-splitter and such for when I'm read, or just extend the drip irrigation over there, since it's not that far at all...
 
An added plus for direct sowing is that the tap root will be deeper, which theoretically means the plant will tolerate dry conditions for longer. When you sow in a cup or tray, the tap root quickly dives to the bottom of the cup, and once the tip bangs into that hard surface, it encourages the root structure to spread out horizontally. The tap root never goes back into "digging for oil" mode even after you transplant it. The whole root structure expands , of course, but it won't throw down that deep central root. When you direct sow, there is nothing for the root to run into except the odd rock, so it tends to dig down very deep.
 
PepperWhisperer said:
An added plus for direct sowing is that the tap root will be deeper, which theoretically means the plant will tolerate dry conditions for longer. When you sow in a cup or tray, the tap root quickly dives to the bottom of the cup, and once the tip bangs into that hard surface, it encourages the root structure to spread out horizontally. The tap root never goes back into "digging for oil" mode even after you transplant it. The whole root structure expands , of course, but it won't throw down that deep central root. When you direct sow, there is nothing for the root to run into except the odd rock, so it tends to dig down very deep.
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That is very true, and I'd like the roots to go as deep as possible, since a couple feet below the soil is the oolite limestone ridge my  neighborhood sits on, and according to the local geological info I found a while back, it's chock-full of trace minerals besides calcium.
 
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