Winter Sowing

[Kale]

Wintersowing is a way of starting seed without tending.The purpose of using the containers is to simulate a greenhouse.Therefore the caps stay on.You of course have to water but not soak the soil when you sow. You cut the container nearly in half leaving it attached to the body and add soil and seed, water slowly and well, not soaked. Then you tape the container closed and cap it off. The moisture will then rotate through the container,*(leaving water dew on the sides,if you see too much water on the sides you have watered too much take the cap off and let it dry out a TAD! (WATCH IT) then cover again.Leaving the cap on.) Some containers can go into the sun and some in the shade, all depends on what you are sowing and climate and medium used.Make certain you have used good duct tape any others will come off thus cause you to loose all seedlings.Remember to log the name and number of the plant and write it on the containers. Do not however loose your log! It will consume your days thinking about what is and isnt growing thus cause you a grrrrrrrrrr.*LOL

These are my thoughts on wintersowing with milk and other kinds of containers (not pots) ALthough pots will work too and well if you are going to keep them in larger size pots like herbs they would need to be placed in heavy duty large ziploc bags and you can number them on the bag (doesnt work so well) or on a window blind cut into strips.
I also think that the gallon size will lessen the tending process you have more soil surface thus causing less monitoring.

Kale

 

[Melissa]

I took the caps off last year and didn't lose a single plant. Guess it depends on how much rain and snow you get. Also, I did not use the milk jugs, used water bottles and 2 liter bottles. I tried to use the milk jugs but found them too flimsy and the wind kept knocking them apart so just "repotted" them into the bottles. You also need to make sure you have really good drainage on the bottom of your container. I made a big hole right in the middle of the bottle. I then added really wet potting mix and made sure that all the liquid was able to drain out. I think you can do it either way, but if you leave the caps on, you will have to keep an eye on them and water them unless you use the "crisper" method and let them take water up from the bottom. Even if you take the caps off...if you hit a dry spell...you may have to give them a drink if they dry out.

 

[Kya D]

I have used paint pens at work to mark gas cans to which mix is in the can ie: 50 to 1
32 to 1 etc.
The paint from these pens has been on the containers for years, they don't fade or wear off. Maybe they would be good to mark WS containers. They aren't very expensive and come in lots of colors. I'm not sure if your should use oil based paint near your seedlings. But here is some info about one brand but there are many brands of paint pens.

Uni Paint Markers
Oil base paint in a handy marker. The most popular paint marker on the market. Marks on virtually every surface. Extensively used by manufacturers, construction professionals and hobbyists. Great for marking sheet metal, auto parts, glass, pipes, wood, concrete, leather, stone, tile.
I know you can but these locally at places like wal-mart, home depot, lowes.

 

[Mainegal]

Thanks for all the info on how to mark my containers. Not sure if I will even get any done this yr but will have this info for next yr.

 

[Kya D]

I just hope they work. I have trouble with fading even with sharpies.
I am going to try them as soon as I can get one.

 

[Melissa]

Pictures from last year

Here are a few pictures form last year.

Flax

Baptisia

Delphinium

Echinacea

Foxglove

Geranium

Gaillardia

Poppy

Silene

These pictures were taken in March and then shortly after I dislocated my hip planting way too many boxwoods so I didn't get to take pictures after that. My friends had a planting party and planted most of the seedlings for me. And I shared a lot of the seedlings with them. I think I might have some pictures of them as they grew later on in the ground...will check and post them.

 

[Melissa]

Babies in Bloom

Here are some of the things I wintersowed that actually bloomed.

Aster taken in July

Echinacea taken in October

Delphinium taken in July

Mist Flower taken in June

The most exciting for me was this Morning Glory Bush, it got huge. You can also see the Gaillardia and Verbascum in the background that had been wintersown. This picture was taken in October

Here is a picture of the base of the MGB. I was shocked how big and woody she grew. If you look closely, you can see the craft stick marker. As you can see, it is dirty but still readable.

And Lastly, here is a picture of one of her lovely blooms

Can't wait until Spring to see her again!!

 

[lynpenny]

smelly thanks for the pictures. I love the one of the delphium. I keep trying to raise that but have had no luck.

 

[Melissa]

Lyn, that delphinium was a really bright blue. It was just single blooms though....didn't go completely up the stem like my older ones. I can't wait to see it this year. I had the blue with the black center (Black Knight), white (Galahad), and light lavender (Guardian Lavender), but this was my favorite color. Hoping it will get big like the others this year. I ws some mixed this year. Hoping to get some pink.

 

[Kale]

Smelly Melly,What did you do with all those seedlings!
Oh MY!!
great JOB!
Blooms the first year!
Very good. I bet you have many that you are anticipating thier blooms!
Butterfly weed (*flower) still hasn't bloomed!

At what point did you take the tops off?
Using the milk containers the caps would come off once the temp rise, and if they are in full sun, otherwise they would cook in no time. I took the caps off when I saw the soil was drying out from the sun. At which point I watered. and recapped until about June6th.
What is planted is another point to be made. If you are doing veggies they need to be in the sun once they sprout and therefore need lots of tending, once true leaves are growing they need to be transplanted.

I was speaking of using way less soil (only about 3 -4inches) you use about a quart, that shouldn't completely dry out but the top 2inches would, and needs tending. Also would depend on how far down from the top the soil is which would make a difference in drying out. Where in relation to the sun, how long in the direct sun and the medium that was used.
Also we didn’t make those drainage holes in the bottom. We wanted it to be the least amount of tending. Once you see the dew lessen you need to water. I took the caps off at first briefly, watered and capped off . Moved them to indirect lighting (about 1hour sun) and they were fine for another few weeks. But by then, the tape came off and I found them soaked or dried out .It was a terrible trial. Ended up with just a few annuals that year.I didn’t do many in those milk containers I thinkI did 5 and out of them 2contaienrs made it through ,mostly due to the tape between drying out and getting wet.
I bet if I filled my containers with 4 cups of soil they would have done better. I may try it again using way more soil, not sure.
I like my draw method nearly everything germinates and I can just scoop out some rain water and water them and not worry about them. I did wintersow last year and added ½ gallon actual pots, I bagged them in a large zip lock ,they stood in full sun. I just sat them on a rock or something and put too much water in each bag. I had the water sit to the side of the bag lower then the pot. The bag was a bit bigger. If you need a pic I didn’t take one but.. can make the set up I had and take one.

KyaD,
As far as the Markers I believe those are the ones I tried. About 3dollars a marker (may-be more) I bought red and black against my desire to spend that much *lol “If you need it to label get two” Hubby said. I said, “ I don’t know if they work I’ll just get one”!. Hummm .I just looked but don’t even know where they are.*LOL
I was going to take a pic to see if that is what you speak of. They have a ball in them like a can of paint; you shake then press as you start the writing, and then just write. Most of the letters faded less then 1 season , I used them to Number my Wintersowing, that worked ok..

Just a big number drawn over and over again (indoors) out doors in the cold Im guessing you can forget it. I let them warm up to adhere and they worked thru the winter on blinds too but, depends on the blind material and temp of the blind. Met a gardener, she cut milk cartons for labels and claimed they worked well, but when I did it on containers I didn’t think so, I had to put masking tape and wrote the numbers on that because they faded too soon on the containers.

I got tired of faded labels

So for my BD “07 I received a Brother Labeler (recommendation from someone that has one and stated the labels last for 3 years outdoors in the sun) good point and bad. One is to get the thing to actually do what you press brings on a moment of silence as you fill yourself with glee. Then you just type out what you want and peel and stick. They stick well on pots and containers and sticks and blinds; as long as they are not cold or moist. I do not know how well the results will be, this is the first winter we are going through; I will know once the snow melts.
I hope I am not repeating myself here I have been leaving my train of thought and editing this over and over again..
Hope I don’t bore you*LOL


Kale

 

[Kale]

smelly thanks for the pictures. I love the one of the delphium. I keep trying to raise that but have had no luck.

Me neither..

Kale

 

[Randy]

I have some markers that are made of thin copper sheet with a wire frame around them. When you write on them with a ball-point pen, it embosses the writing into the copper and it will chage color with oxidation, but the lettering will never go away.

 

[Melissa]

My sharpie on the wood craft sticks worked great. I was out there today and you can still read some from last January. They did fade but you can still read them. I guess I could go out and touch them up once a year.

Kale, no wonder your seedlings drowned if you didn't make a drainage hole. I make a good size drainage hole in the bottom and then take the caps off immediately. You don't have to do anything with them then. As far as taking the top of the bottle off...I don't do that either. I just bend it back once the weather gets really warm and use the craft stick marker to hold it back. Then if we get a cold nite...I can close them back up. Not taking the top of the bottle off has another advantage....I wash the bottle out with soap and water after I plant the seedling and have the bottle to use again the next year.

 

[Kale]

*LOL
No holes equals no place for the water to go but,if you are covering them no more water can go in then what you put.and you will get the water rotation effect.

You basically leave the top attached but raise it when needed correct?
Along with a good drainage hole.
That sound scary I just may try,ouch that does sound scary,maybe I'll do it with milkweed seed I have tons of that*LOL Still scarey.
Around what month do you hold the top up?
And do you close it for the evening? And do you have them in full sun?
You have my wheels rolling *LOL
This is rather interesting ...

I enjoy the cleaning out and using again idea!
Using the milk containers were a throw away deal,that is another reason I didn't
do it.
Now.. would you just use a regular pot...Hold it I found a pic it wasnt the zip bag but it was a bag.. Oh ,would you use just a regualr pot if you could get them for little or no $$?
or is there an advantage in using the clear plastic bottles?

Kale

 

[Melissa]

Kale, I used a ton of different things last year, but the only one I will use again is the 16.9 oz water bottles. The larger 2 litter bottle was just too hard to handle when it came to planting time. I used those large gallon size ice cream buckets and again too hard to handle when it came planting time. The milk jugs only lasted about a week and I trashed those and replanted everything. The wind here is so strong that it just could not stay together...too flimsy or something. I tried half an egg crate in a bag and those were not good. I used those take out containers with the clear lid but they were too shallow and the plants got smashed because they got too big before I could remove the lids. Here is a picture of the hole I put in the middle of the bottom of the bottle. I use a really sharp cutco serrated knife and poke it into the middle and then twist it in circles back and forth until the little circle comes out. Be careful, you could probably lose a finger or a whole hand in the process.

I start propping the bottle open with the stick usually in April. I do this gradually and just keep increasing how far I open it. I watch the weather and if the temp is dropping too far in the evening, I close them. Then I leave them close until the cold spell has passed because it is a pain to have to open and close all those bottles.
I keep the bottles on the east side of the house but away from the house so that they get full sun until around 5:00 pm.
I am going to do some more tomorrow so I will try to get you a pic with it propped open using the stick.

 

[Melissa]

Ah ha!! Found it!! Here is a picture when I was just starting out last year of all the different containers and what not. I even used those McD's sundae containers...lol!! Of all the containers, I liked the 16.9 oz water bottles the best, but I am sure somebody else liked the larger containers better. I think it is just what works best for you. Every single one of those water bottles grew for me, I was shocked.

Good luck and have fun!!

 

[Mainegal]

i used a drill to put holes in my water bottles last yr. it was so much easier for me and it worked great to make the drainage holes

 

[Melissa]

Laurie, I did that with some of the bigger containers that had really hard plastic. I tried it with the little water bottles and was not coordinated enough...lol!! The drill hit the bottle and flung it out of my hand and across the room. I guess I need the book, "Drilling for Dummies".

 

[Mainegal]

is there a book for that????
i didn't have any problems with the drill and the poland spring water bottles

 

[Melissa]

more

Tonight I planted:
Allium Christohii
Allium Drumstick
Gaillardia Oranges and Lemons
Iris Black
Iris Siberian Mixed
Iris Epic Poem
and
Iris Psendacorus

I also took a pic of the bottle being propped open with the craft stick. Hope this helps

You just raise or lower the stick in the soil, and hook it into the groove of the bottle. You can open it alot or a little depending on which groove you use.