Hi there, I am new to this forum and gardening in general. I picked up some macadamia nut tree seeds and some coffea kona off of www.seedrack.com and I have a few questions. Space is limited where I am currently living so I have the seeds under a set of halgon grow tubes. When I am watering these seeds should I put the water in the tray I have the conatiners sitting in or pour the water directly into the containers? Should I let them sit in the water or drain the water out of the trays? I didn't get much for instructions for these seeds, but they say the germination period for both sets of seeds is 1 to 6 months. Is this about right? Thanks for any advice for a noob starting out.
Hi, what are halgon g.t's? Are the seeds in soil? If so, it should be kept just moist, no more, no less. Don't otherwise know what your set-up might be.
LMAO I guess I needed some coffee when I typed that. I meant to say Halogen grow tubes (grow lights). The image with the green containers are the macadamia nut tree seeds. I was told to mix in medium Perlite with the soil. The black containers are the coffea kona seed just in soil alone.
i thought i was looking at a take away.......i'll have a chicken vindaloo...hehehehhe, seriously what sort of seed compost is that? when i sow any seed, i usually place the seed tray in a large tray of water, as soon as the surface of the compost changes colour, i pull the seed tray out and let it drain, the compost soaks up enough water to last quite some time.
In the green conatiners (macadamia nut) I used Miracle-Gro's Seed Starting Soil mixed with WillGro Products' (www.willgro.ca) medium Perlite. The white Perlite has turned brown from watering and the soil. In the black containers (coffeea kona) is just Miracle-Gro's Seed Strating Soil. That is what I have been doing too. Putting water in the trays, wait until the tops are moist, and then drain the excess water from the trays. And then water again when the soil is getting a little dry.
If you bought those clear tray covers (available at all garden stores), you could get away with watering only once, and then mist the soil when the surface starts looking dry. Do your halogen tubes actually produce heat to get the soil to the temperature required, because otherwise light is not required until actual germination takes place.
I was using the clear covers until it looked like mold (white spiderweb like growths) was forming so I stopped using them.
I think you are keeping your soil too wet rather than moist because the pots soak up a lot of water when you bottom water that way. It's okay for seedlings but not for seed. If the spider webs do form, just remove the cover for 5 or 10 minutes, it won't affect germination. If you see mold forming in little round patches, it's a good sign the seed below that little patch is rotting away. It's been some years since I germinated coffee seed but the idea is to get the soil warm (which I did by placing pots in plastic bags on top of the tv) and just moist not wet. I also soaked the seed for 24 hours before sowing. I did them in smaller quantities and if I can recall took more than a month to germinate.
A great way to get bottom heat on your germinating trays is with a water bed heater. They won't get too hot and are thermal controlled. Try the second hand stores for one. I agree that light isn't needed until after germination, so the lights may be for convection heat only, or to show that you care.
Update: Finally got one of my macadamia nut trees to sprout. =D I just saved myself $160. That's how much I saw a macadamia nut tree selling for In Edmonton this past weekend, and that tree looked like it was dying.
Would now be a good time to re-pot this tree? The stem is 80 millimeters from top to the top of the soil, the largest leaf is 75 millimeters long, and the smallest leaf is 40 millimeters long?
You should try loosening it from the pot (make sure you have a new bigger pot with soil first) and see if the roots are touching the sides of the pot for the majority of the pot space. If it is then you should repot it but the pot is for the roots. If you get too big of a pot you will probably get root rot, so you want to be careful when you check for signs that it needs a bigger space and only got up a few pot sizes if it is still tiny (e.g. a 6 to an 8 inch or a 8 to a 10...once you are at about a 14-30 you can got up 4-5 inches if it is growing too rapidly for your budget). If you are going to use a pot that you had for a different plant that has been moved to better and bigger containers, wash it with some ammonia or vinegar and rinse well - especially if you use vinegar as it can kill your plants. Also roots coming out the bottom of the pot are a good indication of a need for more space. This goes for pretty much any plant that you do not want to be root bound, not just you little one.
