Seed starting formula for lavender?

Discussion in 'Plant Propagation' started by anyDAZEcoo, Mar 13, 2009.

  1. anyDAZEcoo

    anyDAZEcoo Active Member

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    riverside, CA, USA
    I planted lavender but on the packet it says to use seed starting formula..i don't know what it is and i don't have any money for it. But do i absoutly need it in order for them to grow? its been about a week in a half since ive planted them. They have not sprouted yet. Thank you! all info is apprecitated! :)
     
  2. Vera eastern wa

    Vera eastern wa Active Member

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    Eastern Washington, USA
    I started them with plain old potting soil using 2 different methods:
    1. Indoors following cold moist stratification (L. 'Munstead')
    2. wintersowing (L. 'Vera')
    (see winter sowing at gardenweb.com for more info on method)

    Vera
     
  3. Vera eastern wa

    Vera eastern wa Active Member

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    BTW
    Seed Formula is just a finer medium than potting soil for starting seeds; usually is made of milled sphagnum moss/peat moss and perlite. Of all the years I have been starting seeds I have only ever used it once at home. I didn't like it....it dried up much too fast in my opinion. Even while I was in school as a greenhouse student, we always used the same stuff (ProMix) for everything; nothing special for seed starting. The only time we used anything different was for cuttings in which it was always straight perlite.
     
  4. greengarden bev

    greengarden bev Active Member

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    Tom Clothier's old clunky site is still one of the best for reliable information on germination: http://tomclothier.hort.net/

    Here's what he says for lavenders:
    Sow at 20ºC (68ºF), if no germination in 3-4 wks, move to -4 to +4ºC (24-39ºF) for 2-4 wks.

    Remember that the temps are SOIL temps, not air. Use a meat thermometer to make sure you've got the soil surface close to 68 degrees. If it's too cold, get some bottom heat. There are a lot of options for cheap, low-tech bottom heat that I won't go into here (google is your friend...)

    Wintersowing has worked nicely for me on Lavendula angustifolia "Munstead" and "Lady".

    IMO, I think we should be careful with comparisons between the home situation and the commercial greenhouse. The conditions in commercial greenhouses are close to ideal-- the humidity, watering, daily care, sunlight, soil temperatures-- everything is optimized for germination. In a greenhouse environment, a less-than-ideal seeding mix is less important than it would be at home, when ALL conditions are usually less than ideal. So, anything you can do to improve your conditions will help-- including the quality of the seeding mix.

    If you want to get a really fine seed starting medium without buying "formula" or specialty blends, you can take some purchased potting soil and work it through a coarse kitchen sieve-- the mesh kind. This will remove any of the lumps and pieces and will leave you with the fine bits of peat, sand, vermiculite and "soil" that potting mixes are usually made from. I do this with my seed starting mix to get some extra-fine mix to use when the instructions say "just cover" or "cover with a fine sprinkling". If you don't want to spend a ton of time sieving your mix, you can use plain mix in the bottom of the container, and about a half-inch of the really fine sieved stuff on top, for the seed bed.
     

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