Kitchen Garden Forum

Have you noticed that if you only sow one or two seeds per module hardly any germinate, but if you sow six per module they all germinate. Do they prefer company or is it just sods law?

I've had to re-sow most of my brassicas after deciding to grow them in modules this year instead of in a seed bed outside. Hardly any germinated, so the second sowing I put five or six per module and within less than a week they have all germinated so I've got over a hundred now and not enough space for them. I suppose I can pick the best and park the rest in a spare corner for hen snacks.

Yes and that is one advantage of planting more and you can plant the strongest and give the others away

Not sure if it's sod or sociability but it seems to be true. I sow Brassicas in the 12 to ½ tray modules with 4 or 5 seeds per cell, the seeds are pretty old by the time you use them up even at this rate, when they emerge I thin them to one per cell. When they have grown on to a couple of decent sized proper leaves I pot them up into 3½", but it is difficult not to pot all 12 when I only need enough for 10' rows (5 to 10 plants depending on variety). The only one that has failed (twice) this year is a new packet of Kale Maris Kestrel, each time others were sown same day in same compost and were OK, I've told the supplier.

Plumpudding, I wonder whether the difficulty in sowing in cells, whichever size, is the water management. I grow all our brassicas in root trainers (as you must all know by now!!!) but sometimes it's quite tricky to keep them from either being drowned by soaking them too much or drying them off, whereas seeds in a seed bed are obviously in a much larger volume of soil and over- or under-watering would be more difficult.

I do the same as Geoffrey - sow two or three per cell and thin down to one. Very, very occasionally none of them germinate (most likely cauliflower) but then there is still time to re-sow.

PLUMPUDDING wrote:Have you noticed that if you only sow one or two seeds per module hardly any germinate, but if you sow six per module they all germinate. Do they prefer company or is it just sods law?

Hi PP

I tend to have exactly the opposite problem. I sow in the same type of modules as Geoff and pot on in the same way, too. I try very hard to get only one seed per module and usually they all germinate; this spring's sowing of two dozen gave me 23 plants to pot on. So it's certainly not a problem with the modules.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with growing them in modules and the second sowing of a few more seeds of the same kind proved this with them germinating very quickly. I suspect the first ones may have got a little bit too hot in the greenhouse with the very changeable weather, so I made sure the second sowing were kept on the cool side and there aren't any failures. I'll just have to prick them out now to give them more space.

I suppose I was trying to be both economical and lazy with my first attempt, and thought I was giving them a better start than outdoors in a seed bed. I'll have to watch the temperature in future.

After previous years' gluts, I was determined only to grow two courgette plants this year. I sowed two, and both germinated.

What I hadn't bargained for was, when I had an overflowing compost bin last autumn, I chopped up a number of surplus oversized courgettes and simply dug them into my borders and patio containers to rot down there. Not only did they rot down nicely, the seeds survived the harsh winter frosts and snows and now I have little courgette plants popping up all over the place. You just can't win, can you?

Always the optimist I never sow more than one seed per module. This year I have sown 72 Greyhound pointies and 72 came up. I will choose the sturdiest of those and end up probably only using half of them. I will sow again shortly for the next crop.
I have done the same with a selection of PS Broccoli.
I have other Brassica seeds all from Kings Seeds and they have all done very well so far.
JB.

I've just looked at all the half or little used seed packets I've got in my seed storage boxes. If I only sow as few seeds as I want plants to germinate I reckon I'll never need to buy another seed packet again in my life !

I'm wondering how the commercial growers sow things like radishes & carrots. They must sow millions of these tiny seeds but I bet they don't do it in a way that involves having to thin out those that arn't needed.