JungleShadows said:Years ago an iris friend suggested a way to push seedlings was to use an every other week treatment of a transplant fertilizer like Start N Grow. I use one cap full/ gallon of water. Water gently with a watering can. Mine are mulched with gravel and I let the fertilizer solution drizzle on the gravel not the plants so as not to wash away the roots or deposit soil over the rosettes. For general watering I use an overhead sprinkler that simulates rain. That gives a gentle enough application that the seedlings are not moved or flooded. Nice rain here today so no need to water.
Anyway, this fertilizer regime seems to work beautifully for almost any sort of seedling in order to get them up to mature size the most quickly. The only exceptions are things like penstemon that don't require/ like a lot of fertilizer. Even with them I give them some Start N Grow right after transplanting. My bearded iris seedlings that were rowed out the first week of May now already have increases. Not bad for 6 weeks of growth.
Kevin
valleylynn said:Such sweet, tiny babies. We are starting up a whole new generation of people starting their semps from seed.
Now to get us all into pollinating and harvesting the seed.
valleylynn said:I think we should talk with Kevin and see if he would be willing to do something like that. He is such an amazing teacher and has such a passion for what he does.
Wouldn't that be an amazing workshop?
valleylynn said:We need to see how many we can get together, so it would be worth his efforts.
You Know he doesn't just hybridize sempervivum. He is well known for his daylilies, Siberian Iris, Hostas and much more. : )