Germination Issues=[

[shaunbrook]

Hey guys I have a Garland Super 7 Electric Propogator. It was been throwing out the seedlings from seed to a inch high in under a week=]

My issue now is I have 14 Herbs I have planted and only 7 individual propogators. I planted 2 types of seed in each propogator and only 1 type of herb has germinated??? Bizzare I find or is this a thing in nature I don't know about?

HELP PLEASE

[chris]

What herbs & how are you sowing the seed?

[rustylady]

You shouldn't really need to be using an electric propagator at this time of year. As Chris says, what type of herbs are you trying to grow.

[shaunbrook]

Im using jiffy 7 pellets for a start and im planting thyme, lemon thyme, dill, a wild dill i brought back from poland,chives, sage, oregarno, red and green basil, tarragon, rosemary, flat and curled parsley and corriander! The ones that have take off are doing really well but the sage seeds dont look to be doing anything at all. the propogator isnot on its just in the most lite windowsill in the house.

Any ideas=[

[chris]

I don't use the jiffy 7 pellets (I use peat free products) but for pretty much all my herbs I put some compost in a pot, water it so it's moist, and then put the herb seeds on top and do no cover them. They then either go in a propagator (depending when) or just on the windowsil/greenhouse staging.. I used to cover them, with grit, compost, etc - but didn't get that many to germinate. It was by chance I did it using this method, only afterwards after searching on here did I find other people find this method suitable too.

Some herbs do take a while to germinate.. rosemary for example I had 2 seeds out of a packet germinate, oregano I found took a very long time. I sowed some in a pot outdoors, forgot about them as they took so long then sowed carrot seeds in the pot, all the carrots were ready before I noticed the oregano popping up!

[chris]

Oh, rosemary roots very readily from cuttings, much easier to grow that way.. ask a friend with a rosemary bush if you can have a cutting?

I 'borrowed' a small cutting from a garden (obviously seek permission ).

[rustylady]

I'm with Chris on the Jiffy pellets. Not cos I don't use peat, I just find them really hard to get on with. Either too dry or soaking wet and the seedlings suffer. I prefer to use a well drained MCP in 3 and a half inch half pots for germination. You can get about 10 seeds per pot that way (same variety per pot). So which of your herbs have germinated, and which haven't?

[shaunbrook]

In cambridge there are rosemary bushes everywere!!! so im sure i can grab a cutting off one of the million i pass on the way too waork haha=]

All the seeds have been in the prop for about 1 and half weeks so i suppose ill just have to wait for everything to grow. You have to walk before you can run i guess=]

[shaunbrook]

So which of your herbs have germinated, and which haven't?

Its the bigger seeds like the sage which havent germinated so far which i find bizzare as i thought been a british herb it would be one of the first go show face. But the red basil was the quickest of the maker and is currently winning the race????