Starting plants from seeds
Published on: Sunday, June 23, 2019
By: Eskay Ong
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These days, it is common to see not only outdoor gardening activities but also within the confines of buildings. It is a popular activity to cultivate and display plants within building interiors such as houses, apartments, office buildings or condominiums in what is called Interior Naturescaping. This is a most interesting subject which will be discussed at a later date.
Plenty of seedlings (Coriander) germinatedin a perforated plastic basket.
Irrespective of whether they are decorative plants, trees, shrubs, creepers or vegetables, there are various ways to start growing plants in your garden, on the balcony, vertical walls or rooftops, or just about anywhere outdoors or indoors within the building.
For instance, it is possible to propagate and grow plants from vegetative parts by using suitable horticultural practices to produce marcotts, cuttings, grafts or simple layers from which to start fresh plants or else to multiply them.
These are physically more technical and requires a bit more skill in order to obtain better results. The good thing about marcotts, cuttings, grafts or layers is that a very high percentage of success can be had with efficient and skilful hands.
On the other hand it is also possible to grow plants with the seedage method whereby seeds or spores are used to initiate little new plantlets.
A young ‘kai lan’ planted out on the ground. Should be ready to fill the ‘kuali’ in three days’ time.
Generally, seedage, which will be the focus here, is a more straightforward and simpler method that uses seeds to propagate plants as the task of germinating, caring and growing is more hassle-free. But seedage using spores is more exacting since the fine powder-like stuff needs to be handled with care to reduce or avoid contamination.
In seedage, the plants have first of all to produce flowers. These are subsequently fertilised through pollination, after which the seeds are formed. These may or may not be fertile, and they are usually subject to a number of conditions such as temperature, light and water during the commencement of germination. Therefore, before germination can begin external conditions as well as the internal physiological conditions have to be met, failing which the seeds may just remain idle and eventually rot away.
With suitable know-how in using the right method of propagating or cultivating plants, it is therefore not a difficult task to green up unutilised spaces or barren grounds. This would increase the area of green spaces and would definitely add to the greenery and beauty of the overall landscape.
If the government is not able to do it for the time being, the community, or even individuals could, with authorisation of course. The success in this direction has been proven in many locations around the world where entire communities or groups of individuals work hand-in-hand with the authorities for the betterment of the society.
Preparing shallow furrows to ready them for receiving small seeds such as ‘kai lan’.
Generally, seeds can be found in all shapes and sizes. Such differences are more distinct between seeds of different varieties, but even that, different seeds of the same variety also have a number of visibly significant differences, in particular the size, shape and colour. Many seeds are vividly or brightly coloured, or the seed coat may be attractively variegated or patterned with some peculiar design on the surface. While some seeds are virtually ‘naked’, others come with a thick seed coat or armour for protective purposes. Furthermore, some seeds, notwithstanding the existence of the natural seed coat, are additionally covered with a second protective layer such as the fruit wall.
The size of seeds also varies enormously between varieties. Orchid seeds are extremely minute, and is hardly visible with the naked eye. Similarly, seeds of the gloxinia flowers are also very fine. These seeds are so tiny that one gram of the material may consist of thousands of the seeds.
On the other extreme can be found the giant-sized seeds such as the coconut. Even though the thick fruit wall may be dry, each nut may weigh as much as one kilogram or more. By any standard, this is really huge, especially when viewed in comparison with other common seeds such as ‘rambutan’, ‘durian’, ‘langsat’, ‘bayam’, bittergourd or even the oil palm.
For convenience sake, most seeds may be grouped into a number of easily defined categories such as fine, medium, big and huge.
Seedlings may be started from seeds either directly sown onto the site of the planting, or they may be pre-germinated first before they are transplanted out to the location where they are wanted grown.
A bed of thinned-out young kai lan.
There are advantageous and disadvantageous reasons for both direct sowing and pre-germination.
For direct sowing, there is always a large percentage of wastage especially those involving extensive cultivations or open plantings. This is because more seeds are initially required during the sowing exercise, and also the subsequent overcrowding may require the removal of a certain number of seedlings.
This constitutes a loss to the grower, unless the plants so removed are utilised in some way or grown somewhere else. However, the main concern is about being cost-effective as direct sowing saves time and labour, which may translate into substantial boosting of the bottom line. On the other hand such savings may not offset the cost of the wastage in the seed materials, in which case, this debate is best left to the agro-entrepreneur himself to determine.
However, to our friendly and hardworking gardening enthusiast, the cost in time, effort and material in direct sowing is relatively insignificant, but for the commercial growers, it is an important decision to be arrived at carefully.
A harvest of ‘kai lan’ that is ready to be put into the ‘kuali’.
Besides that, seedlings grown by the direct-sowing method are also exposed more to the hazards of the environment during the early, tender stage of growth. The advantage is that there is no disturbance or checks to the growth of the plants because once grown and germinated, they continue to grow undisturbed until maturity, except for those removed during the thinning process, or those affected by pests and diseases.
In the case of seedlings established through pre-germination, fewer seeds are normally required. The process is usually carried out in germination beds or boxes, or even in pots or whatever other kinds of containers that you can lay your hands on. Once germinated, only the best seedlings are selected from among the ones that arise, and these are used for transplanting and growing into maturity.
The unselected ones are usually discarded because they represent the poorest-performing seedlings from any batch of seeds sown. This process of pre-germination therefore ensures that the young plants are not exposed to the hazards of the environment during the critical early stage of growth. The problem is that it requires much more effort, and there is a temporary check in growth once the seedlings are transplanted.
There are some people who are not averse to thinking that germinating seeds is simply throwing them in a corner of the garden or dumping a handful into a pot without much follow-up attention and care. In other words, they feel there should not be too much worry when seeds can grow up by themselves.
Well, that could be true in a primitive society, but the concept is totally out of place as far as present-day gardening activities are concerned. In fact, a keen and savvy gardening enthusiast these days would have none of that outdated concept because he/she is most likely to know that certain elements are needed for successful germination.
For instance, when germinating fine seeds such as gloxinia or African violets, it is best to start in seed boxes or at least some form of planting containers. The seedage environment is considered at a micro level and therefore much easier to handle or control. It is paramount that extra care be taken when handling fine seeds as they are much more expensive, gram for gram, when compared with other seeds. As they are very tiny, it is also easier to lose them than losing coconuts, and as such, productivity of the germination exercise may be quite disheartening as a result of carelessness.
Watering the freshly-sown seeds using a fine rose to avoid stirring them up.
The loss may be even more substantial if such fine seeds are sown directly onto the planting bed as the unpredictable environment may allow for only a very small number to survive the initial stage. This means you will need to dig deep into your pockets to get the desired number of plants you want. Just imagine, if the scale of the planting is big, you may even have to dig right through your pockets to grow a meaningful number.
Therefore, practising the right cultural method is most important as it determines whether you will reap beautiful plants or just plain scrawny and straggly scraps of green.
Generally, for the home gardener, pre-germination is a very interesting proposition, and besides, it is possible to be hugely successful even if it means having to grow common vegetables like ‘kai lan’, ‘sawi’ or long beans in pots or boxes.
As a starter, try germinating some ‘kai lan’ seeds in a seed box at home. The vegetable is always a popular item in almost every kitchen, and once cooked and served, it is almost always wolfed down in platefuls and with gusto too.
A useful seed box could be any container that can carry some soil. It could be a plain wooden box, or it could be made up of polystyrene or plastic. The important point to note is that it must have sufficient drainage holes at the sides or the base so that water does not stagnate within the box.
When setting seeds in boxes, the soil should be worked to a fine tilth with all the big lumps, stones or chunky foreign materials removed. The soil should contain a fair proportion of sand, silt and clay, and should be friable, loose, crumbly and well-drained. In this respect, fresh topsoil is the best. If you can’t get a wooden box, the use of plastic tubs, pails, discarded pots or even tin cans would do just as well. Just make sure there are several drainage holes at the base to allow for proper water drainage as well as aeration of the root environment.
Once the soil is ready, little shallow furrows about a centimetre deep should be prepared. This practice may sometimes be dispensed with, though, if there are supporting materials such as mulch, to hold the seedlings when they come up.
Prior to sowing, the seeds should be mixed with a small amount of fine dry sand, which are then scattered evenly over the surface if there are no furrows. If furrows are available, the seeds may be dropped directly into the shallows which are then covered with a thin layer of soil.
After sowing, the soil surface should be gently compacted with any flat structure in order to prevent the tiny seeds from ‘bouncing’ out upon watering. Watering is usually applied in a fine rose until the soil is completely moistened. The box is then placed in a cool part of the garden or under some shade.
Within a few days, which is usually less than five, most of the ‘kai lan’ seeds would have germinated. They come up very neatly in tidy rows, by which time, the box should be gradually exposed to the sun. At this stage, there should also be signs of overcrowding, and this therefore requires the removal or thinning of some of the seedlings. Exposure hours to the sun should be increased until the seedlings are able to stand up to full sun conditions.
As the seedlings grow taller and bigger, thinning is progressively increased until the distance between the ‘kai lan’ plant within each row is about 10 cm. To the enterprising gardening enthusiast, the thinned out plants may not necessarily be a waste. In fact, they can be planted into another box, or even on soil beds on the ground if you have earlier on prepared for this eventuality. With pots or tin cans, the procedure is about the same, except that no furrows need be made. Also watering may be done either from the top or bottom, which means placing the pot in shallow trays of water.
With the job done, it’s siesta time!
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