Starting Carnations From Seeds
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Carnation seeds are really TINY little things! So, if you try to plant them in starter peat-pots it is very hard to get them covered enough and keep them wet enough for germination to occur. So, I devised this method. I get nearly 100% germination from the seeds using this method.I cut a paper towel and laid a large, square, section of it in a saucer. Then, I cut up tiny, little squares of the paper towel and laid that on the larger piece.
Next, I sprinkled the Carnation seeds over the little squares of paper towel.
Finally, I covered the whole thing with another large square of paper towel and wet it all under the faucet in the sink. Then, I placed the saucer in the window sill.
Each day, I added a little water to the saucer to replace what had evaporated.
After a few days, the seeds began to sprout. I kept adding water to the saucer as the seeds began to grow a little.
As the seeds grew, they put tiny little roots down into the paper towel squares that they were laying on. It will be impossible to separate the seedlings from where they take root in the paper towel, thus, the little squares of paper towel allow you to transfer several tiny little seedlings to a starter peat-pot.
As soon as I thought they were strong enough, I used a tweezers to pick up one little paper square (with the sprouted seeds clinging to it) and placed it in a tiny, little, starter peat-pot and sprinkled enough potting soil over the seedling to just barely cover it.
Then, I sat the peat starter-pot into a shallow tray containing about an inch of water and sat the whole thing out in the sunshine. The water in the tray quickly migrated up into the peat starter-pot and kept it nice and wet. After a few days, the little seedlings were popping up and beginning to grow.
As soon as the seedlings were about 3" high, I sat the little starter peat-pots out in the soil and kept them well watered for about 2 weeks. By then, the little carnation plants were growing nicely.
Unfortunately, when the plants got about 3" high, they all withered and died!! I have no idea why! but, you can bet, I'll try again next year!! Mean time, if any of you have any suggestions, I'd sure like to hear from you.
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