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Any tips on this anyone? I have a bad habit/history of rotting seeds of squash or curbits vegetable family, namely courgette when sowing. Is there a guaranteed way of avoiding this? When seeds failed to germinate within the expected period, I tend to over react with watering perhaps...

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Food for Free

Hi
When are you sowing them? I gave up sowing too early as they just don't do anything...and they catch up so soon. I found to make sure they were nice and warm and not too wet, just damp compost only.

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Andrea :wavehello

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...logs/zazen999/

moon trials completed:
tomatoes
[46% increase in crop per seed sown and 10% increase in crop per plant]

currently underway:
calabrese
garlic

Sow the seeds on their sides, this seems to work for me.

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'People don't learn and grow from doing everything right the first time... we only grow by making mistakes and learning from them. It's those who don't acknowledge their mistakes who are bound to repeat them and do no learn and grow. None of us are done making mistakes or overflowing with righteous wisdom. Humility is the key.'
- Thomas Howard

I even managed to rot them last year in around May so was held by few weeks. Out of 2 courgettes seeds I've sowed so far just last Feb, one germinated but the other one didn't exactly rot, rather got lost in the compost (took too long to germinate & possibly went duff). I have however managed to rot few melon seeds .

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Food for Free

I do that too, says so on the seed packet or as standard seeds sowing instruction. I sow with the pointy bits up, is that the right way?

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Food for Free

I water the compost lightly before sowing, stick em in on their sides (as in, pointiest bits to the left and right not up!), cover them with plastic bag or propagator lid and leave them too it... only ever water ungerminated seedlings if the compost is really dry to the touch.

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If the seeds are very thick coated, make a small nick in the outer coat (carefully). Then pre-sprout the seed in some damp kitchen paper before planting. Hope this helps.

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And time just slips away
Bonnie Rait

Squash like it warm, I get much better germination on mine if they are warm.

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Heated prop warm? THinking of sowing mine indoors in uncovered pots (cool attic room - assuming house roof still in situ!!) mid April - will that be ok?

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 15/11/2008......there's gold in them thar...compost bins!......

Hazel, yes, I have an ancient single tray unregulated heated propagator and it pushes them out within a few days, where a cool window sill will take a couple of weeks and loose some.

I'll try and get brain, camera, memory and propogator in conjunction this week for you.

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Always thank people who have helped you immediately, as they may not be around to thank later.
Visit my blog at http://podsplot.blogspot.com/
I support http://www.hearingdogs.org.uk/

Hmm - my way sounds a bit hit and miss - I'm a bit worried as I have 3 or 4 varieties of unusual squash (but only 3 seeds of each) so don't want to fall at the first hurdle!

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Hazel
www.hazelandjanesallotment.blogspot.com
update Sat 15/11/2008......there's gold in them thar...compost bins!......

Same problem here, tend to be hit and miss shots and also not that many squash seeds here so must make sure to learn 'how not to rot the seeds' .

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Food for Free

If you really want to know they are doing something and be certain they won't rot then the moist kitchen paper way of germinating is deffo the way to go. My first try with squashes was a miserable failure but someone suggested pre-germinating and I haven't had trouble since. Like parsnip, once you see a shoot, pop them in a pot of damp compost and away they go.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

I always pre-germinate anything which is large enough to handle; peas, beans, sweetcorn etc. This seems to eradicate problems caused by rot and, presumably because the seedlings then emerge within a day or two, it also means that I tend to lose fewer to rodents and birds when direct sowing outdoors.

I go for the on it's side (pointy ends to left and right!) in damp compost approach and ususally get a pretty good germination record although some of my squashes took so long last year that I planted some more only for the first lot to sprout the next day! Don't do any of these in heated propogators as find that the window ledge works fine in April when I tend to sow.

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