Disposed Seeds Germinating in Compost

[veg4681]

Does this ever happen to you? When seeds failed to germinate, I emptied the contents of the pots to mix them with other compost only to find later pale seedlings inside the compost . Are they usable? So far I've tried rescuing two but no idea what plants they are until they grow bigger I guess. I may have been hasty in giving up on them but it just goes to show how persistent they can get after you've given up on them . I thnk they're also appearing in other pots as I tend to recycle the compost for repotting.

[rustylady]

Oh yes!!! Isn't it a pain? I also get seeds germinating from rotting tomatoes etc that have been put onto the heap, and they always seem to be healthier and more vigorous than the ones I cosset.

[smallblueplanet]

.... and they always seem to be healthier and more vigorous than the ones I cosset.

I'm sure PW would point out that there's a lesson there that all us heated prop users should learn!

Prick the little seedlings out veg you should be able to identify them later on.

[pigletwillie]

No SBP, I will hold my tongue.

Isnt it sods law though. I had it last year with iris seeds. I gave up after a couple of months and reused the compost for potting on some blackcurrant bushes, only to find a short while later, yes, lots of iris seedlings poking up.

[Rocketron]

Last year we made the mistake of using our home made compost to germinate seeds. We ended up with 80 pepper plants.

[veg4681]

Last year we made the mistake of using our home made compost to germinate seeds. We ended up with 80 pepper plants.

Gosh that's true, I throw my pepper seeds in the compost bin too but I tend not to use homemade compost for sowing seeds as they're not fine enough. Did you try growing any of the peppers? Bet you didn't have problem telling them apart from other veggie seedlings though as the majority ones would be similar looking. Same thing can happen with tomato seeds.