Start seeds

[JGudde]

I moved my fish from outdoors to a system in the basement for the winter.
I have pea gravel in my outdoor growbeds but am using hydroton
in my indoor system because of the weight. In my outdoor system
I direct seed lettuce in my growbeds and get good germnation but
when I direct seed lettuce in the hydroton I do not seem to get the
lettuce to come up. Has anyone else had this problem and found a
better way or a suggestion on what to do.

[keith_r]

last year was my first year with an ap system.. i had the best luck starting my lettuce in a small floating raft, net pots and i forget what the plugs were,, and transplanting into the hyrdoton
very little sprouted from the growbed,,
maybe use a strip of seed tape, or a rolled up tissue buried a little bit.. so that the seeds don't get washed away

[stucco]

I have never had a problem seeding directly in the hydroton. Maybe this planting by the moon will help. http://www.farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/

[urbanfarmer]

My guess is that the water level in your hydroton grow bed does not get as high as the level in your gravel grow bed. Search around on youtube, but I have seen a few videos where larger aquaponic operations intentionally raise the water level during the time they are trying to germinate the seeds. Essentially, we know that seeds need to stay moist to finish germinating. If the seed dries out, in most cases, the seed will stop germinating. You want to keep the seed moist.

You also mentioned it was winter. It takes a lot longer for seeds to germinate outside of their optimal temperature range, which in most cases is not colder temps; therefore, it could easily be the temperature as well.

For instance, lettuce has a 99% germination rate in 2 days at 77 degrees Fahrenheit; however, at 32 degrees Fahrenheit (freezing) lettuce has a 98% germination rate in 49 days. Weird right? You still have a high germination rate, but it takes forever. And in a grow bed, if it takes a while the seed can possibly get washed away or deeper into the medium in such a way that if it does germinate it doesn't have enough energy to grow into the light.

Your pH could also be the problem. If the pH is too far off it can denature the seeds. Seeds also have their own mechanism to detect the right conditions to germinate; so, maybe the pH didn't kill the seed, but perhaps it won't allow it to trigger germination.

I am sure there are a ton of other reasons, but I believe these are the most common.

I hope that helps!

REFERENCES:
http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html

[urbanfarmer]

Umm, I just checked the weather in Missouri and the high for the day isn't even above freezing. I'm not sure how warm basements stay (we don't have them here in Florida), but I assume since heat rises, not very warm. That's probably the problem!

[JCO]

Where do you live in Mo. Go to your profile and put in the city...there may be someone close to you.

[rfeiller]

i found that hydroton floats with the water level, constantly moving, i don't know how any seeds can germinate in it unless the level never changes. i start seeds in jiffy plugs in small net posts.

[PennyRC]

rfeiller,
Question, do you break apart the jiffy plugs and transplant just the plant with roots, or is it recommended to plant the plug and all?

If you plant the whole plug, does that cause any adverse affects within your system?

[rfeiller]

I bury the whole plug haven't realized any problems. I can also place the seedlings where I want them no spaces from where seeds didn't germinate.

[urbanfarmer]

I bury the whole plug haven't realized any problems. I can also place the seedlings where I want them no spaces from where seeds didn't germinate.

I usually do the same thing with no ill effects. I have a gravel grow bed with worms in it, and they tend to like the roots of my plants; so, the peat is often broken up and moved around by the worms eventually anyway. I have a floating raft with 2 types of lettuce, and for the most part it doesn't seem to affect the lettuce in any way. I don't have an NFT system. Maybe someone that does and tries this can chime in.