Forum home› Plants
This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.

Tagetes tenuifolia: cold frame after pricking out?

jacquelineweadenZO-W_3SDjacquelineweadenZO-W_3SD Posts: 5
in Plants
Hello,  is a cold frame too cold for tagetes, after I prick them out and pot them on?

All the packets say start in 20+ degrees, then 'gradually harden off'. 

Is that a cooler room indoors, or can they tolerate a cold frame by the house wall?

Thanks
Jakki
«1

Posts

  • SueAtooSueAtoo Posts: 380
    From indoors to outdoors even in a cold frame seems too big a step. I'd suggest a cool room for a week or two then a cold frame if the weather warms up a bit.
    East Dorset, new (to me) rather neglected garden.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    I doubt they'd manage. Too early, especially if just pricked out. They need to be growing well, and then gradually hardened off depending on the weather. Most tagetes are half hardy or hardy annuals, so won't tolerate frosts. 
    Unless you aren't in the UK but are somewhere warm?
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Way too early.
    I don’t even sow until April, to plant out when the frosts have finished.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • jacquelineweadenZO-W_3SDjacquelineweadenZO-W_3SD Posts: 5
    Thanks very much! Both your comments have been really helpful.  Indoors, cooler spot it is!🙌
  • jacquelineweadenZO-W_3SDjacquelineweadenZO-W_3SD Posts: 5
    I sowed them in Jan on our RHS course, in heated greenhouse, but we didn't pot them on in our cohort. Can't remember why now.  Maybe they didn't make it! 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    If you sow anything very early, with heat, you have to carry on doing that - ie keeping them in enough warmth, until it's warm enough to start acclimatising them for outdoor living. That can be months. 
    I'm the same as @punkdoc - nothing like that will be getting sown until the end of the month at least.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • jacquelineweadenZO-W_3SDjacquelineweadenZO-W_3SD Posts: 5
    Fairygirl said:
    If you sow anything very early, with heat, you have to carry on doing that - ie keeping them in enough warmth, until it's warm enough to start acclimatising them for outdoor living. That can be months. 
    I'm the same as @punkdoc - nothing like that will be getting sown until the end of the month at least.  :)


    I will def be following in your footsteps from now on!  thank you!

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    It's a common problem - there are always lots of threads at this time of year, and earlier, about seed sowing. It isn't germinating a plant seed that's the tricky bit, it's what happens afterwards. You need to be able to continue the process for those seedlings once they're potted on.  :)
    Light is also a factor for many plants when sowing, which lots of people forget. The further north you are, the less daylight there is in the first couple of months of the year, so there's nothing to gain by sowing too early.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    You can use the cold frame to harden them off starting a few weeks before when you expect the last frost to be (late May here, possibly earlier for you if you're further south or on the coast), closing it down at night to begin with and covering with fleece or newspaper or cardboard or old curtains etc if there's frost forecast.
    Like the others have said, it's best to avoid sowing too early if like me you don't have a greenhouse, or have one but don't heat it (expensive these days). I've just sown a few chillies because they do need a long season but I won't be doing any more of the tender stuff until April, and the things that get big very fast (cucumbers, courgettes, ipomea) will be sown even later. I've only got one suitable windowsill indoors and an old table that I stand in front of it with a foil-lined reflector box and some growlights, so I have to be choosy about what I can start early.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I sowed some outside in a pot in early May. I also managed to get away with leaving them outside. They were fine if a little late, this may have been an advantage as they flowered into October. Starting too soon is a waste of time and energy far better waiting for warmer weather to do the job naturally. Results will be much better.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
Sign In or Register to comment.