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Maltese Cross seedlings
Guernsey Donkey2
Posts: 6,713
in Plants
Anyone who has grown Maltese cross seedlings - mine in the cold greenhouse are now approx. 6 cm tall, perhaps a little taller. They have a good main stem, but I don't want them to become leggy. So do I pinch out the main stem so that the seedlings become more bushy? In fact do I pinch out all my seedlings when they become a certain height? Salvia are also becoming tall, and what about Honesty?
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Honesty needs to be in the garden, it's best sown where you want it to flower. I have grown them in pots and pricked out etc but they didn't like it. The variegated ones snuffed it.
Here Maltese cross dies back in winter, even in a cold GH most years, then grows again from the base so I should think pinching out would be a good plan.
what sort of salvias
In the sticks near Peterborough
I have never grown Maltese Cross before but they germinated very quickly and have shot up - so I will pinch them all out tomorrow.
I noticed that the Honesty in the garden has reseeded - coming up easily, so I wasted valuable space collecting seed and sowing them in the GH - I have learned for next year to let them do their own thing in the garden.
I think the salvia are called Hot Pink - it is too dark to go outside now to check on the label - I have never grown Salvia before - in fact I have got lots of exciting seeds from members on this Forum - so will have plenty of new plants next year.
I am still smarting from my Aquilegia seedling experience - having now moved them all to a sheltered outside position, I am watching them carefully, but may have to start afresh in January. Do you use heat when you sow them?
no heat on the aquilegias, no
Cold GH or coldframe, they germinate OK outdoors, it's what they do naturally.
Re the salvia, not one I know but I had a google and it looks like greggii or a hybrid of. Slightly less than fully hardy here, I wouldn't sow yet.
In the sticks near Peterborough
They were my seeds, hardy plants but sow the seeds in Spring. You can take cuttings thereafter in late summer. Mine are still flowering.
Ah Lyn, I couldn't remember who had sent the salvia to me, but they are growing really well, germination was almost 100% and they look really healthy too, I just hope they don't become too leggy before I am ready to plant them out. Gosh if yours are still flowering that is excellent, so I hope to have some flowers late on too.
I am just going to sort my seeds ready for sowing in the new year - so aqueligia will be one of my first of 2017. I am pleased that I can sow them in a cold GH nut, that will give me a chance to use the small propagator for some less hardy seeds.
I have a salvia self-seeded into a pot containing Euphorbia mellifera. It's in the cold GH so I'll see how it develops. No idea which one it is.
In the sticks near Peterborough
It will be a surprise nut if the seedlings survive the winter. I have now sown a few more aqueligia, but will sow more in January as you suggested. I am not sure what will happen to the aqueligia seedlings that have this whitish bloom on them - they are all on shelves outside now, but will they grow or shrivel up and die. Time will tell.
I also transplanted some large foxglove seedlings from cold GH to outside in the soil - their final growing situation, let's hope we don't have too cold a winter, just the occasional day here and there perhaps (if we must).
What do Euphorbia mellifera look like - I must google them.
E.mellifera ia beautiful but not quite hardy enough for some winters here. I had one in the garden for years but the year it went down to -14C was much too cold for it. They're very easy from seed and grow quickly. I have one in the garden and one in a pot now, in their second winter but last winter didn't happen.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I have just googled this Euphorbia nut - it looks interesting, it would look o.k. in the front garden here. We tend to plant evergreens in the front, there are camellias, holly, yew, lavender, heather and agapanthus which are threatening to take over as they self seed, oh and the Monkey Puzzle, pines & lime trees. It is easier than faffing around with annuals. -14C brrr I don't ever remember our temperature dropping that low, when it got to -7 our pipes (inside) burst, we just aren't geared up for such cold temperatures.