How to Choose Between Seeds and Starter Plants

Here’s a Hint, It’s You!

The Tropical Grower is covering How to Choose Between Seeds and Starter plants this week with tips on growing each type.  It seems like a natural progression.  After all, it is the final stage of your Spring Planting Plan.  Just as important as What you want to plant, is How it begins its life.  A young plant healthy and ready to grow has a better chance of success for most plants than a seed or seedling.  Those are just the facts.  

As long as it is healthy, starting with a plant in the ground fast forwards the process.  It can shave months off your harvest and is more likely to be successful with most plants.  However, some plants do not prefer to be moved once the seed has sprouted like sunflowers and pumpkins.  And some plants like sweet potatoes you don’t grow from seed at all, I’ve never heard of someone growing sweet potatoes from seeds.  Searching Google is useless as it thinks I want to know how to grow or buy sweet potatoes, no matter what I put in.  Thanks, Google, very helpful.  I’m sure there are some helpful articles out there somewhere.

Plant What Makes Sense for You

You kind of know you.  Are you the type of person who really wants to throw some Zinnia seeds in a pot out by the front door?  That is all one of my roommates in college dreamed about for Spring.  Or are you the type of person who is willing to buy rose gloves to mess with the finicky thorny things?  That would be me, and I can tell you right now with all the types of roses I grew in college, I’ve never grown a rose bush from seed.  Buying a rooted cutting works best with those.  Now, What makes the most sense with the type of plant You want to grow?  There is your starting point. 

For us, it depends entirely on the seed or type of plant.  We do both.  But that shouldn’t be a surprise, growers who propagate for fun tend to know what works best for what plants and them.  That knowledge comes by doing, and we like to plant stuff here. Some of it works, others not so much. I learn new things all the time, on purpose. So, if you’ve tried seeds a couple of times and wondered if you could ever grow anything ever (I’ve thought this), you can. Try a starter plant with an instruction card. Try a different plant. You may be making a common mistake. Seeds are always more difficult for me, which is probably why I’m thrilled every time one sprouts. Never underestimate the feeling of hard won triumph.

Seeds

The main reasons growers choose seeds is selection and price.  And Price. Commercial growers tend to offer a limited selection of starter plants most people can grow in a wide variety of climates.  That doesn’t necessarily mean it will grow well in yours or is the variety of plant you want at the time you want it.  Those come from specialty growers, if at all. However, Seeds specific for your zone, space, and tastes can usually be obtained easily for the same or lower price than 1 plant.  

So, you can grow 20 plants from seeds for the same price as growing one starter plant.  That is assuming you can get the 20 seeds to sprout and grow into plants. They usually include extra seeds because they know some of them won’t sprout. It’s just the nature of seeds. You shouldn’t worry unless none or only a few of them are sprouting. Count on maybe half, 10 seeds, making it into plants.

Don’t Let the Number of Seeds Confuse You

The number of seeds in a packet vary greatly depending on whether they are commercially grown, from a small grower, and/or the type of plant. They range from 100 to 10 seeds per packet regularly. Specialty plants, hard growers, and expensive plants will include less seeds. Common plants that produce tons of seeds and you plant more of, like lettuce, usually are on the high end, in the 100 to 200 range.

They also give you more seeds if their sprout rate is low. Some seed sellers will tell you the % of seeds that will sprout in the particular batch of seeds, especially if the number is high. So, if you’re dropping 1 or 2 seeds in the ground, those may be the ones that don’t sprout. The biggest negative with seeds is uncertainty.  You just don’t know whether those fragile little creatures will eventually make plants, and it takes longer.  Sometimes it feels like they will never get out of seedling stage.  

Planting Seeds

Make a hole, drop the seed, cover, and water.  It’s really that simple.  For wildflowers, I just sprinkle on top and work into the topsoil with my finger claw.  They will either sprout or they won’t.  There are things you can do to make your plants more successful, and you can avoid mistakes that will make them less successful.  You cannot, however, make them grow.  Come to terms with it.

Most seed packets come with planting instructions or a link to the planting instructions.  I will have to say I am not fond of the new trend to provide a link for instructions.  As a grower, the last thing I want to do is pull my phone out with my filthy hands while I’m in the middle of planting.  What a pain to clean them after every plant as I’m working my way through the yard.  However, since every seed has a depth and spacing requirement, you can immediately make your seeds more successful by following the instructions.  Imagine that.

Use the Tips Given

Planting seeds at the proper depth makes them not only more likely to sprout but also more likely to grow strong.  For instance, our corn seeds like to be planted at a ½ inch depth.  Planting them deeper will keep them from germinating (sprouting) and the mound will be bare.  Plant them shallower with less than ½ inch soil on top, the roots don’t take a strong hold in the soil, and they fall over. The stalks are also thin and spindly.  You have to keep adding compost to the mound and hope they make it to harvest. If they fall over too early for us, they are toast. Yup, I’ve made every mistake possible with corn.

Following the planting instructions for spacing assures plants have enough room to grow to their full mature size.  I mess this one up all the time. You don’t want to keep your Tomatillos from growing because you decided to place a big Cauliflower behind them. LOL! Did you see the pic? Who knew the Cauliflower would get that big.  Those instructions should always be your starting point. If you’re Growing Tropical, you have to account for weird, wild, tropical growth sometimes. Watch your Brassicas, they get crazy.

Germination

Seed instructions also include a category called germination.  This is the amount of time a seed, once warm and wet, normally takes to sprout.  You should always check your plant for specific instructions.  Tough seeds and cold weather germinators can require additional steps, and if you don’t follow them, the chances of your seeds sprouting is very low.  There are also varieties that sprout like crazy like radishes, all the Brassicas such as broccoli and cabbage, and beans.  

I always recommend people start with easy sprouters as beginners and work their way into the more difficult grows when working with seeds.  There is nothing more demotivating than planting a bunch of seeds and still having a brown yard.  If you’re wondering whether they will ever come up, usually you can call a ‘No Sprout’ at a week or two over the germination date.  Yup, start over and figure out what went wrong.  I once planted pumpkin seeds for a month before I figured out I was feeding a squirrel.       

Big Seeds

Melons, Pumpkin, Cucumber, Squash, Peas, and Beans all have big seeds.  We have lots of luck direct-planting these into pots and beds.  They are planted a little deeper, are heavier, the seed leaves come out big and ready to grow, and they’re less likely to get lost.  The trick is to open or nick the seed.  I use a small pair of needle nose pliers to open or nick depending on the seed.  

With a tiny amount of pressure right on the seam, the line where the seed will open, you can crack the smaller tip open of cucumber, squash, pumpkin and melon without splitting the seed.  These are the flat seeds.  I’m not going to lie, it takes some practice, but once you get your first one right, you only occasionally mess up and ruin the seed.

The rounder, plumper, seeds like watermelon and bean, work better with a little nick in the outer shell.  They don’t crack easily and are more likely to break apart. I tend to make a little nick with the pliers or a small pair of wire cutters in the tip before planting, but most of the beans are ready to go nick or not. I’m just making sure.

Cold Weather and Tough Seeds

Some seeds like Lavender, Sage, and Comfrey have super hard shells and may need a cold period to germinate.  The seeds are a little bigger, but they don’t reach the size of the big seeds.  While you can generally germinate them for extended periods, up to a month, it’s easier to nick or cold treat them.  My Comfrey seeds came with specific instructions to soak them for 48 hours in the fridge before planting them.  It worked beautifully.  Direct germination, not so much.  

The problem with nicking these is getting a good hold on them.  It’s difficult to hold the small rounded things and get even the small wire nippers to make a cut.  The better option is to file a soft spot, but again, getting a hold on these things is difficult and you should expect to file your fingers a little.

Cold Treatments and Forcing Seeds

The basic recipe for cold treating seed is: 1.  Soak for 24 hours in warm, not hot, water; 2. Scratch or nick; and 3. Chill in damp sand.  How long you leave it in the fridge depends on the seed.  They all have different requirements. Check the instructions. Then, plant.

Forcing the Seeds works under the same principle except you skip the cold.  Place some seeds on a damp paper towel inside an open plastic bag and expose to light.  Keep the paper towel moist, not soaking, and if you have viable seeds, they will sprout according to their germination requirement and can be planted.  You can also test your seed packets with this method to see if your seeds are still alive.           

Small Seeds        

I’m not going to lie, I have a problem with failure to sprout small seeds and/or the newly sprouted small seeds immediately dying.  You would think being a grower I would have gotten past it, but indeed, I’ve had issues with small seeds most of my life.  While I can direct-plant big seeds without any problems at this point, the little ones, which is most of them, are not a snap for me.  Some of the reasons are very common mistakes.

Common Mistakes

Lifespan

Seeds have a lifespan.  They are most sproutable the 1st season after they fall (or are hopefully collected) from the plant.  So, if you buy a package of 100 seeds and are only going to plant 10, the number of remaining seeds that will still be viable the next season goes down and keeps going down until none of them will sprout.  Depending on how long they’ve been in the seed packet, they might all be dead the next season.  

Storage

Seeds need to be stored in a cool, dry, dark place.  If you leave your seed packets out on the sunny lanai, they probably will not sprout the next season.  I like a good toast on my seeds and nuts especially with pecan sandies, but it kills them.  They are no longer living and able to sprout.  They’ve been cooked.

Moisture is also bad for stored seeds.  They will be happy to rot, mold, or grow some fungus if you get the seed packets wet.  I washed the last of my cantaloupe seeds just the other day in a pair of shorts.  Oops!  Storing them in airtight containers or zip-loc bags away from heat will help keep them viable longer. Remember, heat and moisture wake up seeds. You don’t want that happening in the packets.

Floating

Little seeds float or are moved easily with water.  If they only like to be covered with ¼ inch of soil, it’s a super small amount to keep them in place.  I find compost, minus the chunky stuff, works best for us.  While many growers use a non-soil mix of straight sand, fine bark, perlite, vermiculite, and/or peat moss on top of their soil to keep seeds where they plant them, it doesn’t work well in our tropical zone.  It tends to bake them and or soak them.  Even in the nursery, if I have too much peat, it dries out the seedlings, and I’m watering constantly.    

In weather below 60 degrees, I can see where a non-soil mix would be very helpful.  In 80 and 90 degree weather, sand heats up and none of these mediums hold moisture while baking in the sun.  They cook the seeds and dry-out the seedlings.  It’s like putting the little things in the oven.  If you’re not Growing Tropical, my understanding is most growers have their own mix.  The idea is to give them a moist, not wet, median to warm them up.  The roots reach down past the non-soil mix to plant in the soil underneath.  

Planting Small Seeds

I start with a flat surface, use a little poker stick to rough up the surface, drop the seeds in the cracks, pat down, and water carefully, but fully.  The standard is to drop the seed on the surface, cover with ¼ inch of non-soil mix or soil, pat down firmly, and water.  Some growers mix their small seeds with non-soil mix and sprinkle over the surface.  While it doesn’t work for us, it is a tried and true method for growers in cooler climates.  I have had some luck with carrots, beats, and radishes sprouting in Black Sand, a compost and sand mix. While they do float a little, most of them stayed in their planting holes, I had to move the seedling around a bit to center.    

Starter Plants

Or, you can skip the seeds and just start with plants.  I usually recommend this for beginner growers or growers who have very limited time, because I want people to be successful and enjoy their green.  In one day, you can pick up a row of yellow flowers for your walk and drop them in the ground.  A pretty walk without a full turn and till of the area, spending weeks coxing the seedlings into plants, and possibly replanting.  Your chances of having something pretty and green this season go way up.  It will also cost you more. That is usually the case with growing, spending more saves you time.

Starter Plants Come in Many Forms

Starter plants don’t just include the potted variety you purchase from a grower.  Bulbs, slips, and sets are also starter plants.  Bare roots, also starter plants.  Anytime you start with something that is ready to send out leaves or bud stalks instead of seed leaves, it is a starter plant.

You can buy or start your own plants from seeds or cuttings.  Growing Tropical, I’ve had little success with dropping small seeds into the ground outside, and I thought I was incapable for a long time.  Starting my seeds inside has made a world of difference.  While I still mostly drop starter plants in the ground, I grow them from seed in the nursery or cutting from the yard.

Buying Starter Plants

Buy Healthy

Buy healthy plants. Look for the ones that look and feel the strongest. They shouldn’t be droopy, have spots, yellowing or lots of dead leaves. You want many new buds and new growth, not pretty flowers. Hear me out. Why buy something at the end of its growing season. Don’t you want to own it for the entire bloom, not give half of it away to look good in the store window. Just saying. Look for bugs and weeds. If I see bugs, I run the other way. Weeds I pick out in the parking lot before they are loaded in the Jeep.

Check Your Zones

Check your Zones. I have always had lots of luck at local growers and the big box stores finding our difficult Zone 10 plants, but I was very disappointed last week when My Mom and stopped by Lowes to pick-up some natural cypress mulch. We love walking the garden area looking at plants, but we were seeing some weird stuff. Rose bushes in particular.

Miniature rose varieties grow great here, everything else, not so much. I know. If there was a way to grow roses, I would. They like a cold dormant period. I checked the tags to find Zone 7 rose bushes in our Zone 10 garden department. What? I kept checking tags. Sure enough, there were Zone 7, 8, and 9 plants everywhere. I don’t know who took over ordering plants, but they had no idea what they were doing. Way to lose a bunch of customers, selling them plants that will die, have little hope of living. I’m not saying you can’t grow them, but you have to replicate the environment they thrive in naturally. Good luck with a Zone 7 in Zone 10. It is possible, requiring icing for a period through the winter.

Check your tags, the growing instructions. Don’t fight an uphill battle keeping your plants alive in the wrong climate for it. There is probably something similar that likes your Zone. Don’t be afraid to walk away empty handed. Ordering online is easy, and I’ve had lots of luck with plants in the mail. It has actually opened up getting plants from small growers everywhere.

Growing Your Own Starter Plants

Inside Nursery

Tropical climates are harsh on seedlings, unless they are weeds, vines, or crazy tropical growers.  Moving my sprouting seeds inside to a nursery was a game changer for me as a grower, and I constantly have seedlings sprouting in my everyday line of sight.  There’s a joy, in and of itself.  I use a simple grow light and an old aquarium, but really you only need the light, space to set your pots, and something to catch the water.  They grow there until they are ready to set in Our Garden. I grow both starter plants and plugs, which are more, smaller plants, grown together and meant to be planted younger.

Because it’s inside and I walk by it all the time, I’m more likely to remember to water them as I’m watching for sprouts.  It’s every couple of days as my pots are small, so that’s important.  Knowing yourself and what you’re most likely to do when you’re really tired is helpful to being a successful grower.  Chuckling, here.  In the beginning, I had a week where I forgot to water everything, and I had dry soil bricks with the organic mix I used to plant.  Not even the broccoli seeds sprouted.     

Yard Nursery, Cuttings

If you have luck with your seedlings outside, you can and should start a nursery area to grow your own starter plants.  A nursery is simply a shady, sheltered area. It is exactly like dropping seeds in a pot because that is all you are doing, sowing seeds in starter pots or plug holes.  You grow the seedlings in a sheltered area away from the worst of the weather, and as soon as they are big enough, they go directly into the ground.  Our nursery area has these little starter pot racks to hold everything spaced.   

We especially use the nursery area to propagate, make babies, with cuttings.  Some plants can be easily reproduced from a cutting.  I took cuttings of all the healthy tomato plants around Our Garden in Feb.  They have been growing in the nursery and are way overdue for planting.  Basil, rosemary and lavender are all plants easily replicated from a cutting.  You can even take a cutting from your beloved Basil plant, grow it indoors all winter and replant it in the Spring.  The only risk is having a relative come cook for you, they might use the whole plant in the sauce.  LOL!

Planting Starter Pots

Dig a hole where you are dropping your potted plant.  I like a hole several inches deeper and wider than my plant’s current pot.  Hopefully, you’ve prepped your planting area for Spring: How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring, and you’re ready to go.  If you haven’t, you’ll need to add some compost and possibly fertilizer to your hole area and mix well. Then, dig your hole with the loose dirt positioned around it.  

Use a shovel or knife to separate the pot from the dirt and roots around the plant.  It should be done around the inside of the pot and not next to the stem.  Invert your pot with your hand over the opening, and your plant with all its dirt intact should fall into your hand. If not, check the roots going through the bottom and/or separate the soil from the pot again.

Once out, break up the dirt and roots a little, very gently, and place the entire plant, dirt and all, in the hole.  Position the top of the pot soil a little higher than ground level so the plant sits on a little mound. Use some extra dirt if you’ve dug your hole too deep.  Push the loose dirt into the plant to backfill and pack the dirt until you have a firm, well formed mound around your plant.  Add more compost if necessary. Mulch and water.  

Bulbs, Rhizomes, Slips & Sets

Bulbs, Rhizomes, Slips & Sets are all starter plants.  If you want ready to grow plants, Bulbs are basically an entire plant stored.  They have everything they need within the bulb to produce flowers and leaves.  If the growing season previous has been productive, bulbs usually produce their flower right out of dormancy.  Then, leaves to amp up for the next flowering season.  

Rhizomes, which I like to call rootballs, are a combo of underground roots and stems.  They look like a crazy octopus party went wrong and often have a flatten disk that looks like it used to be a ball shape. These can dry out when they’re dormant and are often sold as dry-root for planting.  Palms are pretty notorious for being rhizomes as were the bare root Daylilies I planted this year for Spring.  I can’t wait for those new babies to bloom.

Slips are vines that have rooted.  Sweet Potatoes grow best from slips.  You can buy rooted slips or grow your own from a sweet potato soaking in damp sand.   Onion sets are simply baby onions either grown from seed or divided from larger onions and dried to dormancy.  Learning the names of the different starter plants is often more difficult than simply dropping them in the ground, but if you get the right starter plant, your success rate goes way up.  

Planting Starter Plants, Bulbs and Such

Planting Tip #1, Check the Planting Instructions.  Every plant has their preferences.  The rule of thumb for bulbs is plant in a hole double their height, meaning a 2 inch bulb should be planted in a 4 inch hole.  Unless you are Growing Tropical.  Bulbs grow better in the tropics if the tip of the bulb is exposed and covered with mulch.  Dropping them underground will generally rot them in our experience. Forgetting the mulch can bake them if you have a very sandy topsoil. Check out How to Repot Amaryllis Bulbs for more tips on planting bulbs in pots.

Both Rhizomes and Slips should have the roots covered with the stems sticking out.  Rhizomes have a Top of Soil level.  Take a good look at it.  You can see where the green stuff on top meets the roots and stems below.  That should be your ground or top of mound level.  

Slips usually have water roots.  You want these roots under the ground.  The vine may have roots at several joints, you just need to bury one set of roots, remove the rest.  If the Slips don’t have roots, plant them with at least one vine joint below the ground.  Joints with new growth leaves are best.  Remember to remove any leaves below ground level and wait for the root to form, if at all. Or, you can stick them in a vase of water and wait for some water roots. The important thing is to get the vine stem stabilized with the roots or where you want roots buried.   

Choose How to Plant Based on You

Are you still totally confused on what you need?  Ask yourself 3 Questions.  What do I want to do?  What can I afford to do?  How much Time to do I have?  These will give you a really good idea about How you are going to plant for Spring.  Remember, you may not have time to redo the front beds by the door, but you might have an hour to throw some dirt and seeds in a pot to put out there.  Get out and plant something.  It’s Spring! There’s joy to be had there.