Propogator and Germination

I bought myself a propogator with a heated base and planted some Geraniums. After a few days I had a whole bunch of seedings pop up, couple of leaves each and they stood at maybe 1.5/2cm tall.

I read somewhere that after germination (which I take to mean 1.5/2cm tall with 2 leaves) I was to take them out of that container and into a bigger container and leave indoors for a few weeks to "harden up" before putting them elsewere.

I did this yesterday, today a lot of the seedlings have tipped over and look a bit sorry for themselves. Have I moved them too early, at what point should I remove them from the propogator (its garland windowsill heated propogator should that make any difference)

 

Sounds more like not enough light.
They went leggy, too warm.
At this time of the year, and it is a bit late for Pelargoniums, which I think you mean, a propagator is not really required.

Also they would have been in a humid environment, you need to acclimatise them slowly to normal conditions.

So, slowly giving them more air and lower temperatures, then moving them on to bigger pots.

 

Hi Pete,

My bad, they were Marigolds, not Geraniums They were at a (mainly) North facing window and got fair amount of light but no real direct sunlight (so just natural daylight), the manufacturerof the propogator said that with the high temps during the day at the mo to leave the heating elements off during the day on on during the night (i did that but it was on solidly for 3 days before I did)

Yes they did go a bit leggy, but i am not sure how to prevent that.

When i had the vents closed on the propogator a lot of condensation built up (which i wiped away), i had the vents open for a few days too before moving them. Would I have been better off just taking the plastic cover off the tray and leaving them on the propogator for a few more days?

Looking at the packet it does say sow in April/My so yeah I guess a little late to the party.

 

Yeah, I think more light is the main thing you need to adress.
No artificial heat is required at this time of the year, not even at night, for these kind of plants.

A combination of poor light and heat along with humidity just makes plants grow too fast and too soft.
So lower temp. more light and less humidity.

Pretty much outdoors now, but do it slowly and in stages over a couple of weeks.

 

Thanks again, OK, ill move them to where there is more light and turn the heating element off for the time being to see if that makes any difference on the other things that i had in the propogator.

 

Just as a thought, do you know what temperature the propagator is running at.

 

the documentation says it is designed to "boost the ambient temperature by 8 degrees C"

 

I Hope it never gets in direct sunlight as that would cook most of the stuff inside.
So, 8C, if its in your house, probably 20-23C at the moment??

So its probably running at 30C plus most of the time or more.

Its too hot for anything other than germination alone on maybe a few tropicals and probably too high for most things.

 

it was in direct sunlight for half a day (if that), now it is on a windowsill that is north facing, so gets daylight, but not direct sunlight. The reason I went with a propogator in the first place is that I could get nothing to even sprout so wanted to give it a boost. I am happy to replant them out of the propogator as soon as i see green

I planted a few things (all late becuase of reasons I wont go into here) and the marigold flew up in a few days (albeit leggy).

I am not sure of the temp at the location they are at as i dont have a thermometer (perhaps I should purchase one)

Should propogators just be used in the winter then?

 

Well I use mine, which is in the greenhouse, mostly late summer through autumn for rooting cuttings and then its off till about Feb when I start seed sowing, my main seed sowing is in Mar-April time.
You can do it too early if you dont have heated places with good light to grow on after germination.
They are useful things to have, but probably not so much at this time of the year.

 

OK, ill see how it goes. I am in a flat so only a couple balconies and then windowsills