Seed starting

With summer's end approaching I will be starting to grow lettuce in the greenhouse. To lessen the chance of bolting I have selected only seeds that can tolerate some degree of heat.

We just received some seed I have been trying to get for some time, Mignonette Bronze. The description reads as follows:

Mignonette Bronze
60 days. Excellent for hot and tropical weather, slow to bolt, frilled leaves, bronze-green heads. A superb type for the hot parts of the country, this heirloom was introduced in 1898.

To start the seeds I place them moist paper towels until the seed coat splits and the radicle emerges. At that point, I use a chop stick to make small holes in Oasis Horticubes, and using tweezers I gently place the seedling in the hole and "tuck it in" to develop.

As you can see by the photo I plant more than one seedling in each cube. When the second set of true leaves develop I cut them apart with a razor knife and plant them in the ebb and flow systems.

I thought I would give the Sure To Grow cubes one last try and planted six Green Ice lettuce seeds in them. They are in the six cubes on the bottom, and I took the photo just before I pitched them in the trash. My batting average with these cubes is 100%, that is 100% failures. So far I have not managed to grow a single plant in these cubes.

The only two cucumber seeds that managed to emerge from the Sure To Grow cubes perished after they were planted in the AutoPots. They appear to have dried out due to the coco coir and perlite drawing the moisture out of them, however the seeds planted in rockwool are well on their way.

Although the Sure To Grow folks claim to have two or three hundred happy growers using their product, there does not seem to be testimonials online to verify that claim. When the trash collector leaves on Monday he will be taking the Sure To Grow samples with him to the land fill.