it's rough b eing a noob

15 years ago

So I've been reading here awhile and decided to try Byron's tea method and start bell peppers and tomatoes.

Get the cammamoile tea; go to the big box and get some ferry morris seeds. Peppers, tomatoes, celery and peas. Then I can't figure out whether to use the little green house with the hockey pucks or the little brown pots so I get both.

I'm feeling pretty confident at this point with all the knowledge I've soaked up.

I make the tea. Put a paper towel on a plate and make 4 little seed piles. Then pour the tea.

OMG!!!! My itty bitty celery seeds are floating away and my tomatoes are attacking my peeper seeds!

Put a paper towel on top also then continue pouring. Minor setback. Put plate on top shelf of fridge for overnight. Woke up this morning to seeds frozen in an icy paper towel. UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Microwave! That should work. It works on ice cream. Soak the hockey pucks in a weak tea solution (the first throwaway cup mixed in a gallon) and insert pea seeds that need to be A 1 1 1/2 DEEP! Put peas at the bottom of the soaked pucks. I just put 1 pea in each one because the instructions that say to do 3 and throw away 2 later seems wasteful.

Now the little cups. More peas, fill to the top. The rest only need to be buried a 1/8-1/4" Salvage a few peppers and tomatoes but use straight from the pack for more plus the celery which was not salvageable.

You can't pick up small seeds from a wet paper towel and the bigger ones stick to your fingers.

So fill cups with soil, place seeds top off cup with soil. More weak tea.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Soil seems to expand instead of contracting. Liitle white stuff from soil or maybe it's seeds are now floating all over the bottom of the 5 gallon buckets I put the cups in.

Throw more tea into bucket. Cups will soak them up. Yeah makes sense. Carry them into spare bedroom before the cats find them. 3 buckets at once. Set them down. Soil cups that aren't packed tightly have now spilled.

(insert emabarrased whimpering smilie here)

Hopefully something grows.

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Comments (8)

loufloralcityz9
15 years ago
I'm totally lost... I hope somebody finds me!

I plant my seeds in the dirt then go inside and drink my tea.
So far it has worked every time(when I was sure I hadn't planted any seeds up-side-down)

Lou
gardengimp
15 years ago
OMG - I laughed until I cried - I so very much resemble your story; well except the microwave part! I've settled on Byron's tea in a spray bottle AFTER I've got the dry seed where I want it.

And yeah, I need to tackle those itsy bitsy I can't see them even with my tri-focal seeds again this week; grr if they weren't so expensive I'd be less worried about too many in one planter; hmmm? On the bright side; they do divide pretty readily as little seedlings; just carefully tease out the soil and separate them by gingerly holding on the baby leafs. Not the speediest of methods; but I've got oodles of time.

And I'm looking forward to more of your stories!

~dianne

Oh, and Lou - after you brew your tea; toss the tea bags in a container with some water. Periodically pour the water off into a baby seedling fertilizer container. Then compost the remaining tea bag. It's suppose to be nirvana for baby seeds. Mine aren't saying anything about it yet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Byron's World Famous Tea Recipe
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whgille
15 years ago
Hi stoneeater

Welcome to the forum! My advice to you would be to keep it as simple as you can possible can. You are probably doing more harm than good with all the seeds taking a bath!

I am with Lou, lost,lol

Silvia
amberroses
15 years ago
I agree you shouldn't make this too complicated. Your story made my brain hurt trying to figure it out. Plant seeds in a seed growing medium, either in the dirt outside or in seed starting mix inside. Water. Wait. Then you have a seedling.
loufloralcityz9
15 years ago
I don't know what planet Byron comes from but around my neck of the woods mother nature just shakes the seeds off the plant with the wind and lets the seeds fall to the ground, then she pees on them with the rain, and shines on them with sunlight.
Guess what?? That old way still works here, down on the farm, and I relax, pet my cat, and drink my tea(before the dang tea freezes).

Lou
stoneeater
Original Author
15 years ago
I was trying to keep it simple. Used that "Jiffy" prebagged starting medium, premade peat pots, etc... Just didn't forsee so many complications. :)
Too cold to start outside here yet but the local paper said to start peppers and tomatoes inside to be ready by march. Still got some weak tea left for anything that decides to show up. Supposed to be a couple days of near freezing weather then I get to transplant cauliflower seedlings. Yeah!!!
deannac
15 years ago
Stoneater: BEST story I've heard all week! (we may be related...your story sounds like my life, lol)

Should have been there the time I tried Teff for bread...OMGosh, you know how dough rises? this stuff was like the dough that ate Orlando! It rose alright, over the side of the 2 gallon bread bowl, down the sides of the rack, covered the toaster oven and was trying to escape through the drain (which it found after covering a good 3 feet of counter space)...I found my phone in it as well...dang.
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9/10
15 years ago
Seems like those (hilarious) problems might've been avoided by careful & thorough reading of that thread. &, FWIW, Byron(another GW veteran from way back) is located in New Hampshire & works in large volume. I'm guessing he's had more problem's w/ damping off than we would down here, where we can get seedlings outside sooner.

& w/ apologies for pointing out the obvious, but you can simply wet the planting medium w/ the tea - before or after planting the seeds. Another trick I've used in the past is to sprinkle ground cinnamon over the surface after planting.

I just do not bother w/ any of those 'tricks' anymore, tho - Jiffy seed starting mix works great for me & my small garden & I get my seedlings outside ASAP.