super ....

i hope you will cull with a passion ....

did you fert them during the process???

is there an older post.. with a little more of the background story ....

are they known crosses???

i would sum it up with a bit more enthusiasm... rather than summing it up by saying 'not bad' ....

ken

Fun, isn't it? Hope you get something that really jumps out at you.

Wow!..so in your climate you start them outside?..that would be great..I'm jealous..

I fertilized with weak tomato fertilizer in the early stage. Fertilized some more once they moved outside in mid-spring. I've probably not fertilized as much as I could have.

I started them under lights in the winter. Some were seeds I collected from the yard. Most are from inexpensive seeds I bought mainly as an experiment to learn how to grow them before I buy more expensive seeds.

Learned a lot. I've now bought a few streaked plants and hope I can start doing purposeful crosses next summer. I plan to buy some more specialty seeds this year now that I have some idea how to grow them.

I've got enough space to plant most of these out to give them some time to develop. I'm still figuring out my criteria for culling plants.

your zone's so much warmer than mine I was just guessing that you could start them outside..I've only spread seed outside..I've never started seeds inside..hope you have some special ones..

i had 3 one gallon milk jugs ... and i put just enough fert to be able to see the color ... and used it for EVERY WATERING .... most of my plants outgrew the 16 oz solo cups .... 3 so i could use room temp water ....

culling ..... last pic above .... i would cull every single green one ... they are already showing their traits.. and i dont see any traits worth saving .. if they are to have a wavy edge.. you would see a small wave ... same with a small pucker.. etc ....

part of your problem.. and mine back in the day.. i did not do crosses ... which have genetic goals ... so it was impossible to get rid of things.. that did not further your goal ...

the other problem... if you dont cull ... is that since you succeeded wildly .... so you have 200 this year.. what if you get 200 next year ... and the next year ... etc ... what are you going to do with 1000 plants in 5 years???? mostly all green and uninspiring ...

the moral of that story will be.. sooner or later.. you will get rid of them.. why not suck it up.. and do it now ... i didnt with my first batch ... lol ... do what i say.. not what i did ... lol ...

the cups can be bleached out and reused ... and if you ever want to keep track of parentage.. you can write on the sides with sharpie .... i would not reuse the media ... and i would bare root all of them ....

at a minimum.. try to get rid of half of them.. if you can ...

i would also get them planted in early fall .. dont know where you are.. but if your a vol.. i presume you are more temperate than i am ... but in my MI ... in ground freeze areas .....

i would be concerned with winter heave ... if planted too late .... and the soil doesnt settle enough to keep them in the ground ....

keep us posted on how culling goes .... its ok.. if you cant do it ... neither could i the first time ...

great job ... ken

Nice!! Looks like you've got some keepers there... I bet it's been a challenge keeping up with the watering this summer!

Deanna

The work and care you've put into growing these seedlings really shows. What a great result to have so many. I hope you get something really special, many of them!

Those are amazing! I love your setup too---trays and tables under some shade. Looks like a lot of work, but it holds promise!

My zone and location used to display - looks like I'll have to edit it back in there with these new "House" changes. I'm on the border between Z 7b and 8a in Upstate SC. I could probably keep them in pots over the winter but I'm trying to free up pots for other projects. It won't be long until it's time to start a new batch with better seeds this winter.

I don't know enough to know what to cull yet. I have the space to let these grow for at least a year, which should give me a better idea of which ones to cull. I actually like some of the green ones when mixed in with other colors and other plants. I also figure I can give away most of the extras, at least until people start running away when they see me with a plant in my hand.

I need to keep fertilizing when I do water but we have had an unusually wet summer and I've only watered once since early June. Keeping the soil from being too damp has actually been a bit of a problem - I moved all of these out of the trays without holes a few weeks ago to let the soil drain better.

I am working on planting out some of them - put about 50 Heuchera and 50 Hostas into a new planting bed over the weekend. I'm planting them pretty close together, which should allow me to get pretty much all of them into that large bed.

The planting benches are made from 2x4s for framing and recycled decking boards from rebuilding our backyard deck so the cost involved was minimal. I actually think I may have them in a bit too much shade for optimal growth.

Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions.

Great work, interesting to see it develop. Mine have been kept pretty wet. With all the rain we've been getting they can sit in an inch of water for a day or two before I get around to draining them (and the rain stops). I can see culling being a real problem, and experience being a great teacher. I only have a few, so I'm keeping most of them. I started segregating them into (would be) culls and keeps (for now) to see how well I'm doing. Well, some of the culls are starting to look interesting and some of the keeps are not - so live and learn. I did manage to cull another 15 and now I'm left with these. These are to be culled:

These were to be culled, but now look more interesting to me. (Except the two in the back, blue cups. Those were always keeps).

And these were the keepers along with the two above plus the streakers (but who wants to see those).

be careful its addicting!

it may even become a lifelong project, invade your living quarters, change your world view thru the eye of genetics and climate.

I'm nearly ready to retire, so I think I'm ready, lol.

I wish I'd started doing this years ago. It was a lot of fun last winter and I'm looking forward to starting again this fall.