2024 IHF Field Notes

Sown 4/7
Germination 4/11 (4 days)

Germination counts
4/11, 7am: 2
4/11, 2pm: 7
4/12, 8am: 24
4/12, 3pm: 38
4/12, 6pm: 44
4/13, 9am: 58
4/14, 8am: 72
4/16, 9am: 72

4/21 -- This may be another case of year-old seeds letting me down a little bit. I had a LOT of these left over after last year, so I decided to use them instead of ordering more. 72 germinated out of 200 - that's a pretty abmismal germination rate. About 60 of them are looking like good pot-up candidates at this point, which would be enough for two beds worth, so really all good despite the lower numbers. I planted them in the Johnny's germination mix, which they should have liked, and I've done them before, so I know how to sow them, so I don't think there's anything else to it other than the fact that these seeds probably weren't super viable an additional year out.

4/28 -- Potted up the initial run into a 50 cell tray, with a few smaller overflow seedlings ending up sharing a tray with some tomatoes. Also decided on the 21st to throw the remainder of the seeds I had left from last year (138 of them) into a new 20 using some MG seed starting mix, just to see what happens. And so far - they're germinating decently.

5/11 -- 20 of the 50 transplants didn't make it, which rather matches previous years experience with these. They're very finicky! The remaining 30 look fine and will fill a bed, so it's fine, but would be nice to figure out why this happens every year.