Of late, growing plants in my balcony is a hobby I have picked up. Growing plants from seeds, and watch them bear fruits and flowers is immensely rewarding.
Learning to grow plants is one of the earliest skills acquired in our process of becoming the tribe we are now. We have come a long way since, and have honed our skills to grow plants. Starting with this post, I want to share my journey in learning to grow plants.
Sprouting seeds was my first step, I could have to chosen to buy saplings instead.
Items needed:
- Seeds
- Seed tray
- Coir Pith
We can also sprout seeds by simply putting the seeds in a glass of water. But from my experience, some seeds do not sprout at all, and some die young as saplings. Few remain healthy and grow into fruit bearing plants.
To increase our chances, we are looking for something repeatable, and something optimal for seed growth.Hence the decision to pick up a seed tray, and a growing medium like Coir Pith.
Step 1: Procure Seeds
Seeds can be purchased from local shops. Look for shops selling flower pots and gardening items, they usually have seeds on sale. We can also buy seeds online on Amazon( usually at a higher price than the local store, at the convenience of your chair)
I bought Long pea(പയര്‍) seeds since I knew they sprouted easily. Tomato seeds are also easy to sprout, and they also grow quickly. If flowers are your thing, pick some flower seeds too. There is no harm in buying multiple seeds, even if you don’t plan on planting them, since they last for months.
Step 2: Procure growing medium - Seed tray and Coir Pith
I used a plastic seed tray :
We can easily wash this and re-use for the next batch of seeds. It usually comes as a square grid, but can be cut into smaller rectangular grids.
I have cut it to fit on my window that get most sunlight. Look for balconies or windows that get longest direct sunlight.
Coir Pith is an excellent soil conditioner and is being extensively used as a soil-less medium for agricultural purposes. Read more on Coir board’s page.
In my opinion, the best thing about Coco Pith for growing seeds is it’s ability to retain moisture. This means we don’t have to water the seeds frequently.
Coir Pith will be available at your local gardening shop and on amazon. You can get a 1 kg block for roughly INR 100, which should last your for a while.
Step 3: Prepare growing medium.
Read instructions on the Coir Pith packet. Packaged Coir Pith is usually mixed with water in 1:5 volume just before using it.
Fill this Coir Pith mixture in your seed tray. Give Coir Pith a good press into the hole.Since Coir Pith expands on absorbing water, we want to make sure the hole is filled with enough Coir Pith for the roots to develop.
Poke your little finger into the filled Coir Pith to make a small hole to put your seeds in.
Step 4: Plant seeds and wait!
We can now press the seeds into the holes in Coir Pith gently. Don’t burry the seeds deep into the hole. Roots grow downwards, and we want enough depth in the seed hole for the roots go down. Seeds just below the soil is perfect.
Seeds sprout in about a weeks. Different seeds take different times to sprout, so look up the time needed for your seed to sprout before you start worrying.
We have to water the seeds daily, we can decide how often by looking at how dry is the Coir Pith. If we are lucky and our seed tray is getting good sunlight, we can decide to water them twice a day.
But remember, being regular is the key, do not forget to water your plants.
Watch your sprouts grow, be happy, prepare for repotting.
Once the seeds have sprouted, we will let them grow strong in the seed tray before we re-pot them into a larger growing medium.
We are waiting for the roots to grow dense, the stem to grow stronger, and more leaves to sprout.
We should continue to water them until they’re strong enough.
More about re-potting in the next post. Until then, happy growing!