[Arid_gardener] Jerry - disappearing baby plants and seed germination

[Genie]

Hi Jerry,

If you are certain that the seed is viable AND you have NOT planted them 
too deeply...
then here are a couple of possibilities:

1)  With all of that fresh compost and manure, you may have cutworms.  
These nefarious little *&%$#@ chew up the emerging
seedling roots, and the baby plant dies.  To prevent this, save a few 
(spent) toilet paper/paper towel tubes. Wrap them in aluminum foil
inside and out, then cut them -- so they are approx 3" - 4".  Plant the 
seed, then push the toilet paper tube down approx 2" - 3" into
the soil -- essentially placing a barrier around your newly planted 
seed, so the cutworms cannot get at them.  Repeat this in several
sections of the raised bed, to see if cutworms are the problem.

2)  Another culprit could be birds.  Birds LOVE to eat seed.  I secretly 
suspect they use GPS technology - they know exactly where
gardeners plant seeds!  And, birds also LOVE to eat fresh baby sprouts.  
Prevent these thieves from chewing up your seeds and/or
baby plants by loosely placing Reemay fabric (also known as "row cover") 
or cheesecloth (sold at Wal-Mart by the yard, cheap)
over the soil. Use rocks, 2X4 lengths of wood, or garden "staples" to 
keep the cloth from blowing away.
Keep everything covered for at least 7 days.  You can take a peek, if 
you wish.  Remember to lay the cloth loosely -- or the babies
will not have room to grow up. 

(PS: This also works well in summer.  Hot, dry, days make germination 
tough -- because the top inch of soil dries out quickly --
ruining the seed/germination.  Covering the newly planted area helps to 
conserve moisture as well as discouraging thieving birds.)
 
If these suggestions prove to be worthless, then there's likely a 
problem with the manure.  If manure is not composted properly,
it can contain pathogens and/or worms that kill baby seedlings.  It may 
also contain too much nitrogen or too much salt... both of which 
will choke baby seedlings.  Let's NOT worry about this yet, Jerry.  
First... try the suggestions above.  Feel free to write via email
if you have any questions.

Best Wishes and Kindest Regards,   Genie -- bug, bird, and worm warrior 
-- in Tucson  :-)

>Message: 1
>Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 08:10:15 -0700 (MST)
>From: jharter at cox.net
>Subject: [Arid_gardener] Question from Home-Hort WWW page
>To: <arid_gardener at Ag.arizona.edu>
>Message-ID: <200611041510.kA4FAFHx014649 at Ag.arizona.edu>
>
>Jerry Harter
>85249
>jharter at cox.net
>
>Still looking for help!!  Tried replanting, got same results, either the plants came up and then disappeared overnight, or they didn't come up at all.  I have new seed, again, I added both compost and manure to my raised garden this fall, at least 6 inches worth, tried to work it in with the older material.  Have tried to add fertilizer, ammonium sulfate and ammonium phosphate.  Have tried to keep the soil moist, not real wet.  Same garden produced very well last year, wish now I had never added anything to it!!!!!
>
>
>  
>
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