# Nasturtium...



## Saleama (Mar 14, 2014)

I have seen several post on these and the troubles people have had planting them from seed. I bought a whole bunch from Home Depot last Saturday during their bogo free event. I took the seeds and scored them with sand paper and then put them in a plastic bag with a very wet paper towel. This I put in a shady area (on top of my microwave0 for 3 days. Several of the seeds had little shoots coming out of them. i then transplanted directly into a tub of coco coir ( I used old spring mix tubs) placed the lid on and put out in the sun during the day and in front of a heater at night. After 2 days I had to take the lid off because they were growing to tall. I took some pictures of them this morning after 5 full days of growth and will post this evening with 9 hours difference (before work and after work) and then follow up if I am able to transplant them this weekend. Anyway, I wanted to post because there were several people having trouble getting them to grow from seed. I have nearly 30 sprouts from roughly 60 seeds. Not too shabby considering many folks get 0 from 60, lol.
On a side note, my "salad" seeds wont stop sprouting and are starting to choke each other out. I hope they last long enough for me to thin them out and plant them in the garden.


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## Yvonne G (Mar 14, 2014)

I toss nasturtium seeds in my tortoise yards every spring. They sprout but the plantlets quickly die off because its just too hot here.


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## Elohi (Mar 14, 2014)

I either have a dead batch or I am doing something incredibly wrong. I tried planting the seeds and keeping them wet. Fail. 
I tried soaking them and then planting them. Fail. 
I tried scoring the outer hull then planting in moist soil. Fail. 
I tried the paper towel method. Fail. 
Mine just rot!! What the what?


Elohi(Earth)[TURTLE]


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## pfara (Mar 14, 2014)

Nasturtiums actually thrive on neglect. They do well with less water and poor soil. Apparently they dont like being transplanted but I never really had any issues doing so.


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## laramill (Mar 14, 2014)

pfara said:


> Nasturtiums actually thrive on neglect. They do well with less water and poor soil. Apparently they dont like being transplanted but I never really had any issues doing so.



I agree. I plant them in cell packs and transplant them outside and they do fine. I also agree about not over watering them. The seeds just tend to rot if it's too wet!


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## Saleama (Mar 14, 2014)

Elohi said:


> I either have a dead batch or I am doing something incredibly wrong. I tried planting the seeds and keeping them wet. Fail.
> I tried soaking them and then planting them. Fail.
> I tried scoring the outer hull then planting in moist soil. Fail.
> I tried the paper towel method. Fail.
> ...



LOL, I looked for your post from a while back to add this post to it but did not find it so started a new one. I scraped the heck out of them on sand paper and tossed them in a single layer onto a very wet paper towel inside an unsealed plastic bag. I had one seed sprout the next day! I bought some super cheap dirt and I am mixing it with the clay crud I have in part of my yard and then I will plant the seedlings. i will keep posted here on how they do. For transplanting, I am going to simply cut the bottom out of the salad tub they are in, bury it and then remove the "sides" and for the ones I have in plastic cups I am going to just crack open the cup and take out the seedling dirt and all and put them in a preformed hole I make with an empty cup.

I think the trick is to scratch the heck out of them on the sand paper and then put them in the bag. When I left for work yesterday they were 2 - 3 inches. When I woke up this morning some of them were 6 - 7 inches! I can't wait to see what happened while I was at work today!


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## Elohi (Mar 14, 2014)

Saleama said:


> Elohi said:
> 
> 
> > I either have a dead batch or I am doing something incredibly wrong. I tried planting the seeds and keeping them wet. Fail.
> ...



I'm going to try again. I'll try the wet paper towel method again. This has to work, everything else I've started from seed has sprouted and is doing well.



these are my cantaloupe and radish's. I've had no problems with these. 
Oh and the tall ones are my avocado trees that the fungus bats may have killed. Not sure yet lol. 

Elohi(Earth)[TURTLE]


Did you sandwich them loosely with wet paper towels or just lay them on wet paper towel within the baggy?


Elohi(Earth)[TURTLE]


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## Tom (Mar 14, 2014)

I just stuck my nasturtium seeds in "garden soil" about a half inch deep, kept it watered and they sprouted just fine. Then the tortoises ate them all. The ones that were up in a raised table cooked in the summer sun, but gazania are the only thing that I have found that will survive in that table in summer. I started one row of gazania in that 4x4 table last summer, and it has grown over half of it. I have literally gotten 100's of gazania flowers off of that table. It never stops. Not even in winter.

I'm trying to start some more nasturtiums soon, and now you guys have me all worried.


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## kathyth (Mar 15, 2014)

I planted these seeds two years ago and they ate doing extremely well, in Southern Valif. My CDT does not show too much interest, however. They are watered every other day, just by chance.
I would get mew seeds.


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## Tom (Mar 15, 2014)

Kathy, that looks like a little slice of tortoise heaven right there...


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## kathyth (Mar 15, 2014)

Tom said:


> Kathy, that looks like a little slice of tortoise heaven right there...



That makes me very happy! Thanks Tom!


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## Jhwells46 (Mar 16, 2014)

I bought a good quality grow light and put some seeds in some organic mushroom soil and mine grew in like 2-3 weeks and are everywhere now! I've been picking leaves and giving them to my leopard a few times a week mixed into her salad. She loooovvveeesss them, perhaps a bit too much! I would suggest maybe purchasing from a local organic market or farmers market though, better chance of success.


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## Tom (Mar 16, 2014)

I planted some nasturtiums to day. I did some with scoring and some just plopped in the dirt. I'll report back about what I get.


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## Elohi (Mar 16, 2014)

nothing yet....
They've swelled up, but they've done that before. [FLUSHED FACE]


Elohi(Earth)[TURTLE]


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## Saleama (Mar 27, 2014)

So. if any of you have tried to get this stuff to grow, you know it can be a pain. It is also difficult to transplant. I got some seeds, about 35 of 60, to sprout and grow indoors. I transplanted them into the garden last week and lost about 10 of them. the remaining 20 - 25 were doing very well and I could not wait to see what they grew into and start feeding the torts! I put the torts in the garden this morning. The weather is nice and looks like it will stay that way. I got home from work, watered and made sure the torts and plants were all good and went in to fix dinner. Before watching a movie I like to go see the garden when the sun sets. The neighbor kids, having discovered the tortoises for the first time, had picked ll the Nasturtium sprouts and all the flowers off of the Ice Plants I just bought, lol. Guess what they did with them? Yep! They fed them to the Russian torts for dinner.
Well, there are 8 neighbor kids who got a new lesson in tortoises and turtles this evening. They won't go near the Russians and they would only pet the Sulcatas but they LOVED the baby box turtles. We now have an understanding between me, them and their father about what is allowed and not allowed. Luckily, I have another 30 -40 seeds ready to plant and I only lost a month with the other ones. Even better, there ar 8 more tortoise/turtle lovers in Irving Texas!


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## Saleama (Mar 27, 2014)

Oh, and to get them to sprout really well rub them on sand paper and then into a plastic bag with a wet paper towel. I lay mine out in a single layer. With in two or three days you will have sprouts. I then plant about two inches down and cover with a water bottle with the bottom cut out or plant them in a salad container with the lid on until the hit the top and then trans plant into the garden. I do not plant them in with the tortoises because they would eat them in one go....much like they did when fed them by the neighbor kids, lol.


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## Elohi (May 3, 2014)

Get a load of this ugly thing!
It's all viney and weird. 




Elohi(Earth)


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## Elohi (May 3, 2014)

Here is my ugly viney nasturtium. 
Weird. 




Elohi(Earth)


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## Yvonne G (May 3, 2014)

This one was a volunteer. I've never been able to grow them here because its too hot, however, this plant evidently didn't realize this and grew very nicely:


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## Maggie Cummings (May 3, 2014)

Tom said:


> Kathy, that looks like a little slice of tortoise heaven right there...



I second that. Nice work!


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