When to sow salad seeds?

[Prof3934]

I used to grow all salad items from seed with no problems at all.

But when I set tomato, cucumber and lettuce seeds a few weeks ago, complete disaster.

I put them in good growing soil, watered them well and kept them in the shade.

All of them grew so quickly within 3 days of planting. They all shot up to 4-7 inches within a week, just a single weak stem.

They all keeled over and died.

Help me please. What did I do wrong? Or how shall I plant my salad again?

[Suradit69]

Could be too much water with poor drainage. Could be you used fertilizer or manure that zapped them. Could be insects or other pests. More info needed.

You said they had plenty of shade. They need sun.

You can start tomatoes, cucumbers or lettuce in trays in a protected environment and transplant the seedlings once they've established themselves.

But you should check the roots of the plants that died to see if they were eaten by something or rotted from standing in water. Go slow on the fertilizer or manure with young plants.

Edited June 30, 2016 by Suradit69

[Prof3934]

Thanks for speedy reply. I was surprised you said they need sun not shade, because the sun has been so fierce here in Pattaya the last few weeks. I set them all in very large diameter and deep shrub pots so no chance of poor drainage. Also I used a bag of soil from the local garden center, which I hoped would be good clean soil.

I cannot check the roots as I have thrown them all away. But they never stood in water, as the soil was over 1 ft deep.

The seeds started to grow in only 2 days and then shot up over the next 3-4 days, long whisky thin stems which flopped over and died.

It was so easy in the UK, just plant and then leave before setting them out.

So what should I do now, and whe n can I start?

[samuijimmy]

I would only add that they do usually need shade whilst germinating... locals tend to use coconut fronds or shade cloth.

Once up gradually let them have more sun...

Perhaps too, try mixing some sharp sand in with the mix... about 15% to soil... Squeeze soil to make sure it does not make a tight ball... it should just be crumbly and not stay tight.

As said there are a lot of "could be's" of what went wrong.

[Suradit69]

Thanks for speedy reply. I was surprised you said they need sun not shade, because the sun has been so fierce here in Pattaya the last few weeks. I set them all in very large diameter and deep shrub pots so no chance of poor drainage. Also I used a bag of soil from the local garden center, which I hoped would be good clean soil.

I cannot check the roots as I have thrown them all away. But they never stood in water, as the soil was over 1 ft deep.

The seeds started to grow in only 2 days and then shot up over the next 3-4 days, long whisky thin stems which flopped over and died.

It was so easy in the UK, just plant and then leave before setting them out.

So what should I do now, and whe n can I start?

"I was surprised you said they need sun not shade, "

I should have said they need SOME sun as seedlings and once they're established and planted out, they need a fair amount of sun. We've had some pretty cloudy & gray days in Pattaya recently, so if they were kept in the shade the whole time they might not have got much sun.

Edited July 2, 2016 by Suradit69

[pigeonjake]

I would say they have grown high thin looking for the sun, then flopped over because didn't have the strength in the stem, like others say the do need the sun

[cooked]

One reason Thais generally don't cultivate stuff that we are used to in the West is germination temperatures. The standard lettuce cultivated back home had an optimal (soil) temperature of around 23°C. I guess this might work for some of the year around Chiang Rai but hardly at my place in Buriram.

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html gives a table of germination temps for European veggies.

[samuijimmy]

One reason Thais generally don't cultivate stuff that we are used to in the West is germination temperatures. The standard lettuce cultivated back home had an optimal (soil) temperature of around 23°C. I guess this might work for some of the year around Chiang Rai but hardly at my place in Buriram.

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html gives a table of germination temps for European veggies.

I'd agree with some don't like the heat, but then I look at all the hydroponic greenhouses around Samui, there are at least six commercial operations (not small either) growing lettuce well even in April our hottest month... I don't know how that compares with other areas.

They do pull over 50% shade cloth during the hottest part of the day...

Just across the street from me, so I don't need to bother trying to grow myself!

I do grow my own Italian basil, which does usually does well.