[Arisaema-l] What Happened To My Seedlings

[Ellen Hornig]

Mother Nature is a b***h, David.  If they don't come from above (birds,
squirrels, chipmunks, mice) they come from below (sow bugs, earwigs).  If
they didn't, the world would be overrun with seedlings.  Consider the ratio
of seeds to mama plants.  Scary thought!

Happy Holidays. :-)

Ellen


On Sat, Dec 28, 2013 at 10:19 AM, DAVID LEEDY <djleedy at sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> Every day, at least once, I look at my 6" pots containing 8 - 12 seeds.  I
> feel elated when a seed pokes its little nose up through the planting mix.
> I have about 12 pots full of seeds, but I know every seed in each pot.
>
> A couple of weeks I thought I noted one, but later was unable to relocate
> it in the pot.  For two weeks now, I have been watching the progress of a
> seedling, the only one in the pot to stick its nose above the planting mix,
> anxiously awaiting the leaf to unfurl.  When it did, three days ago, I was
> again elated.  Today that seedling is gone.  What happened to my seedling?
>
> I looked around the pot to see if I could find the dead seedling.  Maybe
> damp off had hit it fast.  I couldn't find it.
>
> A couple of pots later and a seedling was laying on top of the planting
> mix as though it was pulled up and left there.  However the planting mix,
> itself, was not disturbed.  What happened to my seedling?
>
> I have noticed some small pecans and pecan shells on the surface of some
> of my other pots and usually the soil is disturbed.  I figured that maybe
> the squirrels had been hiding the pecans in the pots (certainly discover
> that in the spring when the pecan seed germinates and a tree grows in my
> pot).  But in the case of my seedlings, the planting mix was not
> disturbed.  Could it be that what I thought was squirrels was really birds
> and that they have been pulling up aroid seed?
>
>
>
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-- 
Ellen Hornig
212 Grafton St
Shrewsbury MA 01545
508-925-5147
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