Starting Vegetable Seeds, and White Flies in My Garden

by Shannon Crocker
(Picayune, Ms)

This is my first time doing a garden on my own. I remember helping my grandparents when I was young, but that was a long time ago.

I planted mostly seeds (carrots, lettuce, spinach, yellow squash, corn, onions, and bush beans) in a 12x12 garden.

I think I planted them deeper than the recommendation on the packets and they have not started to break through yet. Can this hurt them or just take longer to grow?

Also, when I water the garden there are a lot of white flies that show. Could they cause harm to my transplanted vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, and zucchini?

Thank you very much,
Shannon


ANSWER:

Hi Shannon,

Regarding the seed depth:

It depends on how much too deep you planted your garden seeds. If it was just a half-inch or an inch, you might be fine. Seed depth will affect the germination rate.

How quickly and successfully your garden seeds germinate depends on air and soil temperatures, moisture conditions, as well as planting depth.

So if they were planted just a little too deep, they should be ok assuming the moisture and temperature were also within an acceptable range.

I would give them twice as long as the germination range provided on the seed packets before re-planting if needed.


Regarding the white flies:

The white flies can be a problem as they will suck the juice out of some of your garden plant leaves. They are somewhat like aphids in this regard. They do like tomatoes plants.

There are sticky traps that you can put in your garden to attract the white flies away from your vegetable plants.

There are also some sprays that should help control the white flies. I would ask at your local garden center which spray has had best results in your area. White flies have adapted to some insecticides, making the insecticides less effective against the flies.

Best of luck, and thank you so much for sending the picture. I hope you can send another after your garden gets established.