What could these seedlings be?

adamadamant

I sowed these as Lettuce Tom Thumb - Mr Fothergill's seeds.  I have an entire tray of these, any idea what they might be before I ditch the lot and try again?  Thanks

Dovefromabove

There's a tomato seedling ... the rest looks a lot like Stachys seedlings or something similar  ... did you use your own compost mixture perhaps?

adamadamant

Yes I did, but i have a hot composter and really let it cook, so I didnt imagine any annuals or other seeds would ever be viable.  Dont have stachys in the garden so I dont believe it is that, but it must be something else which has rogued its way in.  I did think that one seedling might be a tomato as they are all round the garden but I think he's a one-off.  Well, if whatever it is isn't edible I will compost them.  And to think I spent hours putting them into plugs.....  If anyone has any ideas further let me know!  Thanks Dove

nutcutlet

verbena?

adamadamant

could be bonariensis, I do have that in the garden.  Cant eat it though!  And where on earth did all those thousands  and thousands of seeds come from?!  My tray is thick with them. If it's from the hot composter I will be most cross.  It's got up over 40 degrees sometimes. Maybe that's just not hot enough.

punkdoc

Sorry, but 40 degrees is nowhere near hot enough. you have beautifully demonstrated, why we should use sterile sowing media.

adamadamant

oh well there you go.  How hot should the composter get to kill off seeds do you think? It does get up to 50 sometimes but that's not a constant temperature

Dovefromabove

Tomato seeds often survive being cooked, transit through the human gut and then the municipal sewage system ... think it'll take more than the occasional 40C to stop them germinating ... and it's doubtful that they're the only ones ... 

adamadamant

Thanks all.  The whole lot has been composted and as soon as the heat dies down it's off to the garden centre for more sterile stuff.  Happy Days !

Lyn

Compost that you make is a soil improver, you dig it into your ground to enrich the structure and texture so that your soil can absorb other trace elements of what it needs, it’s not a growing medium, as you’ve found out. 

fidgetbones

The compost I added to the garden this year resulted in a fine crop of tomato seedlings, as well as something that is probably a squash.  My compost got too hot to stick a hand in, so it might cook some things, but as you have seen, not enough.