Indoor LED grown perennial grasses. What next?!

Gaughan.david

Hi everyone.

As a bit of a test, if anything, I germinated some seeds under my IKEA Vaxxer grow setup. It's been probably three weeks now, and they seem to be doing quite well. 

The ones I'm interested in actually using in the garden are the grasses- Deschampsia Cespitosa, Briza Media, Agrostis Nebulosa and Stipa Tennuissima to be exact. 

What should I be doing with them? They're growing in little clumps of 3/4 plants. Should I be thinning them out as I would a normal plant, or should I just pot them up?

Secondly, when would you start hardening them off outside? I'm hoping the transition from bright LED grow lights to more changeable East coast Scottish climate doesn't kill them off...



Thanks!

D

Buttercupdays

Not quite so familiar with the Briza & Agrostis, but the Stipa seeds itself around quite happily here and I move or weed out plant in the wrong places. Deschampsia is a native here, in the wet, windy and often very chilly Pennines and needs no cossetting!

I would move them to a bright windowsill indoors for a few days, nowhere too warm, and then to a cold frame or somewhere sheltered outside to start the hardening off process. Keep them just moist, not soggy or too dry.

Maybe take things a bit  slower for the other two.