Seedbed
Encyclopedia
A seedbed or seedling bed is the local soil environment in which seed
s are planted. Often it comprises not only the soil but also a specially prepared cold frame
, hotbed
or raised bed used to grow the seedling
s in a controlled environment
into larger young plants before transplanting them into a garden
or field
. A seedling bed is used to increase the number of seeds that germinate.
The soil of a seedbed needs to be loose and smoothed, without large lumps. These traits are needed so that seeds can be planted easily, and at a specific depth for best germination. Large lumps and uneven surface would tend to make the planting depth random. Many types of seedlings also need loose soil with minimal rocky content for best conditions to grow their roots. (For example, carrots grown in rocky soil will tend not to grow straight.)
Seedbed preparation in farm fields often involves secondary tillage
via harrows
and cultivator
s. This may follow primary tillage (if any) by moldboard plows or chisel plows. No-till farming
methods avoid tillage for seedbed preparation as well as later weed control
.
Seedbed preparation in gardens often involves secondary tillage via hand tools such as rakes
and hoes
. This may follow primary tillage (if any) by shovel
s, picks
, or mattock
s. Rotary tillers provide a powered alternative that takes care of both primary and secondary tillage.
The preparation of a seedbed may include:
The seedlings may be left to grow to adult plants in the seedbed, perhaps after thinning to remove the weaker ones, or they may be moved to a border as young plants.
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s are planted. Often it comprises not only the soil but also a specially prepared cold frame
Cold frame
In agriculture and gardening, a cold frame is a transparent-roofed enclosure, built low to the ground, used to protect plants from cold weather. The transparent top admits sunlight and prevents heat escape via convection that would otherwise occur, particularly at night...
, hotbed
Hotbed (gardening)
In biology, a hotbed is a pile of decaying organic matter warmer than its surroundings due to the heat given off by the metabolism of the microorganisms in the decomposing pile....
or raised bed used to grow the seedling
Seedling
thumb|Monocot and dicot seedlingsA seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle , the hypocotyl , and the cotyledons...
s in a controlled environment
Natural environment
The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....
into larger young plants before transplanting them into a garden
Garden
A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...
or field
Field (agriculture)
In agriculture, the word field refers generally to an area of land enclosed or otherwise and used for agricultural purposes such as:* Cultivating crops* Usage as a paddock or, generally, an enclosure of livestock...
. A seedling bed is used to increase the number of seeds that germinate.
The soil of a seedbed needs to be loose and smoothed, without large lumps. These traits are needed so that seeds can be planted easily, and at a specific depth for best germination. Large lumps and uneven surface would tend to make the planting depth random. Many types of seedlings also need loose soil with minimal rocky content for best conditions to grow their roots. (For example, carrots grown in rocky soil will tend not to grow straight.)
Seedbed preparation in farm fields often involves secondary tillage
Tillage
Tillage is the agricultural preparation of the soil by mechanical agitation of various types, such as digging, stirring, and overturning. Examples of human-powered tilling methods using hand tools include shovelling, picking, mattock work, hoeing, and raking...
via harrows
Harrow (tool)
In agriculture, a harrow is an implement for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil. In this way it is distinct in its effect from the plough, which is used for deeper tillage. Harrowing is often carried out on fields to follow the rough finish left by ploughing operations...
and cultivator
Cultivator
A cultivator is any of several types of farm implement used for secondary tillage. One sense of the name refers to frames with teeth that pierce the soil as they are dragged through it linearly. Another sense refers to machines that use rotary motion of disks or teeth to accomplish a similar result...
s. This may follow primary tillage (if any) by moldboard plows or chisel plows. No-till farming
No-till farming
No-till farming is a way of growing crops from year to year without disturbing the soil through tillage. No-till is an agricultural technique which increases the amount of water and organic matter in the soil and decreases erosion...
methods avoid tillage for seedbed preparation as well as later weed control
Weed
A weed in a general sense is a plant that is considered by the user of the term to be a nuisance, and normally applied to unwanted plants in human-controlled settings, especially farm fields and gardens, but also lawns, parks, woods, and other areas. More specifically, the term is often used to...
.
Seedbed preparation in gardens often involves secondary tillage via hand tools such as rakes
Rake (tool)
A rake is a broom for outside; an horticultural implement consisting of a toothed bar fixed transversely to a handle, and used to collect leaves, hay, grass, etc., and, in gardening, for loosening the soil, light weeding and levelling, removing dead grass from...
and hoes
Hoe (tool)
A hoe is an ancient and versatile agricultural tool used to move small amounts of soil. Common goals include weed control by agitating the surface of the soil around plants, piling soil around the base of plants , creating narrow furrows and shallow trenches for planting seeds and bulbs, to chop...
. This may follow primary tillage (if any) by shovel
Shovel
A shovel is a tool for digging, lifting, and moving bulk materials, such as soil, coal, gravel, snow, sand, or ore. Shovels are extremely common tools that are used extensively in agriculture, construction, and gardening....
s, picks
Pickaxe
A pickaxe or pick is a hand tool with a hard head attached perpendicular to the handle.Some people make the distinction that a pickaxe has a head with a pointed end and a flat end, and a pick has both ends pointed, or only one end; but most people use the words to mean the same thing.The head is...
, or mattock
Mattock
A mattock is a versatile hand tool, used for digging and chopping, similar to the pickaxe. It has a long handle, and a stout head, which combines an axe blade and an adze or a pick and an adze .-Description:...
s. Rotary tillers provide a powered alternative that takes care of both primary and secondary tillage.
The preparation of a seedbed may include:
- The removal of debrisDebrisDebris is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc. The singular form of debris is debris...
. Insect eggs and disease sporeSporeIn biology, a spore is a reproductive structure that is adapted for dispersal and surviving for extended periods of time in unfavorable conditions. Spores form part of the life cycles of many bacteria, plants, algae, fungi and some protozoa. According to scientist Dr...
s are often found in plant debris and so this is removed from the plot. Stones and larger debris will also physically prevent the seedlings from growing. - Levelling. The site will have been levelled for even drainageDrainageDrainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...
. - Breaking up the soilSoilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
. Compacted soilSoil compactionIn Geotechnical engineering, soil compaction is the process in which a stress applied to a soil causes densification as air is displaced from the pores between the soil grains. When stress is applied that causes densification due to water being displaced from between the soil grains then...
will be broken up by digging. This allows air and water to enter, and helps the seedling penetrate the soil. Smaller seeds require a finer soil structureSoil structureSoil structure is determined by how individual soil granules clump or bind together and aggregate, and therefore, the arrangement of soil pores between them...
. The surface the soil can be broken down into a fine granular structure using a tool such as a rakeRake (tool)A rake is a broom for outside; an horticultural implement consisting of a toothed bar fixed transversely to a handle, and used to collect leaves, hay, grass, etc., and, in gardening, for loosening the soil, light weeding and levelling, removing dead grass from...
. - SoilSoilSoil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
improvement. The soil structureSoil structureSoil structure is determined by how individual soil granules clump or bind together and aggregate, and therefore, the arrangement of soil pores between them...
may be improved by the introduction of organic matterOrganic matterOrganic matter is matter that has come from a once-living organism; is capable of decay, or the product of decay; or is composed of organic compounds...
such as compostCompostCompost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At its most essential, the process of composting requires simply piling up waste outdoors and waiting for the materials to break down from anywhere...
or peatPeatPeat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
. - Fertilizing. The nitrateNitrateThe nitrate ion is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula NO and a molecular mass of 62.0049 g/mol. It is the conjugate base of nitric acid, consisting of one central nitrogen atom surrounded by three identically-bonded oxygen atoms in a trigonal planar arrangement. The nitrate ion carries a...
and phosphatePhosphateA phosphate, an inorganic chemical, is a salt of phosphoric acid. In organic chemistry, a phosphate, or organophosphate, is an ester of phosphoric acid. Organic phosphates are important in biochemistry and biogeochemistry or ecology. Inorganic phosphates are mined to obtain phosphorus for use in...
levels of the soil can be adjusted with fertilizerFertilizerFertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
. If the soil is deficient in any micro nutrients, these too can be added.
The seedlings may be left to grow to adult plants in the seedbed, perhaps after thinning to remove the weaker ones, or they may be moved to a border as young plants.
See also
:Category:Horticulture and gardening- Open fieldOpen FieldOpen Field is the debut album by the Swedish solo act Taken By Trees. It is the first studio album to be released by Victoria Bergsman after shedding her duties as the lead singer of The Concretes...
- Seed drillSeed drillA seed drill is a sowing device that precisely positions seeds in the soil and then covers them. Before the introduction of the seed drill, the common practice was to plant seeds by hand. Besides being wasteful, planting was very imprecise and led to a poor distribution of seeds, leading to low...
- False seedbedStale seed bedA false or stale seed bed is a useful organic weed control technique which involves creating a seedbed some weeks before seed is due to be sown...
- SowingSowingSowing is the process of planting seeds.-Plants which are usually sown:Among the major field crops, oats, wheat, and rye are sowed, grasses and legumes are seeded, and maize and soybeans are planted...
- Stale seed bedStale seed bedA false or stale seed bed is a useful organic weed control technique which involves creating a seedbed some weeks before seed is due to be sown...
- Stratification (botany)Stratification (botany)In horticulture, stratification is the process of pretreating seeds to simulate natural winter conditions that a seed must endure before germination. Many seed species undergo an embryonic dormancy phase, and generally will not sprout until this dormancy is broken...