[Goldfinger]

Just had my parents over for an hour and got talking 'how's the lotty going, etc'

Anyway, as the conversation went on, he told me about a thing he did years ago (before I could even walk, yeah that long ago), that he planted seeds using wallpaper paste and a piping bag.  :blink:

Back then, you could get paste without the fungicide stuff in it so, what he would do is mix up some paste then add the seeds to it, and using a fine nozzle (depending on seed size), would pipe the mixture into the drill line.

He said he got fantastic crops of all sorts!

So, there's something else to try I guess....

But, can you still get wallpaper past WITHOUT the fungicide??


P.S. anyone else done similar??

[solway cropper]

I tried it once with a short row of carrots and it didn't work. 

It's funny how so many ideas get tried and found wanting. Most of us stick to traditional ways for most things because they've stood the test of time and they actually work.

Try new ideas by all means, but always have a plan B.

[TheSpartacat]

I remember an episode of The Good Life where they did that!! 
And I thought "Well, thats a bit of a faff isnt it?"

WHy not use one of those plastic seed sowers? The ones you adjust to the seed size and they make it easier to sow thinly?

[Trillium]

The wallpaper paste idea won't work for many because it is a lot of extra trouble.

Investing in a pair of tweezers would be less messy and far more precise. That or the adjustable seed dispensers available everywhere and quite cheaply too.

[lacewing]

I tried this method using flour paste but only for carrots, thus avoiding the task of thinning and the danger of carrot fly. Just another method of trying to beat the carrot fly.  I would'nt bother using it  for other crops, which can be thinned without the danger of pests.

[Goldfinger]

Sounds like my dad got lucky that year 

Might look into those seed sowers instead....

Thanks again for the advice / info 

[peterjf]

i think you will find that the very cheap wallpaper paste does not have the fungiside in the mix,

[mumofstig]

I can remember when my dad hung wallpaper with flour and water paste   :blink:
so this is probably what was used for the seed sowing

[lacewing]

Works the same as wallpaper paste, especially if you need to stick back a bit of wallpaper that has come adrift. cheap too!