Fifteen days since I put the Tropical Greek oregano seed down in the Buddy’s Cairns plot, and it’s a mixed picture. Not a clean yes. Not a clean no either.
Walked the three rows this morning with the magnifying glass and counted what’s actually up. Row one is doing its job, tiny cotyledons breaking the surface in maybe six or seven spots along the length. Row two has three seedlings, all bunched near the tap end where the soil stays damper longer. Row three is bare. Nothing.
That’s roughly a third of the seed showing at day fifteen, which is on the slow side for oregano but not alarming yet. Cairns dry season means daytime temps are sitting nicely in the low to mid twenties, oregano’s happy range, but rainfall has been thin the last week and a half. Dry season here means I’m the only source of moisture the top few centimetres get, and if I miss a day the surface crusts over fast. Row three might just be sitting on seed that never got consistent damp.
What I’m doing about it
I’ve bumped watering on row three to a light pass every morning instead of every second day, enough to keep the surface soft without pooling. I’m giving it another week before I call it a dud. If nothing’s up by day twenty two, I’ll scratch that row back and resow rather than keep waiting on seed that’s probably rotted or never broken dormancy.
For rows one and two, it’s too early to thin. I want to see where the gaps are before I start pulling seedlings out to the 20cm spacing oregano wants at maturity. That decision’s a fortnight away yet.
Row three is the one to watch. The other two, I’m just trying not to jinx by talking about them too much.
