Seed Starting!!

Yippie! I got my light on Friday. I got home after work to the long long box in the living room and jumped for joy! Well, it turns out, 4 feet is a lot longer than I had pictured in my mind. (it's actually 4' 3'' long) It took forever to fit it in some where... The final place was the dinning room table. Not ideal. There's just enough space for two people to sit down and eat off of the slightly potting soil dusted table now. I got a bunch of herbs started for a window sill garden, I started some lettuces in a pot, also for the window sill when it's big enough to eat off of, 6 tomato sets (2 each of 3 types of early tomatoes) as an experiment, and finally, I places my orchard under it to get it to rebloom.

I'm so excited I can't wait for the first week of February when I can really get to work planting more stuff for the garden! ~dreaming of lying in the sun with dirt in my nails~

ModernDayBetty wrote:The final place was the dinning room table. Not ideal. There's just enough space for two people to sit down and eat off of the slightly potting soil dusted table now.

The funny thing is I have memories of the same situation. This year my set up is in the dining room, but up against a wall. The only modification I had to make was moving the dining table partly into the living room so I had plenty of room to get to my seedling station.

ModernDayBetty wrote: I places my orchard under it to get it to rebloom.

Orchid... obviously I don't have a miniature orchard on my dinning room table (or should I say unfortunately?)

Furbal's Mom, It's kind of a pain isn't it? But it's just so nice to have it set up. I keep walking by and think, oh the sun is still out? Weird. lol, I'll get used to it, plus it's only a few months and then we'll be eating a wonderful bounty in our dinning rooms!

Here is my simple operation using three hoods, each with two daylight fluorescent bulbs. Nothing fancy for $30.


Growing for myself and several other friends. Doing my best to keep lights within 2 inches of top leaves. The bulbs aren't too hot so is it ok not to panic when the leaves touch the bulbs?


Lots of tomatoes. The Vorlons are my fastest growers, followed by red cherry and black cherry tomatoes.

jkahn - Did you start those as seedlings and transplant into the cups or did you start them right in the cups?

All were started in vermiculite and then I grabbed 'em by the ears and yanked 'em hard... just like a 1950's school teacher. Transferred them into Mel's Mix and all seem to be happy. 100% survival so far.

Okay, perfect. First timer here and that was my plan.

Thanks!

jkahn2eb wrote:All were started in vermiculite and then I grabbed 'em by the ears and yanked 'em hard... just like a 1950's school teacher. Transferred them into Mel's Mix and all seem to be happy. 100% survival so far.

OK I need to learn more about vermiculite. Is this because it holds more liquid so that the seedling would dry out before you transplant? I like to start my seeds then transplant so I don't have empty cups/planters. I have never garden with vermiculite.

HunkieDorie23 wrote:

jkahn2eb wrote:All were started in vermiculite and then I grabbed 'em by the ears and yanked 'em hard... just like a 1950's school teacher. Transferred them into Mel's Mix and all seem to be happy. 100% survival so far.

OK I need to learn more about vermiculite. Is this because it holds more liquid so that the seedling would dry out before you transplant? I like to start my seeds then transplant so I don't have empty cups/planters. I have never garden with vermiculite.

Teresa,

You need to borrow your brother's book. Vermiculite is a key component in the SFG method.

If you click on the Home link at the top of the page, you'll see a "Hover" tab on the top left. Hover over that and click the link regarding Mel's Mix. (I believe it's the first one.)

jkahn2eb wrote:Here is my simple operation using three hoods, each with two daylight fluorescent bulbs. Nothing fancy for $30.

Growing for myself and several other friends. Doing my best to keep lights within 2 inches of top leaves. The bulbs aren't too hot so is it ok not to panic when the leaves touch the bulbs?

Lots of tomatoes. The Vorlons are my fastest growers, followed by red cherry and black cherry tomatoes.

Nice! Looks like it gets the job done

Hi Camprn
thanks for this chart, I am thinking about starting some seeds, but trying to hold back because I started way to early last year. ARE YOU?

Camprn......I'm sure some of our southern friends can use that chart this month. I can't start anything til the 3rd week of Feb so I'm still deciding on final seed purchases.

I am especially excited as I participated in an heirloom seed exchange and have many varieties of tomatoes and peppers to try.
Have thought about trying to plant a few peppers?

One of my resolutions this year is to be more patient and to everything there is a season.... I will begin planting seeds at the end of February and not before.

Mostly because when I became impatient and planted everything early by 3-4 weeks, they all died. I do not want to waste seeds and have disappointing results, so... to everything there is a season, a time to sow, a time to reap.... turn, turn, turn...

Well starting too early creates a lot more work too it seems, trying to keep the little critters alive until it is time.

By the way, this is an old thread resurrected. There are some nice photos of seed starting on the first and second page.

camprn, when is your average last frost?

GWN wrote:camprn, when is your average last frost?

I think it's about May 20.

http://www.plantmaps.com/03431

This is a bigger picture of my current avatar Jan 2013 the frame is screwed together down pre drilled holes using 4 inch long coachbolts . The frame is trapped between the timbers and the screws pass through the ally frame .

It is set on 2 inch thick styrofoam inside the frame , pond liner to make a tank , 2 inch play sand , a trace heat cable with thermostat ( from 19 to 40 o C ) 2 inch play sand and fimally a covering of pond liner .

My seed trays sit on top of the top pond liner ,they get the bottom warmth ( had to wet the sand to get heat transmission ) from the trace heat cable wihich is inturn adjustable by a thermostat .
The UV LED lamps give a very small amount of heat as well as the UV full spectrum of grow light , there is not enough heat to scorch the seedlings even if they touch the LED's. But it helps warm the surrounding air to about 60 o F.

I have three LED UV light bulbs and have decided to suspended them on individual adjustable cord lengths is going to allow me to have three different heights of plants all in the same growing area.

Tonight I draped two pieces of garden fleece over the whole frame to make a fully enclosed square tent to keep the air still and retain the heat rather than using the grow bed to heat up all 40 cubic yards of office space.

A seed contains an embryonic plant in a resting condition, and germination is its resumption of growth. Seeds will begin to germinate when the soil temperature is in the appropriate range and when water and oxygen are available. However, most of your wildflower seeds will only germinate between specific soil temperatures. Optimum soil germination temperatures will vary greatly from one species to another. With soil temperatures extremely low or excessively high, growth of the seed is either slow and erratic or germination is entirely prevented. Not all of your seeds will sprout at the same time due to constant temperature fluctuations typically observed in nature.

Camprn..... I like that Plantmap. Very useful with dates closer to my experience the last 2 years than other frost maps.

Personally, according to the last two years in my area, my Last frost date will be closer to May 10th and First frost to Oct 5th so I've changed my seed starting times accordingly for my Zone 5a in Maine.

With that in mind, the week of Feb 17th I'll begin with broccoli, cabbage, and parsley seeds on the heat mat. They need to be started 12 weeks before last frost date.
Remember, one can always cover the transplants in the spring if a sneaky frost arrives. I just hope Mother Nature doesn't fool me this year and hand me another very hot spring which nearly wiped out my cool weather crops last year.

I am wondering what everyone has had the most success with as far as seed starting soil/mix as well as containers for holding them?

I had my first sqft garden last year and I was pretty happy with my two 4x4 boxes. Im planning on adding 4 more boxes this year and I just went a little overboard and ordered a ton of all heirloom seed from Seed Saver Exchange. I have a small metal shelving unit in the garage that I am going to mount a few 2ft shop light fixtures to.

Wow! According to plantmap I have to start mine Jan 19th! And I'm zone 7a, not 6.

I'd better get crankin'!

CC