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randyt

randyt

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I've done very little of this. I picked up some heirloom seeds a few weeks back. So I made up a big metal pan to set my flats in. Picked up a bag of potting soil. Those flats seem so small, maybe the individual container is size of chicken egg. Would I be better off to get flats the size of coffee cup? Any thoughts or advise?
 
randyt said:
I've done very little of this. I picked up some heirloom seeds a few weeks back. So I made up a big metal pan to set my flats in. Picked up a bag of potting soil. Those flats seem so small, maybe the individual container is size of chicken egg. Would I be better off to get flats the size of coffee cup? Any thoughts or advise?
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Most plants will start just fine in those. If you got something like a 3-4” pot, it takes a lot of space and you probably won’t get 100% germination rate. It’s usually easier to up-pot (transplant into a larger pot) once they have sprouted and require more space. Depending upon their size and your weather, some might be able to go directly to the garden.
Be forewarned, you are entering into addictive territory 😉
 
I start all my plants from seed, some indoors early . I have seed trays and small plastic pots. I put them in the seed trays first, and then transplant them to the little pots and burry the stems so they grow well. This works especially good for tomatoes. I transplant them to larger pots several times before they go out and they get huge sturdy stems that way. Some plants don't transplant well or not necessary, so they go directly into the garden: carrots, turnips, beans, zuccini other squash and I have better luck with lettuce too
 
randyt said:
I've done very little of this. I picked up some heirloom seeds a few weeks back. So I made up a big metal pan to set my flats in. Picked up a bag of potting soil. Those flats seem so small, maybe the individual container is size of chicken egg. Would I be better off to get flats the size of coffee cup? Any thoughts or advise?
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Both. Depends.

The 72 cell flats were used to germinate blackberry.

20240404_204624_HDR.jpg


When they had 2 sets of true leaves transplanted to 4x4 inch pots.

Onions get started in 4x4 pots with about 50 plants in each pot.

20240404_204638_HDR.jpg


Ben
 
randyt said:
Looked it up zone 5b
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You could start your squash inside maybe 3-4 weeks before you want to set them out. Depends upon which squash and how many days until harvest. We were zone 5a/5b up the mountain. I didn’t have great luck with squash but it wasn’t something I wanted to grow a lot of at that time either.
 
I saw a 'seeding heat mat' advertised a while ago. Does anyone use those? Does it make a big difference in sprouting time? Also, does anyone use the grow lights or just put them on a table in front of a window? Do most of you just use potting soil without adding anything? If you add anything to the soil, what do you add?
 
angie_nrs said:
I saw a 'seeding heat mat' advertised a while ago. Does anyone use those? Does it make a big difference in sprouting time? Also, does anyone use the grow lights or just put them on a table in front of a window? Do most of you just use potting soil without adding anything? If you add anything to the soil, what do you add?
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Re: anyone use those?

Yes to sprout seeds. They work for me in that they the sprouting adhere to declared germination rate. I keep mine set at 70 degrees F

Ben
 
Here in montana we have snow in may and september...so we start inside and then out to a heated small greenhouse. With the price of starts getting so high we are starting more seeds this year.
If you use plastic cups or similar a soldering gun works great for making drain holes. We use a drill on the five gallon buckets..
If you have to keep the plants inside due to weather and as the plants grow we tend to get spindly stems... a house hold fan on ossilating helps them stay stronger.
I dont know if you can find some heirloom sphagetti squash but it does good with short season and we kept it till the following july just by keeping it in a dark cool basement.
If you want to harvest seeds look up what you need to do to not get cross polinated combo seeds for next year.
We have some great south facing windows with a baseboard heater (for now) right below it. I screwed shelf brackets between the window and ran two rows of shelves so the plants get sun and warmth.......
 
angie_nrs said:
I saw a 'seeding heat mat' advertised a while ago. Does anyone use those? Does it make a big difference in sprouting time? Also, does anyone use the grow lights or just put them on a table in front of a window? Do most of you just use potting soil without adding anything? If you add anything to the soil, what do you add?
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I have a couple. They really help with peppers. They like to be warm.
 
I think I will order a few of the 12 place sprouting trays with lights included. I found some on Amazon that weren't expensive and worth a shot. The mats are cheap too. I just won't have them on while I'm not at home. The risk of fire bothers me a bit. The basement isn't heated, but it stays at least in the 50's down there. My basement table might look a little different this month. At least now I can find out which of my seeds are duds and which ones are good without wasting valuable growing time.

Do most of you finish the plants up in the greenhouse or just take them and plant them in the garden after they take hold? I suppose it depends upon your local growing season? I'm inclined to just plant them in the garden since I think that would be easiest.

I'm sitting here wondering why in the heck I haven't done this before? 🤔 It brings back memories of doing this in grade school and bringing home a small plant or two for mom on Mothers Day to add to the garden.

Last year I bought tomato plants and they were around $22 each if I remember correctly. I'll still buy a couple of those since they already have tomatoes started on them, but I remember that one of them didn't bear any more tomatoes after the initial ones on the plant ripened.:( For some reason, I always have better luck with cherry tomatoes.
 
angie_nrs said:
I think I will order a few of the 12 place sprouting trays with lights included. I found some on Amazon that weren't expensive and worth a shot. The mats are cheap too. I just won't have them on while I'm not at home. The risk of fire bothers me a bit. The basement isn't heated, but it stays at least in the 50's down there. My basement table might look a little different this month. At least now I can find out which of my seeds are duds and which ones are good without wasting valuable growing time.

Do most of you finish the plants up in the greenhouse or just take them and plant them in the garden after they take hold? I suppose it depends upon your local growing season? I'm inclined to just plant them in the garden since I think that would be easiest.

I'm sitting here wondering why in the heck I haven't done this before? 🤔 It brings back memories of doing this in grade school and bringing home a small plant or two for mom on Mothers Day to add to the garden.

Last year I bought tomato plants and they were around $22 each if I remember correctly. I'll still buy a couple of those since they already have tomatoes started on them, but I remember that one of them didn't bear any more tomatoes after the initial ones on the plant ripened.:( For some reason, I always have better luck with cherry tomatoes.
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Our greenhouse gets shutdown for summer. I put it together on a shoe string budget so none of the recycled windows open. It gets wicked hot with no ventilation.

Ben
 
Neb said:
Our greenhouse gets shutdown for summer. I put it together on a shoe string budget so none of the recycled windows open. It gets wicked hot with no ventilation.

Ben
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Mine sucks too, even with an "auto-vent" window, too hot, too cold. I can't win. The chickens live in my greenhouse.
 
I'm too cheap to pay money for plants like tomatoes. Too easy to start them. I moved 20 of them to the greenhouse yesterday. So far I started tomatoes, cucumbers, 4 varieties of squash, cabbage, melons, peppers....More uppotting to do. They'll be uppotted and stay in the greenhouse till mother's day, then out to the garden.
 
teeceetx said:
I've used the mats and the cell flats. Both work great. Usually do tomato plants, but this year has been to chaotic to do. Maybe next year.
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yeah, nothing this year, I barely know where I live right now. The front sidewalk is filled with stuff to move, I go no time for new stuff right now. Lori is NOT allowed to associate with plants :p
 
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