I start my seeds in 3 ounce white plastic cups, 3-5 seeds per cup. Rarely, I will do 1 or 2 seeds per cup if it is a hard to find seed that I do not have many of.

[url]https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-Bath-Plastic-Cups-3-Oz-100-Count/12167406[/url]

Less than 3.00/100 cups at Walmart. They are cheap, easy to find, easy to cover with a sheet of plastic wrap until germination, and easy to water when necessary. I separate individual seedlings while they are still small, before they go into the Solo Cups

That's what I'm talking about, starting them in a smaller cup with more seeds then separate and transplant in a 20 oz. I'm sure starting them in a 20oz cup the plant gets leggy without a transplant or two to bury it up to the true leaves.

The best, easiest way I found to start peppers is to use a dishpan with holes drilled on the bottom to start seeds and let them grow to about 5" then transplant into pots. It saves room on the heating pad and shelf space. They separate just as easy as tomatoes.

I like the idea of communal planting but I don't plant a lot of the same plant so if I do that I will have to be careful with my labeling.

I also like the idea of starting in smaller bath cups before moving up to the larger Solo cups.

The problem I encountered was that I lost most of the plants I planted in February/March to damping off. My understanding is that even established gardeners have problems with dampening off but my loss ratio was way too high and I think my rookie mistake was too much watering. I could have probably watered the plants less but been more careful when I did water.

Let the plant go through the stress of not enough water, it makes them grow a better root structure. I'm not saying let them dry out to the point of almost dead but just watch the plant and they will tell you when they need water. I use a spray bottle on small seedlings and it just takes a few squirts to make them happy after you see them drooping a little but once the roots come out of the bottom of the cup then bottom watering will work.

Keep us posted and good luck this year.

[QUOTE=agee12;673226]Off topic but I am curious about seed starting in Solo cups which I did last season with mixed results but hope to get better at it. How big are the cups you use? Do you water from the top? If you water from the bottom, do you do anything special to get the water wick up high enough in the cup to reach the seedling's roots?

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

I start the seeds in a multicell flat, dense planting method, each cell labeled with a stick ( each cell can have 3 to 20 seedlings in there). Then , at the first true leaves, push them up out of the cell and separate into one per solo cup, planted almost up to the leaves. See the dense planting thread on here by NCtomatoman (Craig) for a good video and I do it like he does, but I use solo cups instead of pots.

The solo cups , 16 or 18 ounce??- have been stacked up about 9 deep and turned upside down, bottoms up, and I use a drill to make lots of holes in the bottoms; even with 6 or more holes drilled, doing them in stacks makes it fast going.

I label the cups as I am going o transplant, fill with MG soiless mix, and plant them. Water from the top at first, after planting, then from the bottoms. Nothing special to make them take up water, the MG absorbed just fine. Once in a while will mist a few, but mine were outside in Texas heat and a constant breeze; shaded from noon on, but still bright light. After about a week to 10 days, out in the yard, full sun, and then planted.

First picture, about 3 to 5 days from transplanting to solo cups 2nd, sorry about the thumb, into the garden with the cup cut for a label.

Imp, you're a trooper for labeling all those plants. I thought about why am I labeling all these only to need more labels later and started labeling the flat then writing down what seed is in what cell then transfer than to Excel for later use.

I make a label for the flat and attach it to the front and then record what I planted where, like this.

[QUOTE=Rajun Gardener;673279]Imp, you're a trooper for labeling all those plants. I thought about why am I labeling all these only to need more labels later and started labeling the flat then writing down what seed is in what cell then transfer than to Excel for later use.

I make a label for the flat and attach it to the front and then record what I planted where, like this.[/QUOTE]

I made labels for the flats in the evenings, listening to Rob and books or movies. The solo cups were easy to do, just count the seedlings in each cell of that variety, write on the cups for that many ( already drilled cups) and scoop some loose mix in them, and poke the babies in. Also, when planting for good, cut the cup label off - a quick wedge shape, make a hole and I had the plant label for there, too.

I'm not all that organized as you are, lol, and the sheets of print would get wet and blur, I'm a messy gardener!!

I am reluctant to admit this for fear of jinxing myself, but I have never had a problem with damping off. I wonder if keeping them a litter dryer helps, which I can do with the top watering. I don't know why, but I always have really soggy soil at the bottom of the cup before it wicks up high enough to get to the tiny seedlings at the top. And I used to think preventing damping off was part of the reason people didn't want to water from the top.

I'm back to plant labels for sales and to look somewhat professional.

I just ordered 2300 labels for 117+shipping what ever that will be. It's $5.12 per 100.
[url]https://www.mastertag.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.home/index.htm[/url]

[QUOTE=Rajun Gardener;677993]I'm back to plant labels for sales and to look somewhat professional.

I just ordered 2300 labels for 117+shipping what ever that will be. It's $5.12 per 100.
[url]https://www.mastertag.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/home.home/index.htm[/url][/QUOTE]


Update on the label shipping cost: Total price for 2300 labels with shipping was $129.73. That's 100 each of 23 varieties and $11.97 shipping. It comes out to 5¢ each but I only have to order 100 at a time instead of 500 like the other company I talked to.

I went with the normal plants that I know will/should sell and a few others that aren't common around here. I'm trying to go conservative and see what my market wants, we're a farming town-Kinda- and I know people like certain varieties. Here's the list copied from the order
Big Bertha
California Wonder
Cayenne
Hungarian Yellow Wax
Jalapeno
Sweet Banana
Carolina Reaper
Habanero
Tabasco
Melon Hybrid Ambrosia
Hale's Best Jumbo
Bush cucumber
Dasher II
Amelia tomato
Large Red Cherry tomato
Roma tomato
Rutgers
Hybrid Better Boy
Hybrid Big Beef
Hybrid Creole
Hybrid Early Girl
Hybrid Early Goliath tomato
Black Beauty eggplant

Last year I just used Avery labels attached to the containers, custom printed on demand. The year before I used the same labels but I printed several numbers on each label and cut the labels in 4's and gave people a "key" sheet to tell them what plant the number corresponded to. (Note: the 200 or so labels and ink/toner cost me $0.00 ... shame on me).

But more importantly, the extras that I grew for friends and friends of friends. I handed out a list in March of what I planned to grow and gave an April deadline of what people (at the local bar) would want so I had an idea of quantity - nobody had to sign in blood or commit (just to get an idea). I grew what I thought I needed and I drank for free mid May through mid June. Sometimes I would get 2 drinks per plant, sometimes only 2 drinks per dozen ... YMMV, but I had a pocket full of wooden chips. To put that into 'real' money, some people paid $9-$10 per plant, others $0.50 per plant. I believe my actual cost for tomato and peppers (minus labor) was about $0.42 per plant with seed, soil mix and container. The generous people supplemented the not-so-generous people ... it's all good.

I am NOT doing that this year because I am working out of town and only have 2-3 days a week to care for plants.

Edit: My cost to grow 200 extra plants was about $85 (without considering labor)... sales, mainly via drink chips, was roughly $800. Well now gosh darnoodleyit, you know how much I spend at the bar each month (could buy another house perhaps instead).

Double check your state regs. In Neb a permit was required for only perennials, but a new change requires that all plants sold need a state permit. I don't feel like having my dining room inspected so a no go for me :)

- Lisa

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;678944]I don't feel like having my dining room inspected so a no go for me :)

- Lisa[/QUOTE]

Exactly - I keep it among my "circle" friends to minimize the exposure of needing permits, licenses, etc.... not that you don't need those things, but yes ... if you keep the circle small - you might not need those things (supposedly)...
:))

I checked and it's a free money grab for the govmint. $25 for a greenhouse less than 200sqft and $100 for anything over. No test just a fee. Can you guess what my space will be?

199 sq ft:))