Craig, when are your frost dates and your 'market dates' for your area? I'm always worried I'm either too early or too late with my dates...

thanks!

J

I find that frost date isn't a huge factor - people want their plants when they want them, and are very impatient! So a mid-late Feb seed sow leads to a mid March transplant - since I don't have a greenhouse, it is all about temps staying above freezing at night. My market season is mid April through early to mid May. You can typically plant out here mid to late April, though there are always late frost surprises!

Craig,

Great job with the YouTube videos and explanations. You definitely have your routine down pat and it works very well! If I actually ever have that many to grow, I will copy what you did, what a space saver to do it that way!

I have a question about the Johnny tray in the video. Was that one tray? It was so sturdy, it looks like two of say the Jiffy trays or usual trays put together, not one. If that's one, I may be placing orders for them for next year!

Thanks,
Kat

Kat, I use these

[URL]http://www.johnnyseeds.com/p-8134-plug-flats-50-cellsflat-5-pk.aspx[/URL]

They work out to 3 dollars each plus shipping and tax of course, but I reuse them and some that I have are now in their 4th or 5th season of use!

Dense Planting Illustrated
 

Thank you so much for your advice, Craig. I am amazed that with so much to do you can find time to update all the queries, videos etc. Forgive me if you have already answered this question and I have missed it. This is temperature? When you have your sown cells on a heat mat( at what temperature) what would be the minimum air temperature needed? When you move the seedlings to the garage you say you will wait until it warms up a bit. Again are they still on a heat mat and what minimum air temperature would you suggest?
Here in the UK I move my germinated seeds to a propagator in the greenhouse and am never sure of this post-germination temperature.
Thanks again
Gill

Craig,

They looked real sturdy in your video, and I'm sure you know how thin and floppy the packs are at the box stores! That's what I'm using now, and without the bottom watering tray in there, they're way too thin to do much with alone. Tonight I went to cut one of the 9 pack sections off my 72 cell tray and the corner ripped and tore, which has happened before.

I think these are fairly priced, I'll definitely look into them for the next year. Thank you for your help!

Kathy

Progress report video updated just today - March 11. Check out the first post in this thread.

Thanks again Craig. Keep em rolling. I'm only planting out 36 plants so I put down about 150 seeds straight in 36 X 16oz cups with Miracle Grow and Jiffy start mix. I was worried yesterday as I planted them Saturday and as of last night had NO germination. The soil was very wet as I left them covered for a couple of days (loose Siran Wrap). I took the wrap off last night and have 3 or 4 of the varieties that are finally popping up as of this evening so we'll see.

Thank you so much for allowing us to following along.

excellent work.
 

Thanks Craig. You are an asset.

I have been using Craig's method since he first posted it, it works great and I rarely lose any. Sure beats the 50 flats I used to start seeds with....

Thanks Craig!!

This is the first thread I've read since joining Tomatoville.....WOW! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and technique with us, Craig. Looking forward to your updates and new videos...!!

I just posted another video - when I pop the thickly planted seedling cell out of the plug flat and show how I separate them and transplant into 4 inch pots.

As always, the video is in the initial post in this thread - the last one.

We will probably do a reshoot when the seedlings are a bit larger and do better close ups (esp. of when I pull the seedlings apart) - but it is a start!

The video is set to private viewing only

I reloaded it to YouTube and it now seems to have the correct access - open viewing.

The link in the first post in this thread should be fine....the video will be viewable once YouTube finishes its processing.

Hi there nctomatoman;

So far, I have been watching your video clips from day one.
All your clips are GREAT !
I just have two minor questions if you can explain to me.

In clip one, once everything was done, you put saran wrap over the tray.
What does that do to the seeds?

In the last clip, when you were separating the plants, I noticed that the stems of the plants were some what light purple.
What does that indicate?

Thanks a lot, and keep rolling :)
user10