Looking For Starting Plants From Seed

[ErieDeare]

I just moved my plant-stand down in my basement, now I have questions:

What do you use to start your seeds in?
What type of lighting do you use?
Do you use a Heat Mat?
Do you use a plant tray like Parks? An if so how many cells?
What type of potting soil or seed starting mix do you use?
Is there any trade secrets you would like to share?
Do you grow any Heirloom Plant? If so what is your best ones?

[simmran1]

Erie,

This yr. I'm using Johnny's 512 mix, but your best bet might be Jiffy peat pellets.

I use T-8 flouescent lights, and I would recommend.

I have a heat mat, but I don't see any difference, so I guess no, i don't.

One trade secret is I often bottom water (when in plastic pots).

I grow all open-pollinated plants, and some heirlooms. I have many best(s). I really like beefsteaks; Red Barn, County Agent, Pruden's Purple, and too many others- hope that helps, have a good experience, Randy

[slb345]

Hi Erie,

I use Espoma Seed Starter.

I use 2 x 4' T8 fluorescent lights. Once I pot up to the 5" square pre-transplant pots, the lights can manage about 3 rows of 9 at the most.

I use a heat mat and I'm pretty sure the benefits are clear. Germ rate is much higher as you get towards, and above, 80 degrees. You can get a pretty cheap starter kit on Amazon that includes it.

These aren't trade secrets, but here are a few tips...
1) Don't let your seedlings dry out, but also don't let your plants sit in standing water for an extended period of time.
2) When they are ready, harden off slowly over time. I've made the mistake of not taking this serious enough.
3) Confront pests immediately, if possible.

I've grown a number of heirloom / open pollinated tomato plants. Lots of great info on this site. I have been impressed with Black Cherry, Big Cheef, Purple Cherokee, KBX and Paul Robeson.

Good luck!

[Eva Zhang]

Hi Erie,

1) I plan lettuce in a my small green house
2) I use T8 LED grow light, with ravelength of 430-780nm, my plants grow much better.

If you are interested, I can send you some inforamtion of the grow lights.

Good Luck

[Doug9345]

Originally Posted by ErieDeare

I just moved my plant-stand down in my basement, now I have questions:

What do you use to start your seeds in?
What type of lighting do you use?
Do you use a Heat Mat?
Do you use a plant tray like Parks? An if so how many cells?
What type of potting soil or seed starting mix do you use?
Is there any trade secrets you would like to share?
Do you grow any Heirloom Plant? If so what is your best ones?

I start my seed in plastic cups more or lest dense packed. I transplant to 8.5 oz styrofoam cups. This year I think yogurt cups are going to factor in there.

I've used a mix of random fluorescents and CFLs plus window sills. The plants grow slow under the random fluorescents. I think I'm going to go with heated cold frames this year after I get them started.

I've taped Christmas lights to the bottom of plastic shelves to get the temperature up, mostly for peppers. My bedroom used to run 60°F at night so bottom heat helped a lot.

I've used a sand compost mix that came out of the pig barn years ago, Peat, Peat and soil mixes, Miracle Grow, dirt scooped out of the woods and dirt composted wood from where the wood pile sat each year. Peppers don't seem to like the peat. I think it's too acid.


Trade secrets: Tomatoes are tougher than people give credit for. There are many ways to grow tomatoes. What works for one person seems to be an absolute failure for the next. A kitchen thermometer is a great tool for diagnosing germination problems as I think some of the problems people have are temperature spikes that kill the seeds or localized cold spots such as a pot on the back edge of a shelf that is running a lot colder than others. One other thing KEEP GOOD NOTES.


Heirlooms: There are so many open pollinated tomatoes of which Heirlooms are a sub class, that I'd be hard put to pick the best 50. It's also going to vary with your location and what type of tomato you like. If you believe that tomatoes are only red and round then you're going to like different tomatoes than I do who really like the milder yellow and orange tomatoes. I also like tomatoes that aren't as assertive as some other people do.

I suspect that Rutgers would work for you. Be aware that there are different strains. I like currant tomatoes either red or yellow as well as Coyote for a small yellow cherry. I've read at least one speculation that ti too was a currant tomato. Gold Nugget makes a nice yellow cherry that is around an inch in diameter.

I've grown Volovsko Srce which is an oxheart tomato and I'm going to grow a lot more hearts this year because I liked it so much.

[Eva Zhang]

I grow lettuce in a small green house. With use T8 led grow light, it grows well. Because the grow light can be made of the specific spectrum which plants need.

But I also heard that many growers use the fluorescent lamp.

Which do you think is best for plants? any ideas?

[matilda'skid]

How many tomato plants do you want to grow and do you plan to grow other things like peppers? You said you have a plant stand. How many plants will fit on it? The number of cells in the planting tray depends on how many tomato plants you want to end up with and also the space you have to grow them inside. The small plants will take up very little space, but soon the plants will need to go in bigger pots and will take up much more space. I wouldn't buy a bunch of expensive stuff like seed starters from Parks etc. Start slow and learn what you need. Peppers do like heat and may appreciate a heat mat.

I grow tomatoes in my basement every year, but I start the seeds upstairs where it is warmer. This year they were on top of a tall cabinet. I put them in a plastic tub so I don't ruin my furniture. My sister gave me two heat mats and I don't use them. My seeds come up in about a week; I am not in a race to get them up faster.

As soon as the plants have emerged, I put them in the basement where it is cool with a fluorescent light a couple or maybe three inches above the plant. I use ordinary potting mix. Sometimes I add perlite for more drainage. Your worst enemy is over watering and poor drainage.

Peat pellets are easy but it takes more skill to use them than to use potting mix with perlite. If you overwater you can get damping off. If you underwater they dry up and then the water runs off them. I have used peat pellets before with school kids because the little pellet swelling up is fun and the soil doesn't spill out of them. Again if you are talking about a few plants, the peat pellets may be more convenient than buying a bag of Miracle Grow or something. A have had no luck at all with Jiffy organic seed starting mix. Tomato seeds are fairly large and you really don't have to use something fine textured. They will come up.

I use shop lights that are narrow. I don't want the reflector flap or what ever it is. I use cheap 40 watt fluorescent bulbs. You don't need the special plant grow bulbs just to get seedlings that later go outside to your garden. Other types of bulbs may work as well. I see those narrow ones but haven't tried them. This year I had my first seedlings under a compact fluorescent bulb until more little plants came up. Now I have one shop light going downstairs.

I always plant my seeds too early but this year I did wait until almost March. If you plant too early you have big plants before you can put them outside. I always do that and it causes me stress. When the plants are too large inside you can't get enough light on them. You can't leave for the weekend because they have to be watered more often. Look to others for advice on when to plant for your area.

Do you know about the need to harden off the plants? That is critical and I am sure you can find lots of info on that.

[ErieDeare]

I was looking to get T-8 lighting for my plant-stand and also looked at T-5's also. Which one is the best energy effluent?

Years ago I started my seeds in Styrofoam cups I believe 8.5 oz.

Last year I tried the Burpees seed start kit and I did not like them.

Anyone use cow pots?

What do you think of Parks Seed Starting trays with the Dome on?

What is your best tomato for Salsa?

[ErieDeare]

Originally Posted by matilda'skid

How many tomato plants do you want to grow and do you plan to grow other things like peppers. I grow tomatoes in my basement every year, but I start the seeds upstairs where it is warmer. I sister gave me two heat mats and I don't use them. My seeds come up in about a week; I am not in a race to get them up faster. Once the plants have emerged, I put them in the basement with a fluorescent light a couple or may be three inches above the plant. I use ordinary potting mix. Sometimes I add perlite for more drainage. Your worst enemy is over watering and poor drainage. Peat pellets are easy but it takes more skill to use them than to use potting mix with perlite. If you overwater you can get damping off if you underwater they dry up and then the water runs off them. I have used peat pellets before with school kids because the little pellet swelling up is fun and the soil doesn't spill out of them.

I believe that last year I had my tray why to wet. My tomatoes got leggy and I had the light 2 inch above them but had them in the living room so yes they got the West sun.

This is why I am moveing them to the basement.

[Doug9345]

T-5's are more efficient but I don't think enough so to make up for the difference in cost between them.

[Fusion_power]

1. Use the best sterilized seed start mix you can find. Promix BX or Miracle Grow seed start or Fafards are some names to check on. If you can find a mix that includes mycorrhiza, so much the better. Using a non-sterilized potting mix or similar is a recipe for failure. Some folks like the peat pellets. I won't touch them with a 20 ft pole, the webbing can be a problem for roots. Some like peat cups. I won't touch them with a 20 ft pole, they wick water away from the roots. I will include a recipe for homemade seed start mix below.

2. You can use any kind of container you choose, just please arrange so the seedlings can be bottom watered. 90% of the problems I've seen with folks growing seedlings revolve around improper watering. They either get too much or too little or don't get it where it is needed around the roots.

3. Get the temperature right. Tomato seed germinate best between 70 and 80 degrees. Pepper seed like it warmer, they do best at 75 to 85 degrees.

4. There are lots of good ways to give them light. If you want the latest most energy efficient, get some of the new natural light led bulbs. They make them in a 4 ft form factor. Make sure you are giving the seedlings enough light. It takes 6 fluorescent bulbs at 40 watts each to cover 4 trays of seedlings where the trays are 11" X 22". The new LED bulbs would still need 6 bulbs, but would only consume about 70 watts total.


seed start mix, homemade version:
2 parts worm castings
2 parts peat moss
1 parts perlite

Mix well, saturate with water, place in a deep pan in an oven at 300 degrees for about 30 minutes. Make sure it gets hot enough to steam, then remove from the oven and let it cool. This will sterilize the mix so phytothora does not destroy your seedlings.

[matilda'skid]

I added to my answer above because I accidentally hit submit before I was done answering. Fusion knows how to grow tomato plants. What you do depends a lot on how many plants you want to grow. I would not worry about energy efficiency for the number of plants I grow, but for all I know you are in the tomato business. An inefficient bulb makes heat and in a cool basement a little heat doesn't hurt. I have fluorescent bulbs all over my house, but recently I bought some incandescent ones while I still can. Sometimes I want them for heat when the pipes are freezing in an unusually cold winter. That is off the subject, but you get what I'm saying. Also I wish I had some of his potting mix and worm castings. That mix sounds great. I think you can grow tomatoes doing lots of things wrong. They are pretty easy to grow. Remember good drainage though. I like plastic pots better than peat or cow pots because they do drain well especially the small ones.

[Hermitian]

Originally Posted by ErieDeare

I just moved my plant-stand down in my basement, now I have questions:

What do you use to start your seeds in?
What type of lighting do you use?
Do you use a Heat Mat?
Do you use a plant tray like Parks? An if so how many cells?
What type of potting soil or seed starting mix do you use?
Is there any trade secrets you would like to share?
Do you grow any Heirloom Plant? If so what is your best ones?

I used "Jiffy Organic Seed Starting Mix" topped with some Vermiculite. As in past years, I'm having great success: Richard's Indoor Propagation

[matilda'skid]

I envy you with those windows on each side. It looks like you are ready to go, but I don't think you really need the heat mat because I'll bet that nice room is warm enough.

[Hermitian]

Originally Posted by matilda'skid

I envy you with those windows on each side. It looks like you are ready to go, but I don't think you really need the heat mat because I'll bet that nice room is warm enough.

Nope. During the period from dusk to dawn a heat mat is definitely needed.