Growing Seedlings in flats

[snappybob]

I'm fairly experienced in growing seedlings. I start a lot of tomatoes and peppers every year to sell to friends, co workers and some farmers market growers. I start them out in the little six packs sowing a half dozen or so seeds per cell and then transplanting to 4 inch pots and growing them out to sell or plant in my garden. I have a customer who would like me to start and grow out to transplant size two varieties of peppers in 96 cell flats. One flat for each variety. I am looking for pointers on what I may need to do differently with this method of growing. Will I have to feed periodicly since the plant will have much less medium to draw nutients from? I'm sure diligent watering will be a must since the small cell will tend to dry out quickly with a big root system drawing from it. I grow in a small green house that is heated at night when nessesary. I usually start my plants around the third week of January. Will seedlings grown this way grow faster, slower or at the same rate? I am looking forward to getting some experience at growing with this method. I'd like to get some advice to avoid any pitfalls that may be on the horizon. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Keger]

Might want to check with a local greenhouse, commercial type, for tips. I have one here I work with a lot. They start theirs as plugs, in trays of 288. I think patience is the deal with some good light. They keep them as plugs 4 weeks, then into 4" pots for 4 weeks. At 8 weeks, ready to sell. They dont water unless there is food in the water. Their system is set up like that. I water my new stuff with Miracle grow and it blows up pretty good, as there are 0 nutrients in seed starter mix. I use plain water at planting and a spray bottle until the stems are a little thick and fuzzy, then the Grow solution.

[moon1234]

Originally Posted by Keger

Might want to check with a local greenhouse, commercial type, for tips. I have one here I work with a lot. They start theirs as plugs, in trays of 288. I think patience is the deal with some good light. They keep them as plugs 4 weeks, then into 4" pots for 4 weeks. At 8 weeks, ready to sell. They dont water unless there is food in the water. Their system is set up like that. I water my new stuff with Miracle grow and it blows up pretty good, as there are 0 nutrients in seed starter mix. I use plain water at planting and a spray bottle until the stems are a little thick and fuzzy, then the Grow solution.

I grew 10 to 12, 72 cell plug trays worth this year of tomatoes and 6-72 cell peppers. It is NOT true that growing medium does not have fert. MOST good ones will have a starter charge that is designed to get seedlings to the first true leaves. You should NOT use miracle grow for young seedlings. MOST fert sold in home stores will have most of the nitrogen in an ammonia based form. This will cause stretch in your seedlings.

It is best to feed with Calcium Nitrate ONLY until they have four true leaves. You can THEN use a weak complete fertilizer (10-10-10, etc.) once a week and alternate with calcium nitrate. The key is to produce short, stocky plants. You do not want tall lush plants for transplanting.

I grow from seed to transplant in the 72 cell trays. They work great.

Peppers are a little harder as the seed needs to stay warm for at LEAST 2-3 weeks until you have good emergence. This means you need a germination chamber or bottom heat to keep the SOIL at a constant 80-85 degrees until you have full emergence. Once you have good emergence then grow on the same as tomatoes. Peppers need 10-12 weeks for good transplant size or you will not get peppers until late in the season in the north.

Choose growing mix such as Fafard, Pro-Mix or similar. I use Fafard GM-1 and mix rice hulls in to replace the perlite and vermiculite. Most growers I know start early tomatoes in 72 cell plug trays and later season toms in 128. We transplant with either water wheel transplanters or a normal holland style transplanter.

Gowing in 4" pots is more for retail consumers who think bigger plants are better.

[Keger]

Guess there's several different ways to do things huh?

[ilex]

If you have the space, I would use bigger trays with more space for the seedlings. You'll get better quality than comercial ones. At least here in Spain, comercial seedlings are skiny and really crowded.

If it's only a few flats you can go for the quality, if it's a big business, you'll have to find a compromise between space used and plants sold.

[clkeiper]

I would not agree to growing in the 96 size for anybody as a "finished" plant. they really need the soil mass to keep from dying if someone forgets to water them for a day. Moon is correct in giving peppers more grow time than tomatoes. I always plan on 10-12 weeks for the crop AFTER they are germinated. I germinate them on a heat mat, too. Otherwise I don't get a very good germination rate. You may not need to there depending on the night temperatures....but I would still plan on having one just in case it is cool at nighttime.