Practical seed starting

[willyb]

Practical seed starting

There are many ideas and strategies that work for growing seedlings. The following works for me to produce healthy plants and is cost effective.

Building a seed starting flat

• It can be any size that suits your available space to grow out seedlings.
• Space wasn’t an issue for me, except the area of the bottom heat source so I went with 16” x 24” for economy of materials. From a 48” x 48” sheet of ¼” plywood, I made 6 flats.
• Costs were: Plywood - $10. One 1”x3x 8’- $1.50. Some waterproof wood glue, staples, plastic and nails
• End cost about $2 each
• Yield 13 x 13 = 169 plants each
• Flats can be re-used for many years.
• Tools required. Minimum, a hand saw, hammer, stapler and tape Measure
• A power jig saw would save some arm ache, cost about $25

Build your flats

• Cut plywood to size
• Cut 2 sides and 2 ends of 1”x 3” frame to length. You don’t need to measure it, lay it on the plywood and mark it with a pencil.
• Glue and nail the frame together. Set it overtop of the plywood to keep it square or use a sheet of printer paper as a square.
• Glue and nail the plywood to the frame.
• Spread plastic over the completed flat, enough to cover the bottom and all sides. Staple it in and trim off excess. Leave enough to fold over the flat. Fold the plastic where required to keep it tight to the frame.

Soil

• When I use the word “soil”, I am speaking of a planting medium or strata, not “dirt”
• We north Americans are subject to marketing pressure to buy this brand or that brand. Many times I see the question asked, “What is the best soil to buy” The question we should be asking is “What do the plants need to establish a good root system and stay in good health until they are transplanted?”
• They need: A strata to grow in. Something to hold moisture. Air to the roots. A small amount of nutrient, preferably high in phosphorous. Light.
• We can make our own seeding mix that will do the job every bit as good as the “best” commercial ones.
• Buy the raw ingredients and mix your own.
• 2 parts peat moss, 1 part compost (Your own or local bagged .5 .5 .5) 1part perlite or vermiculite or a combination of both. A hand full of bone meal.
• Mycorrhizas - Don’t buy into this marketing hype for seed starting. Your plants will do fine with out it. Your own compost if in contact with garden soil or any healthy garden soil will contain Mycorrhizas, throw in a handful of your garden dirt if you want it.
• Micro-nutrients. The compost will have all the plant needs to get to transplanting stage.

Adding soil to the flat

• Add soil to the top of the frame. Level and water until evenly moist. Compact gently with a block of wood. Do not over compact as you want space for air in the soil.

Plant seeds

• Place seeds on the surface. Press into soil with pencil, your finger or the handle end of a screwdriver.
• Dust with a thin layer of peat moss 1/8th inch or less, level and compacted lightly with your hand or block of wood. Do not water the peat moss. It will act as a moisture retainer. (mulch) and prevent damping off.
• Fold the plastic over the flat to help retain moisture. Not tight, allow for air movement to prevent mold and damping off.

Germination

• Add bottom heat. Not necessary, but will advance germination by a few days. Keep ambient temperature over 60 degrees and not over 90 degrees for tomatoes and peppers until seeds have germinated, afterwards less than 70 degrees for growth.
• Your shop light, turned upside down will work as well as a heat mat.
• When the first seeds germinate, remove plastic.

Light

• When the first seeds germinate, put them under florescent lights. A 2 bulb T8 shop light is the most cost effective, under $20. GE plant and aquarium bulbs will provide the best growth and are cheap. GE kitchen and bath are also good.
• T5 bulbs are not cost effective. The bulbs and fixtures cost so much that for the energy savings you will not recover the cost in 10 years.
• I keep the lights on 24 hours a day so as not to have to worry about timing or a timer. 16 hours should be a minimum to keep the plants compact.
• Keep the light no more than 1” above the plants.
• A south facing window will work, the plants will be “leggier”

Water

• Do not over water. The initial water should be enough for all seeds to germinate.
• If kept on the dry side the roots will grow long seeking water.
• Water only if the soil feels very dry. Take a sample from the bottom soil with a straw to test.
• I use a 4 -10-4 fertilizer at 1/5th the recommended strength in the water after the first true leaves form to promote root growth. At this concentration you will not burn the plants. More is not better.
• If you are an organic grower, use dilute molasses tea or similar. High phosphorous, low nitrogen.

[dokutaaguriin]

Excellent instructions! Thanks for taking the time post your guide.

Jeff

[willyb]

Thanks Jeff,

That's a nice comment to come from a seasoned grower like yourself.

Every seed I received from you germinated and the plants are doing very well

Brad

[DiggingDogFarm]

The better half wishes I were so detail oriented and organized! LOL
Luckily, so far, I haven't needed to be....I just plant seeds and they grow.


~Martin

[willyb]

Martin,

Your lucky, I would do that too if I could. I am not organized by nature. it is out of necessity. I need a planting Gage with numbers to remember where I planted the last seed

Brad

[janezee]

Brad,
Thank you for such a detailed guide. I'm not happy with my current set-up, and this looks better to me. I have a great deal of difficulty keeping track of things.

j

[DiggingDogFarm]

Originally Posted by willyb

Martin,

Your lucky, I would do that too if I could. I am not organized by nature. it is out of necessity. I need a planting Gage with numbers to remember where I planted the last seed

Brad

Brad,

The seed gauge is a clever idea, looks like you do an excellent job starting your seeds.

~Martin

[willyb]

Janzee,

Hard time remembering things? We must be from the same era.

You and I have chatted about using spent mushroom compost in the past and I know you use it in your raised gardens. I want to use lots this year. If I plant my tomatoes into straight SMC will there be too much nitrogen? Will I get foliage at the loss of fruit?

Thanks for the comment on the planting gauge, Martin.

Brad

[janezee]

They had a list of what was in my mushroom compost,
and there was lots of peat, and gypsum, chicken manure, canola meal,
straw, sugar beet and lime. I found it had all broken down completely,
and no particles other than a chunk of peat, like a stem.

I think I had just a little too much nitrogen, so I used a bunch of bone meal,
thinking it would balance it out? Somewhat? It's good you're asking today!
I guess I'd better start remembering what else I did so I can do it again.

I didn't think that I had excessive foliage, and I had lots of fruit with no BER.
My problem was the cold. So few fruit ripened on the vine before the annual
late blight hit.
Very short window of opportunity last year.
OTOH, I did cut a bunch of branches and ripened indoors for a couple of months!
Not nearly as good as summer-ripened, but better than store-bought!

If I remember anything else, I'll let you know.

[willyb]

Originally Posted by janezee

They had a list of what was in my mushroom compost,
and there was lots of peat, and gypsum, chicken manure, canola meal,
straw, sugar beet and lime. I found it had all broken down completely,
and no particles other than a chunk of peat, like a stem.

I think I had just a little too much nitrogen, so I used a bunch of bone meal,
thinking it would balance it out? Somewhat? It's good you're asking today!
I guess I'd better start remembering what else I did so I can do it again.

I didn't think that I had excessive foliage, and I had lots of fruit with no BER.
My problem was the cold. So few fruit ripened on the vine before the annual
late blight hit.
Very short window of opportunity last year.
OTOH, I did cut a bunch of branches and ripened indoors for a couple of months!
Not nearly as good as summer-ripened, but better than store-bought!

If I remember anything else, I'll let you know.

Thanks Janezee,

I am not too concerned about excess nitrogen, have lots of plants and will have more tomatoes than we can eat or give away or make salsa and sauce from. I think you were right about adding extra bonemeal for more phosphors. I also think that most of us think too much and get caught up in the small details (me) instead of focusing on why we garden, for the pure enjoyment of it.

It sounds like my SMC is younger than yours, very course. I see gypsum, straw, chicken manure, horse manure in it. Perhaps the de-composition of the raw materials will take some of the excess nitrogen.

I remember gardening on the west coast several year back. If I recall correctly, the tomatoes under plastic sometimes survived the late blight, is that right?

OTOH, took me a minute to get it, I am catching on.

Brad

[janezee]

I am really hoping that plastic will hold off the late blight.
I'm buying lots of it this year!
Along with lots of conduit and a pipe bender.

[dokutaaguriin]

Hi Brad,
I am glad to hear that you had good germination with my seeds.
How many days (weeks) do you run your lights for 24 hours? Do you find they get leggy with that much light?
I go 16 hours a day under lights until the temperatures at night are reliably above a few degrees above 0C. I then start to hard them off for a week. Once the week is up I then leave them out in the greenhouse where I use my little electric heater on low at night.
Jeff

[willyb]

Hi Jeff,

This is my 1st year back at greenhouse growing after being on the road working for several years. I am on my 3rd set of plants under lights. Each set stayed 3 weeks or so, 24 hour light. I keep the light no more than an inch above the plants and move it up as they grew. They stay very short with short node intervals and bushed out, looked good.

I think 16 hours a day would be fine for me, it is just that I have always use 24 hour light and it works for me (If it ain't broke, don't fix it my dad always used to say)

At night during the winter, we turn the house heat down to 50 F or so at night. I think the extra heat on top of the plants is good for them.

From the seeding flats under the lights, I transplanted to 16 oz cups at put them straight into the greenhouse, no lights. About 45 at night 60 to 100 day. I know that sounds brutal, but the majority of the plants done OK. 1 or 2 % of the plants were stressed. My Mortgage Lifters faired the worst, some came back some didn't. I bought that pack of seed somewhere in town here, had poor germination with them also. Not sure if it was the cold that got them or poor seed stock. 98% of the other plants showed no signs of stress and they are a problem for me as they are growing me out of room.

Brad