Southern seed starting!

[feldon30]

bryan,

Looking good! I see you've got some decently thick stems on those transplants, which is hard to get indoors (because it's so warm).

FlipTX,

That looks great. Something tells me you will try starting more seeds next year.

[duajones]

The majority of my plants are pretty leggy. I dont know how I could do things any different to get better results. Wish I had a garage.....

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by duajones

The majority of my plants are pretty leggy. I dont know how I could do things any different to get better results. Wish I had a garage.....

Duajones,
You can take it for what its worth but you could in your climate keep the plants outside most of the time.
Even here where I live as soon as they sprout they go outside as long as it’s not really cold.
I don’t have to worry about hardening off and they do better in the long run.
Some tomato plants just look leggy and some don’t.
I have some dwarf type and determinate types that look short and stout that are under the lights or outside right along with the tall ones.

Worth

[FlipTX]

Feldon, if we have another mild winter, I definitely will start more. We had some warmish weather in early January, so I was able to sow the seeds outside with the little mini-greenhouse and it was plenty warm enough for germination. On colder nights, I just bring it inside.

How are yours (and my future adoptees) doing?

[bryanccfshr]

You can definately sit those plants outside all day everyday as long as it isn't freezing out. Then bring them in at night if you are worried about frost. I was sitting mine out daily and bringing them into the garage under the lights at night when it was cooler. Now they are sitting out in a cold front getting whipped around. They will come in tonight though.. expecting low to mid 30's.
My plants were potted up and I burried the origninal stems deep too. Like Worth I have to leave for weeks at a time and allow my wife to babysit my seedlings.

[feldon30]

My seedlings are doing very well. They got some time outside 2 days ago (before the rain).

My problem is I am out of pots and Charley's is backordered until March. I know people like Novosel but EDIT: in my initial searches, their pots and shipping seemed to be higher than Charley's. Waiting to see if someone can send me some extras.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by feldon30

My seedlings are doing very well. They got some time outside 2 days ago (before the rain).

My problem is I am out of pots and Charley's is backordered until March. I know people like Novosel but their pots and shipping are 2x the price of Charley's. Waiting to see if someone can send me some extras.

Does Charley's have a web site or are they just local.
I guess they do you said shipping.

What is it.

Worth

[Worth1]

Never mind I found it, it took about 5 seconds.

Worth

[macmanmatty]

what sized pots do you need? Mortons www.mortonproducts.com/ has many pots priced very cheap if you buy in bulk.

[Worth1]

Thanks I already have enough to last for a long long time that I ordered this year.

I do need to think about seed starting for next year though.


But it sounds like Feldon may need some.

Worth

[feldon30]

Charley's Greenhouse
100 * 3" x 4" plastic square pots ($0.25 ea)
6 * 4" trays ($3.30 ea)
Shipping ($10.95)
Total: $55.75




Novosel
100 * 3.5" x 3.75" plastic square pots ($0.20 ea)
6 * 3.5" trays ($1.51 ea)
Shipping ($10.36)
Total: $39.42


Looks like I was not comparing apples to apples before. Novosel looks to be a much better deal.

[bryanccfshr]

I got my 4" pots at a garden center in San Antonio for .10c each. I thought bulk and mail order was supposed to be a good deal.

[feldon30]

Maybe I will drive around and see, but I think most garden centers make their money potting up seedlings so do not want to sell the "tools of the trade".

[robin303]

I'm happy with the 3" peat pots but I do tear out the bottom before I plant.

[FlipTX]

Feldon, I'm not sure how far it is for you, but you might check with Southwest Fertilizer if you haven't already. Their website (yardgeek.com) is down for maintenance, but there's a guy there named Carl who's been very helpful with my past purchases.