Starting Seeds in the Garage

[angelique]

Hi All,

I recently moved. In my previous house, I would start tomato plants in a greenhouse window that was located in my kitchen. Although my germination was low, I always ended up with more than enough plants.

Now that I am in my new house, I have very light carpet. There really isn't an idea place to start my seeds.

I had thought about trying to start them in the garage with a heating mat and overhead lighting. I am not sure if this will work so I thought that this was a good opportunity to get feedback.

I live in Zone 9, Rocklin, California. I hope to have my tomato seeds started by 2/15.

Thanks

Angelique

[bryanccfshr]

I am in Zone 8 of Texas and I have tomato seedlings started right now in the garage under lights.
I kept them in the laundry room on top of the dryer(which is connected to the garage) until they germinated, they then went under the lights in the garage. I have an extra deep freezer, an upright refrigerator and a hot water heater in this garage. These appliances seem to keep the garage at safe temps even when the outside temps dip into the 20's overnight. the garage seems to stay steady at the mean daily temperature. usually in the 50's to low 60's in the garage right now. So far I have no losses reported and I ask my wife about them like they are my pets while I am out of town.

So definitely you can grow seedlings in the garage, you need to apply proper temps for germination and once sprouted they need no more heat mat.

[angelique]

Thanks Bryan. I'll give it a go.

[Suze]

This is a constant question/dilemma for me as well. One complicating factor is that I have three cats, and so if I keep the seedlings inside, then I have to put them in our office room so I can close the door.

I also have very light carpet in that room. Ugh. What I did last year is pick up a few large cheapie doormats at Home Depot. Kind of like you'd see at businesses with double doors. Rubberized on the back, and a small amount of pile on the top. I put these under my light racks and in front of them to avoid carpet messes from watering or accidents. I also put a few layers of newspaper underneath the flats to absorb any excess water.

Most years, here in Texas, I've found that I can easily grow my seedlings in the garage, as long as I keep the flats inside to germinate. Last year was awfully cold here, though, and I didn't dare do it. But by early Feb, they were in the garage at night and outside catching sun during the day.

This year, looks like another cold one so I will probably have them in the office for about a week or two after they germinate. Then, out to the garage at night and outside during the day they go.

It does matter how cold your garage gets. If it's consistently dropping into the 30's or very low 40's in there at night, might want to reconsider or get a heating source in there.

Hope this helps.

[dcarch]

Just make sure that when you open the garage door, the cold blast of freezing air will not damage the seedlings.

dcarch

[bryanccfshr]

Or have the garage door opened and roll the seedlings out when you have nice days..

[duajones]

I wish I had a garage to work with. My seedlings will be indoors in 75 degree average temps. I will probably always end up with somewhat leggy seedlings but I dont have any other options

[troad]

Angelique,
If you are not starting a lot of plants you might try using an empty aquarium. There was an example posted on Garden Web if I remember correctly. Basically the glass aquarium kept the plants sheltered in the garage and heat was supplied with a string of Christmas tree lights. The poster experimented with the number of lights inside the aquarium to achieve their desired temperature level. The setup would need to be next to a window to get daylight like your kitchen window provided. Just a thought if your garage is not heated.

[Granny]

Originally Posted by duajones

I wish I had a garage to work with. My seedlings will be indoors in 75 degree average temps. I will probably always end up with somewhat leggy seedlings but I dont have any other options

I have the garage. It even has work benches I could use and electricity. Completely unheated and uninsulated though, so it won't do at all here in Vermont. We started our seeds last year on a long folding table on the rear winterized porch that we use as a schoolroom. It has tons of windows. Having to handle each individual plant was a real pain though and watering was a nightmare.

This year I bought real greenhouse flats from a link to Novosel someone posted here at Tomatoville. http://www.novoselenterprises.com/ Got great buys on stuff to start the seeds with and deliberately bought trays that will hold a bunch of pots all at once - and a few those will fit in that have no holes so we don't have to carry them all back and forth to water stuff.

It does get a little chilly out here, so I use the super-large ziplock bags to make little "greenhouses" during germination. After I start seeing seedlings popping up I unzip the bag but leave the tray in there for a day or two. This year I will probably have to split my flats into 6-packs to get them into baggies for germination.

[celticman]

The Garage is fine. I am in zone 7/8 and even on the rare occations it gets down to 10 in an unheated uninsalated attached garage the temp stayed above freezing. The question is light. I move mine out on warm days and back in at night.
Celtic