Paper Towel Method - Failed? - Page 3

aconite · March 24, 2014

I don't usually start tomatoes this way, often the seeds are too tiny to manipulate easily, and they sprout fast in growing medium anyhow... Your method with paper squares would be better for tomatoes i'd say, to plant them along with the paper later.
About coffee filters, yeah they're better than paper in my experience, but i've seen one more option people use, and that is wetted baking paper (the white glossy kind). I think some hibiscus growers swear by it, when germinating quite expensive seeds (5 seeds of good parentage can often cost well over 20$). They use the usual paper and baggie method, but put a layer of wet baking paper on the inside of the paper booklet. Roots don't stick to baking paper at all, and one can leave sprouted seeds inside until they completely exit the seed shell, to prevent helmet head (some pepper varieties are really prone to this, at least in my experience).

I suggested the above mostly as an idea to save space (especially on heaters), in regard to your problems with stacking the plates. However i just had a duh-moment myself, i stacked these boxes on my kitty litter box with the heater inside, i could've just bought another litter box since they stack neatly one in another and have used the maximum surface of that one box for seeds... Ugh, live and learn.

March 24, 2014	#31
aconite Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Croatia Posts: 42	I don't usually start tomatoes this way, often the seeds are too tiny to manipulate easily, and they sprout fast in growing medium anyhow... Your method with paper squares would be better for tomatoes i'd say, to plant them along with the paper later. About coffee filters, yeah they're better than paper in my experience, but i've seen one more option people use, and that is wetted baking paper (the white glossy kind). I think some hibiscus growers swear by it, when germinating quite expensive seeds (5 seeds of good parentage can often cost well over 20$). They use the usual paper and baggie method, but put a layer of wet baking paper on the inside of the paper booklet. Roots don't stick to baking paper at all, and one can leave sprouted seeds inside until they completely exit the seed shell, to prevent helmet head (some pepper varieties are really prone to this, at least in my experience). I suggested the above mostly as an idea to save space (especially on heaters), in regard to your problems with stacking the plates. However i just had a duh-moment myself, i stacked these boxes on my kitty litter box with the heater inside, i could've just bought another litter box since they stack neatly one in another and have used the maximum surface of that one box for seeds... Ugh, live and learn.