I've been looking at the seed starting kits/greenhouses and am seriously looking at Burpees with their pellets. Is one brand better than another? Also, do I have to use grow lights? We get a lot of sun and keep our house at 75.

Also how many tomato seeds should I be buying? The Roma's I was looking at are 120 in a pack. We're wanting to have enough tomatoes and make sauce and salsa for the year.

Is one brand better than another?

Lots of discussions about them here and no, no one brand is better than the other. They all have very few advantages and the same problems. ;) They are not required in any way and many find they get the best results from just plain containers and a good quality seed starting mix.

Also, do I have to use grow lights?

Most find that yes, for indoor growing you will need a light set up and some sort of heat mat or heat source. The basic set up is detailed in the FAQ.

Dave

I've started seeds both in them and in other containers (like peat pots, styrofoam cups, etc.) and the ones in the APS units always grow the best... I'm sure if I was better at this whole thing, the results would be more equal, but it's nice having a foolproof system when you're still new at seed starting!

My two cents: I personally find that the peat pellet greenhouses work excellent! I usually get about 80-90% of the seeds (for tomatoes) to germinate within 10 days. The things you have to remember for the peat pellet greenhouses to work are that you must keep the pellets fully wet, as they soak up a ton of water. That is not hard to do if you keep the dome/lid on, as moisture will not escape very easily and you'll find that you really only need to re-water them once or twice. Also, watch for white mold that looks like spider webbing. After a few days with the dome on, you may very well get some of this. If that happens, remove it by hand & let the pellets air out a bit by propping the dome open just slightly. It's recommended that the greenhouse also be kept in a warm dark place. I agree with this to a point. Once you have about a third to a half of the seeds sprouted, you will want to keep the dome on about half of the day, but move the greenhouse to a lighted location (sun or artificial is fine at this point), but not too sunny/lighted as this is the first time the wee seedlings have seen any light. Once most of the seeds sprout, remove the dome for good. I only keep the seedlings in the peat pellets for that initial period of between 7-14 days, depending upon tomato variety, as the peat pellet is not a good seedling growing medium, only good for seed starting. Once the seedling has been pointing straight up for 2-3 days and gets to be about an inch and a half or so in height, then I transplant it to a semi-translucent plastic cup (a lot of people prefer Styrofoam cups). When transplanting to the cup, make sure to remove the lining around the pellet. Also, very carefully soften the peat around the plant, then pot up until only about a half to a full inch of the seedling is showing. I then place the seedlings, in their cups, in a sunny windowsill. This advice works great for any pellet/greenhouse/dome structure. The main thing to remember is that these pellet greenhouses (or peat cups/pots, etc.) are only for seed starting and are not very good at all for seedlings growth. The same goes for peppers & other veggies, but time for germination will obviously vary. If you prefer to just stay away from the peat items all together, like Dave says, you can just start the seeds in the cups, bypassing that stage. I have had ok/varied results doing it that way.

Regarding grow lights, a lot of people swear by them, but I never use them and still have great results. If you don't use them, you just really need a good bit of indoor sunny space for the seedlings.

If you find a well working germination method like I do, you don't really need many seeds, but it's all in the gardener's method/opinion. For example, I used a 25 peat pellet greenhouse to start most of my tomato seeds in this year. I put 4 seeds in each pellet. I had about 90% of the total seeds germinate. I simply let all the seeds sprout and then "thinned out"/pulled the weaker looking ones (ended up being about 50 that I pulled) until I was left with the best looking seedling in each pellet which then were potted up with the method I explained above. Some people don't like to do this though b/c it's a slight waste of seed. It's really a matter of personal choice/opinion.

Anyways, hope some of this info helps. Regarding the Roma's, 3-5 plants max, well taken care of, would give you enough tomatoes to can, eat fresh & more.

- Steve