6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

chele519,

Sounds like we're in the same boat =) I'm a second year newbie and I just bought one of the wire shelves and hooked up a bunch of lights etc. I am so excited about mine! Last year was my first doing a ton of seedlings and I had them in every corner of my house. It was driving me bonkers! And wow, do the plants ever appreciate this new setup too. Much more light control etc.

I used 2 each of 2 bulb shop lights from home depot and other ones I got for free from friends etc. on each shelf, I don't think I could fit more if I wanted. I think I bought the 48" x 20" shelving unit. My trays are not directly under lights on each edge a little, maybe 1-2" on each side. I usually pull a tray out at a time to bottom water and I rotate them around when I do that, so haven't really noticed any issues at all.

I'm using Phillips and GE plant and aquarium bulbs. Overkill maybe, but it was high on my birthday wish list and the family came through...lol. I've heard using 1 cool and 1 warm mixed together works really well though and I did some research and I'll probably go that way when I actually have to buy them :)

Here's a pic, the ends of the flats definitely don't get as much light. I think rotating is important.

Yep, same setup as me. Although I have 2 shelves with 3 shop lights and 1 shelf with just 1. My lettuce is going outside now so that frees up some space under the lights, thank god!

Originally I had bought a 2 pack of warm and 2 cool at Walmart. THey were GE and the cool is much brighter than the cool Philips at HD. One is 6500k and the other is 4100. The rest I'm using all cool Philips. I think I would have preferred the daylight deluxe, they would have been closer to the GE but the Philips seem to be working well too. Aren't those shelves terrific? It was expensive but it will last forever.

I gave up the sterilization routine after the first couple of years. If I have a problem with damping off it is my fault for not watching the growing conditions close enough. Too warm and/or too moist, with too little air flow promotes damping off. Fungus is everywhere, learn to live with it, by NOT providing the conditions it needs to flourish. Al

Al - I am relieved to hear some of the experienced gardeners dont bother to sterilize. I didnt even wash mine. They were in the garage all winter so at least -20 degrees. I was hoping that that would kill anything. I just shook out any older soil that was still inside and planted them up. I did use fresh mix. And while I got a tiny bit of damp-off on a couple of things, I dont think it came from the un-sterilized pots.

Here Dietes or african iris seed them self and I dig the seedling when about 6 inches tall and pot them up. If the seed pods are dry the seeds are ripe. Al

I collected a few hundred ripe seeds from a couple african irises at my old house, 5 months ago, knowing we were moving. I have used a seed starter kit and planted 1 seed per small pot and covered (like a greenhouse) for about a week now. I also planted a few wild flower seed in the same seed starter greenhouse box and they have all started sprouting. Which makes me wonder if I am doing something wrong with the Irises. They are in warm shade right now. Should they be out in the florida spring sun to grow or do they just take longer to sprout?

Thanks all for the great advice,
I want to answer Chris CL. Hi Chris, thanks for all the explanations. I am trying to grow everything you mentioned plus summer stuff.
A month ago I started the spring stuff: lettuce, cabbage, spinach, bok choy, broccoli, onions, and am doing different types. They are what died and got tangled. The last freeze here is around April 11th, so I was going to get them out this week. Only some lettuce and cabbage survived. I guess since its already in the 80s and will be in the 90s by May, I need to wait and do a fall crop as you suggested in say August with the seeds I have left? The nights are still cool say 48 degrees. Let me know cause I would love to get out some green like my brussels sprouts before it gets hot.
Now as far as summer goes I have 17 different types of tomatos, several types of peppers, water mellons, okra, cucumbers, summer onions, and strawberrys. I was going to go ahead this week and start them in cups and aluminum pans with holes in the bottoms of the cups for proper drainage. I also cover the pans, with the seed cups in the them, with Saran wrap until germination. Water melons, strawberrys, cucumbers,and okra I simply seed in the ground. I have to weed soon, and after turning the soil over I was going to add cow manure 50/50 with the soil. Its top soil with red clay underneath. If I do a soil test with my pH soil test kit what range for what I have mentioned do you recommend for optimum grow? I have lime to neutralize if needed. Some of the tomatos and the strawberrys will be grown in very large pots on the back porch.
Last year was my first try and the weather and bugs killed it all. I did most of what you mentioned, but used old bug killer. Where I cleared is overrun with black ants. Funny cause fire ants rule the rest of the yard. I heard some bug that comes out at night could have eaten my greens last year? I will get some Savin liquid concentrate. I gave my plants alst summer an inch a week of water at least, sometimes every evening, and I have a rain gauge. However, the over 100 degree temperatures last year for so long was just too much I guess, I am unsure what to do this year as I expect the same temperatures.
Thanks for the sunlight guide. I did something similiar, but once they got outside the leaves on say the peppers; just drooped in the sun. After I gave up, I actually had small Rutgers tomatos come in when it was October last year?

Thanks again folks and I will checkout that book loribee2

You mention that they get tangled. Are you thinning your seedlings so that each one has the appropriate space for its variety? Also, are you keeping the light source close enough to the seedlings to avoid them becoming leggy?

Depending on what it is, you may end up with something very similar to the F1. I'm no expert in this by any means, but I've saved a few seeds here and there from produce and from F1 plants. It doesn't hurt to grow them out and see what you get. I tried growing out F2 pepper seeds a few years ago and I kept getting 3 different types of peppers. Of the 3, the ones I really liked were seedless, so unless I took cuttings, I could never keep growing those. I've saved seed from white marigolds and they would never germinate. I've read that tomatoes grown from Campari F2 seeds are just like or very close to the F1. It is fun to try...I usually have some kind of experimental planting each season, but on a very small scale..

I purchased a honey dew from SAM club. It was golden yellow with green stripes. I never tasted a sweet perfumed honey Dew like that for a ling time. I saved the seeds and planted them. I was able to produce 25 of the same honey Dew. If it was not for the Ants and Squirrels I could have double crop

Wow, those are great looking starts! And I'm with you on wishing I could plant. I'd started mine earlier this year, because when I planted them out last year around the first of May, they weren't as big as I'd have liked. But I also didn't have the good light set-up last year either, so they've done a lot more growing. I'm trying to hold off at least until 5/1. 5/15 would have been even better, but I'm not sure if they'll last in cups that long.

For me, I do think that when it comes to seed starting, the 3rd time will be the charm. LOL

Thanks! Your tomato babies look aweseome! A little bigger than mine. It's my first time doing them & I didn't start them till Feb 27th. But, I can't believe how fast they've grown in the past 3 weeks. I have to start separating some of the plants again & they're getting too crowded all in their under-the-bed container. Will have to put them in 2 containers. Next year I plan on having two shop lights & moving them into two separate containers. Especially since I want to start more of my own veges next year.

I repot every thing deeper except trees. They develop more roots.

I repot everything deeper and so far have not had any stems rot.

Ok, I'll keep that in mind. The pictures were taken right after watering. I'm not used to bottom watering and can't tell how much has soaked in until it shows on the top. Should the top still be dry? It didn't feel that wet.

Oh.. Wish I had known that, I do the exact same thing when I water, I fill the tray and let the soil soak just like in your pictures.

Sorry for jumping the gun about it.

Hmmm good question. I think the gadget I couldn't live without is the timer for my lights. Literally, I can leave the seedlings to themselves for days on end and they're fine. I also have a 2 gallon pump sprayer I use to water the seedlings when they're in their smallest container. I tried a hand mister the first year, and was close to carpal tunnel after a few days, LOL. I also do like the seed incubator I created (the foil-lined styrofoam box). That's allowed me to keep my seeds out in the unheated garden shed and not worry when them temps get down in the 20's. Even my heat-loving tomatoes and peppers thrived through some cold temps, and I think my box gets the credit--though I can't be 100% sure.

Here is a link that might be useful: my blog

I was given one of the 4 shelf portable greenhouses for Christmas this year, it worked great to overwinter my coleus cuttings and baby canna seedlings inside the house. I started toms and peppers, and some 4 o'clocks. However once it got to be early March or so, the humidity increased too much and it was literally dripping with condensation. Seems obvious now, but the sun was basically steaming my plants. Ugh. So I removed the cover, and all was right again. At that point I was more concerned with causing damp off and other fungus problems than about keeping the humidity up.
PS the fungus gnats that arrived with my amaryllis bulbs really enjoyed a nice steamy greenhouse, yuck.