Starting Seeds Indoors
Whether you’ve got the winter blues and growing seeds helps you feel better, or you want to save a little money, starting seeds indoors can be fun. It can also be annoying, time consuming, and a big huge failure! Here are some ways to find success:
Start fresh. You will need new or clean supplies every year. Do not use pots from last year (unless disinfected), dirt from your garden, or anything that might have mold or bacteria. These little plants have a hard enough time–don’t make them fight disease as well. Shopping list:
- Tray of peat pellets, containers of vermiculite, or potting soil in pots–a medium to allow seeds to germinate.
- Seeds
- Clean pots (one per plant), and sterilized potting soil
- Fertilizer (unless you use a potting soil with fertilizer in it)
Give them space. You will want a space dedicated to your little seedlings. A basement, a bookshelf, a kitchen window. Avoid moving them all over the place. And remember, it can be dirty, so plan ahead.
Lots of light. “They say” that light from a south-facing window is not sufficient. The plants grow long and spindly, trying to reach the light. You may want to invest in extra lighting. Florescent lights are cheap and easy. Buy a shop light, warm bulbs, and cool bulbs. By combining, you get the full-spectrum of light. Or you can find bulbs especially for growing plants indoors. I imagine they are more expensive. Leave the lights on for 14 hours per day (the length of time makes up for the difference in intensity between natural sunlight and artificial lights).
Label it! One of the biggest mistakes is not keeping really good track of your plants. I find it easiest to plant different things next to each other (ie put peat pellets with broccoli next to bell pepper, then cauliflower, then hot peppers).
Here’s how to go about it:
1. Germination: you can start seeds in peat pellets, or in a cup (with holes for drainage) of vermiculite. I’ve tried both, and with vermiculite the roots really grow long and spread out, so I felt like the seed was getting the best start.
If you are using peat pellets, soak them until they are dark brown and fully expanded, poke a hole in the top and drop in 2 or 3 seeds, then cover with a bit of peat. Place in a warm, dark spot until they germinate, then put in the sun (or under lights) with the tray propped open.
For vermiculite, use a container with holes for drainage, and wet it until the vermiculite changes color slightly. I just fill mine until they drain out. Sprinkle seeds across the top. A good rule of thumb is to use double the number of seeds as you want plants. So if you want 4 bell pepper, sprinkle 8 seeds. Top with a thin layer of vermiculite. Keep moist and dark until seeds sprout. Then put them in the light.
2. Transplanting: When using vermiculite, it’s time to tranplant to pots when the plants have the first two leaves (seed leaves). Prepare pots with fresh potting soil or Mel’s Mix. Poke a nice deep hole with a pencil. Grab one of the seed leaves, loosen the vermiculite with a tip of a pencil, and lift it out. Do not touch the stem or roots. If the roots are long, trim them–this actually strengthens the plant. Place it in the pot, gently fill around the roots and stem, and water it. Keep in the shade for several days. I keep my extra seedlings in the vermiculite until I can tell my transplants are doing well.
If using peat pellets, wait until the roots start growing through the mesh. Prepare pots with potting soil, and use a spoon to scoop out a hole. Place the whole peat pellet in, and bury it so the peat has a small layer of potting soil on top. Water, and allow to rest out of the sun for a day or two. Once the plant is doing well, trim off all but the strongest seedling.
Of course, you can avoid transplanting by planting directly into pots with potting soil. The disadvantage of this is that if none of the seeds sprout or the seedlings are weak or die, you have to start over. By starting seeds en masse, you can choose the strongest ones to transplant.
3. Growing and feeding: Keep your plants under the lights for 14 hours per day. The lights should be a couple of inches above the plants, and you’ll need to keep raising them as they grow (or lowering your plants). Fertilize every 3-4 weeks. One source suggests giving the plants a little breeze (a very small fan), which helps the stems become more sturdy. I’ve also read that this helps prevent some disease.
4. Hardening off: A week or two before moving them to your garden, your plants need to get used to the outside weather. Start taking them outside (in the shade) for an hour or two during the nicest part of the day. Protect them from the wind. Extend the amount of time they spend outside each day gradually, and move them into more and more direct sunlight as time goes on. By the end of two weeks they should be outside day and night, and able to tolerate full sun. Watch the weather reports! A cold front or unusually hot temps could be a sad end to your hard work.
5. Planting in your garden: Move your seedlings to your garden according to your frost dates. Baby them a bit–try to do it on an overcast day, or give them some shade. Water them (this removes the air from around the roots), but don’t take it too far. A cup or two of water right where the plant is will be enough.
Wooo Hooo! The seed starting adventure has come to a close . . . now for the rest of the summer!
You just want to keep them moist, not soggy or dry. When I grow about 15 plants I usually need 2 quarts to water them. You want to grow broccoli starts until they have 4 true leaves before transplanting.
I’m planting my Fall Garden, (Houston, Texas), and I’m starting the seeds indoors to learn how. How much water do you put in the bottom of the tub? and how long should they grow before transplanting? If I understand correctly, it shouldn’t matter for a Fall Garden, just the Frost dates. This is my first year doing any Garden, so I appreciate all the help.
Thanks,
roundpen
Thanks for all the help!
Perlite & peat works better.
If the seed is old, sow near the top of the mix. The older the seed, the less vigor it has. If not enough vigor, it won’t have enough energy to break through a lot of mix.
Some things not mentioned and that have to be watched for:
Temperature of mix:
1) in general most seeds will sprout at around 70F, soil temperature. A good place to get this is on top of the refrigerator.
2) Some seeds, especially the ones that like cool weather will be killed by warm soil. They need a soil temp of 65F or less, example–pansies 55F-65F. And some seeds need it to be hot to germinate–75F or better.
Stratification: especially perennials, such as pansies, violas need to be subjected to warming and cooling, but more, a cooling process for them to break dormancy. You have to trick them into having gone through winter.
A couple of weeks, prior to planting, put them into the fridge, enclosed with a damp (barely) paper towel & the whole thing sealed in a baggy or something like that. There are many seeds that benefit from this type of treatment. You have to be careful and watch for mold. Any seed that starts to show that should be discarded, immediately. Large seed, with a hard coat, will not only benefit from stratification, but nicking the outside of the coat (actually cutting through it) with a file or sharp knife. Sweet pea (the flower) is an example of a seed that will benefit from a small hole to allow moisture to get in.
Light: This is a biggie. As important, perhaps more, than germinating temperature.
1)Do NOT put all your seedlings under light or in a sunny window and expect them to grow.
Pansies for example, Require, Dark (and cool) to germinate. You have to check often. As soon as you see a few coming up, then they can be moved to light. If left too long in the dark, they will get “leggy.” But these seeds must have dark.
2) Some seeds require light to germinate. Which means you can press them into the mix, but do not cover them. Without light, they will not germinate. Begonias are like this. Many tiny seeds require light. Sowing them into a hole and putting any covering over them will kill them.
3) the kind of light– it really doesn’t matter all that much. what does matter is the intensity and length of time that the plants have light. The special “gro-lights” are for showing off flowering plants. The spectrum is very “warm” and will make colors vibrant, but they are not needed for starting plants.
Daylight light–not full spectrum–is best. You need light that has a temperature of 6500K or better. This is more towards the blue end. If you go with full spectrum, since plants don’t use the full-spectrum, it’s a waste.
You can make a plant perfectly happy, starting & growing-on with ordinary, cool white, shop-lights. If you want to add a bit of lower spectrum to get the other colors a plant can use, put one cool-white, and one soft-white (warm) into a 2 light florescent fixture. This will be fine. But all cool white will work–all warm white will not work–& light 6,500K or better works best.
Watering: always bottom water. Especially with fine seed. You don’t want to move the seeds around as they are trying to break dormancy. An occasional mist over the top of the seed, won’t hurt–that’s over the top and let the mist settle. Do not mist the seed directly.
Air. The domes are great for keeping in humidity and warmth, which is exactly what plants like, including mold and fungus.
Do not let the air be still.
Try to keep the air around the plants circulating. A small fan that just barely moves the air will work very well. Moving air is one of the best protections you have against damp-off. Damp-off is a condition that is caused mainly by bugs growing in warm, stagnant air. It attacks the stem at the base, where it meets the soil.
One day your seedling will be fine. The next, they will have all fallen over. If you look carefully at the stem, it will look as though it has been pinched, right at the bottom. Immediately remove the infected plants and get the air stirring, around the rest. You can’t save a plant with damp-off (actually it is possible, but takes some real know how, lots of work, and you may be able to save 25% or so). Throw the damp-offed plants away. Wash your hands. And pray over the rest. Sometimes a fungicide sprinkled around the remaining plants (soil level) may help. The best thing though, is no damp-of spores in the area and keep the air moving.