Five Tips for Starting Vegetable Seedlings Indoors More Cheaply

Congratulations!  It seems you found your way to post your interesting blog with pictures on this site.  I'm always searching for new or different ways to make my life easier (more enjoyable) and save money when possible.  I'll check out the links you included in this post, especially the free seeds from the U.S. Govt.  Looking forward to hearing more from you.

Stay natural,

David

A friend from tomatoville.com suggests using a mylar sheet (I use a 99c store car window reflector cut in half) on the sides (perpendicular to the shelf) to reflect more light back to the plants. I made a similar shelf, but my shelving unit is plastic. I have just enough room to put 2 of those 2-lamp fluorescent fixtures in. If you have a spare desk or box fan, running it on low a few hours a day can help keep the air flowing, the top of the soil less moist (ie less possibility of fungal issues), and help make stockier plants. Then turn it on medium for a few hours in the days before you start hardening off the plants- lets them get used to breezes so they dont suffer as much. Ive not had luck with newspaper pots but only tried once. I prefer to reuse plastic 4" pots (my neighbor has 1000s of them). Keep on growin!

These are all really good ideas.  I don't use newspaper pots, but re use my yogurt, sour cream, and other appropriately sized containers as pots by washing them after use and then making 3-4 small holes in the bottom for drainage.  When they wear out, they go into the "trash recycling" but I figure this way they get a lot more mileage first. 

-Johanna

These are great ideas. A tip I've found useful is to pre-germinate all my seeds except the very smallest in a sealed margarine tub filled with damp perlite or vermiculite. I set it in a warm place (75o-85oF) and the seeds - if they're viable at all - will germinate in around seven days. Even parsley and coriander!

That way, every germinated seed you plant will grow (well, almost every seed) and you don't waste time and compost in patiently sowing seeds that are dead.

Hi Bill,

I enjoyed your post on starting seeds, it's one of my favorite parts of gardening.  It's especially fun for land-challenged urban "farmers" I think, to see dozens of little plants emerging and developing under lights in your basement, garage or spare room. 

Years ago I built a similar propagation unit for my sister.  It basically looks like a small bookshelf.  I built it with inexpensive pine so it has two shelves with installed shop-light fixtures that are on a timer.  I sealed the wood with varathane to prevent moisture damage.  This simple design is easily built, inexpensive and requires just a few tools. Could also be improved with the addition of some bottom-heat germination mats.

It has made a big difference in her gardening efforts, she enjoys growing veggies that are unusual and starting them herself.  Unfortunately since she is away at work all day and has to keep most of her blinds drawn, her seedlings would suffer in a poorly-lit window and end up leggy... now they are fantastic.  

Your discussion on the mylar... I used an old mylar space-blanket for this purpose years ago, the kind runners use after a marathon to stay warm.  It is very thin and reflective, and can be easily draped to fit the space.

Our seed starting regimen has gone through several iterations.  Our first garden, we just bought plants at the farmer's market - a few tomatoes, zucchini, and one pepper and one eggplant.  The next year, we started seeds in old planting pots, the packs from the farmer's market, yogurt cups, and the like, all on the kitchen windowsill (the only suitable south-facing window in our house).  It worked okay, but they were pretty leggy.  We bought a few more plants at the market, and direct-seeded some, too.  The next year, we took some halogen under-cabinet lights that we had, and bought one cheap florescent bulb, and started making soil blocks.  That worked much better, but the plants under the florescent were leggy, and we had to double up the halogens to get enough light.  

 

Last year, we finally stepped up and bought some T5 2-bulb fixtures and hung them from chains from the rafters in the basement.  This allows us to lower the lights for seedlings and raise them for almost-time-to-plant tomatoes.  We already had a plywood bench along one wall in the basement, set up by the previous owners. We found it a little bit low as a work surface, so we took some more plywood and made risers about 7 inches above the original surface.  This gives us shelves below the plants to store empty flats, seed boxes, and other things.  We also recently installed a sheet of mylar on the wall behind the seedlings, a scavenged item from the Newport marathon last fall.  It really does seem to increase the amount of light.  It will be interesting to see whether the seedlings on that side bend over to the lights less than the ones on the open side.

 

Planting in soil blocks is a little bit more work up front than using plastic cell flats or yogurt cups, but the method is completely waste-free, and planting time is easy and un-fussy, and you don't lose plants trying to get them from the pot.  Plants also don't get pot-bound, as the roots simply air-prune when they get to the edge of the block.  Unless they go into the block next to it, but that only happens in a big way if you're not paying attention :)  The blocking mix is a combination of peat, garden soil, compost, sand/vermiculite and a few amendments.  I would like to get away from the peat, but haven't found coir fiber in large blocks yet - that's the only thing I think that might substitute for its airy moisture retention properties.

 

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/t-video_soilblocking.aspx?source=Videos

Newspaper pots work, but I prefer an even simplier method... toilet paper rolls! Instead of discarding the cardboard roll, I collect them all year. I cut them in half, fill them with seed starter mix, prop them up in a a tray... and then plant away. You can also use papertowel rolls but those I cut into 4. Less work and this way I can use my newspaper for a weed barrier in the garden instead.

You are right that paper pots can take a lot of time to make. Some people prefer soil block makers for this and other reasons. Of course, you have to buy a soil block maker.