How do you start your seeds?

[Edson]

Store-bought seed starting mix and trays? A homemade blend in recycled yogurt cups? Paper pots? Seed blocks? Straight perlite or vermiculite?

I'm just curious. I've tried numerous ways and haven't settled on a preferred method so far.

[Lori]

Hey Edson I've tried lots of different ways. I bought seed raising trays about the size of a bread board and I can reuse them over and over again to start seeds. They are fairly shallow though and if I want to grown something a bit bigger like ginger, garlic, avocado or mango seed I use those white coolite boxes that the green grocer gets broccoli in. I buy them from the grocer shop for like -60cents punch a couple of holes in the bottom and use them for a million things. Seeds, cuttings (very good) and even growing lettuce greens or garlic to maturity. Plus I can move them around if the weather turns.

To fill them I use whatever I think is the best. I can use potting mix, soil from the bulk place, sand and peat moss for cuttings, sand and soil for ginger - whatever I think will work. Or if your garden soil is good, just use that. I've also started very fine seeds in egg cartons. They last just long enough for the seeds to get to the right height and then cut apart and plant in the garden carton bit and all to reduce transplant shock.

[Katrien]

This is my first time growing from seed (and growing from anything, really). Beginning was quite intimidating enough what with sowing calendars and cover depths, without having to worry about the equipment! So I bought some flats with trays and domes, and a ready-made starting mix from the garden center.

But once the flats and the mix are used up I think I'll switch to yogurt pots and the like (which I've been saving up for this occasion) and I'll try my hand at making my own mix.

I'd love to try those paper pots, but am afraid they won't hold up in the watering. The soil block makers are a bit too pricey for me at the moment. And I need to find a supplier of large-quantity vermiculite...

[Susan]

I saved the little mini greenhouses I bought last year and purchased new seed starting peat discs. I know, I know, not sustainable...but they work really well, and I hate to create more trash/spend more money on something else.

I just planted a great deal of what I am planning to grow a couple of days ago.

I also started 24 tomatoes in hopes of selling them locally, in addition to what I started for us.

[Jess]

I plan to use milk bags (recommended by Terra Edibles) to start seeds, I also have lots of yoghurt pots and left-over seed-starter trays. I was just going ot use a regular peat ..... ?

[FarmerAmber]

I bought seed trays but without the cell packs or peat pellets. I should state first that I start a LOT of plants from seed (several hundred each year). I take the tray and put about 1.5 inches of soil in the bottom (3 parts garden soil, 1 part peat moss). Then I plant whatever seeds I have in rows in the mix and space them about half an inch apart. Then I use the clear dome cover that comes with the trays and put it under grow lights and/or on a heat mat (depends on what seeds are in there) until they germinate. When the plants get their second leaves, I transplant them to newspaper pots. They don't typically have a lot of roots at this point and I haven't lost more than a couple in the transplanting process. Needless to say, I'm extremely careful. The newspaper pots have held up well for me so far and I only usually have them 1 or 2 layers thick. I usually put the newspaper pots back in the seed tray and then put water into the tray. Then they can soak up as much as they want. The roots do grow through the newspaper so by planting time they look kinda hairy!.

For some of the plants that stay inside longer (peppers, tomatoes) I usually have to do another transplanting. With the newspaper pots its really easy though - just put the newspaper pot at the bottom of the larger container (for tomatoes) and fill it with soil around the plant.

I've become a big fan of the newspaper pots overall. I've found that its easy to transport and use and the maker is really not too expensive. Even my 3 year old can do a reasonable job of making pots! I've also brought it to my community garden's planting session and we quickly made up a bunch of pots.

I'll be moving a bunch of plants into the newspaper pots this week. Wish me luck! I love springtime....

[Edson]

I always wondered how long those paper pots hold up to the watering before they're transplanted. You've had good luck with them then?

[Diana smith]

The paper pots last just fine. We just them extensively in our greenhouse. You will have to have something stout to set them in; then they just aren't moved until you are ready to plant them out or plant them up in bigger pots. We've used our potmaker for over 20 years and love it. Diana

[Diana smith]

One thing I use alot of is Folgers coffee cans! Each variety of tomato...and I grow about 15 kinds...are started in a can. Once filled with Pro-Mix and well watered you need do nothing but make sure the top doesn't crust over. I generally get 100% germination with this method. Works great for tiny seeds like petunias,vincas,herbs,too. The flats tend to dry out too soon. My husband has made me a dozen deeper cedar flats that I use for things that develope bigger root systems. I also collect all the Big Gulp drink cups at work and recycle them for planting big stuff. like my dalhias that I grow from seed...so easy to grow and hardly anybody seems to anymore. Diana