It’s dreadful… but I must admit, I’m a seed starter dunce. I try EVERY year! And I usually end up spending countless hours and expense and I’ll just get a few plants to start. Half the time, the stuff I just plant straight into my beds does way better than the little victims I try to coax out early.
It seems I have several big issues when I do this.
1.) Nasty little pets. Usually it’s the kitties and then there was the big ferret devastation of 2009. (I still have post traumatic garden syndrome issues with that… oh the horror!!!) Once the puppy knocked a whole flat over. I suppose that now that we have much more room, I can cage off my little precious darlings… hmmm….
2.) Lack of good warm sunny spot to keep them all. The old farmhouse has a lot of nice southern windows and a warm area in the big office… I’m thinking, maybe? Maybe?
3.) Bad watering/starting containers. I always try to do the little expando peat net things and then move them to bigger pots and then move them again… shesh… way too much effort. And I think I stunt them and mess more up than I start. This time I’m going to start everything in the umpteen hundred pop bottles we’ve been saving. They call them ghetto greenhouses, but I think they would work way better. You take a 2 liter clear pop bottle, cut off the top pretty high up, fill it with good soil/seed starter/mix and plant your seeds. Water nicely at the beginning and then slip the cut off top back on and taper’ up. Set in a nice warm sunny local and wait. Take the screw top off so it gets a little air.
I’m thinking…. er… I’m HOPING that this will work nicely. Then just leave the little dudes alone. No transplanting and moving, the pop bottle will have a good 6 or 8 inches of soil in them. When they reach the top of the inside, it’s time to remove it and let them keep growing. Turn them around some so they don’t get too spindly and leaning towards the window. Take out into the screen porch when it starts to get a little more tolerable during the day.
I’m thinking that I could fit quite a few pop bottle starters into a sturdy cardboard box. That way they would be easy to move around. And I think I could build a CAGE around it, with these black wire panels that we have for the rabbit exercise cages, or Edward’s old cage… yeah… then the little kitties would not mess them up.
Oh, it’s a sickness. I hope and pray every year I’ll figure out a good system that works and I get a nice jump start on my garden! We’ll see…
Does anyone do this successfully and want to share some of their secret tips???? PLEASE HELP ME! (haha…) Leave a comment, share your good tips! Thanks!!!
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Yes, cats are a problem. Since we have an empty nest, we are going to use an upstairs bedroom with a south facing window. I will shut the plants in and Scotch won’t be able to get to them. In the past we have used our front porch, which gets pretty warm, it has windows all around.
Our screen porch is really pretty warm… i think it might be a great place for hardening off the little guys once I get some to survive! Oh my gosh, I just remembered… we actually have a spare room! And we keep the pets out of it… I could clear away a little bit of the storage and make a plant nursery in there!!!! hmmmm….
Sherri
From my experience you can’t grow decent seedlings without proper lighting. They just can’t get enough light at a window and get way too spindly and weak. The simplest way is to get some florescent lights from Home Depot or a similar place – those 4′ long ones that hold 2 lights. Maybe you can find some on Craig’s list. You ladies are handy so you can easily build a shelf 4′ long or buy a ready made one for $20 at Home Depot. You will need to put a power cord on each light (maybe someone you know could help you with this – it’s not hard). Attach some chains to the top of the lights at each end and hook a light underneath each shelf. If you get a shelf with 4 levels, you hook one under each level, so you’ll need 3 lights (cause you can’t use the top shelf unless you attach the light to the ceiling but then it won’t be easy to reach).
Put it in a warm place to start the seeds. You could also cover the shelf with plastic to keep the cats out. You need to keep the lights about 1″ from the top of the soil and then 1″ from the top of the plants as they start to grow. Thus the chains as you’ll keep moving the lights up. I find one warm florescent tube and one cool in each light works best. You don’t need the special grow lights. Put all the lights on a timer and make sure the seedlings have at least 8 hours of DARK a day.
I found this online, it’s not a shelf but the light is the same idea as mentioned above. http://mikeandmollyshouse.com/growing/seed-starting-station/
Here is another link http://simple-green-frugal-co-op.blogspot.com/2009/01/indoor-seed-starting-doesnt-have-to-be.html
I use the self-watering seed starters from Lee Valley because they work so well and last so long. I get 100% germination from these. I always put 2 seeds into each cell too, in case one does not sprout. Then you have to cut one off at the ground to allow the stronger one to grow, or else you’ll end up with two weak and small plants. Only 1 plant per cell, whatever type of cells you use. Don’t pull out the seedling when you are thinning as it will disturb the roots of the one you want to keep. Always cut them off at ground level with some small scissors. It’s hard to do but worth it. Give them a diluted fish or seaweed fertilizer when they get their true leaves and watch them go. Once they get too big for the lights, you’ll need to move them to maybe a sun porch or something similar or start hardening them off outside.
Once you do this, you’ll never want to stop and you’ll have the lights for a very long time. Very cheap and well worth the effort. Good luck.
Great!!! Thanks for the lengthy advice, that is awesome. I’m trying to think where might be the best place to try setting something like that up. I actually bought another bag of seed starter soil from Miracle Grow today, because I really want to give this a whirl now that we have much better space and resources, etc.
I do have two VERY nice cold frames out in the garden area… when it gets a little closer I might try starting some out there too, and see what fairs better. It would be way cool, if BOTH do well!!! Thanks a bunch!!!
Sherri
I count myself among the seeder starter-challenged, too! Basically, I throw stuff outside when it’s warm and what grows, grows…. I did have to laugh out loud at the “ghetto greenhouses”. LOL
That is awesome advice Heather! Wow. I’m going to have to try that, if I can find a cat-free place with some natural light. My teenage son’s room springs to mind — south-facing window, and all. However, I might not be able to FIND the little darlings in his housekeeping-free zone. Ha! Nice tips, though. Thanks!