at its core seed starting is not difficult
you grab some soil you grab some containers you throw some seed in voila
you have seedlings but there are a few things that can be detrimental towards
your success in getting seeds started without further ado here's what not to
do for successful seed starting the first thing not to do when starting seed
is grab a bucket of old seed out of your garage hmm when did I plant this '06?
has a mouse been chewing on this? and assume that the seed is gonna germinate
and grow now there's nothing wrong with using old seed there are plenty of
vegetables that will hold their germination for years and years and
years but things like fluctuating temperature and humidity and mouse urine
can greatly affect the germination rates of seed just do a simple at-home
germination test on your old seed before you devote a lot of time and space to
starting it the next thing to avoid when starting seeds is starting your seeds in
a plastic container with no drainage holes on the bottom no drainage holes
equals too much water your soil can easily get oversaturated and the water
has no place to go seedlings can literally drown or succumb
to the dreaded damping off which is prevalent in wet and cool conditions the
same goes for over watering in general you want the surface of your seed
starting media to feel slightly damp to the touch not soaking wet the third
thing not to do when starting seeds is start heat loving plants like tomatoes
eggplants peppers in a cool room with no supplemental bottom Heat
take it from me this is a surefire way to make your tomato seedlings hate you
yes they will probably eventually germinate and yes they will probably
even grow but they're gonna be slow and weak and spindly bottom heats also known
as using a heat mat like something similar to this I found is not necessary
for all crops I don't use it on my cool season crops but for the heat lovers as
I mentioned like eggplants tomatoes peppers melon
squash those types of things if you start them inside you will have much
faster germination and much happier seedlings with the addition of bottom
heat soil temps of about 70 to 75 Fahrenheit are optimal if you really
want to geek out you can get one of those little soil thermometers and poke
in the soil and make sure that your temperatures are spot-on Want weak leggy
seedlings? not providing them enough light is a surefire way to go seedlings
will stretch that is they'll put on vigorous top growth in search of light
and eventually become so weak that they topple over if caught early leggy
seedlings can often be saved but you're better off just not stressing them that
much when they're that young in the first place
some folks swear by a sunny windowsill but I'll stick with my grow lights my
go-to now is a wide spectrum fluorescent tube lighting which is common in most
grow lights this is mounted on an adjustable stand so that as my seedlings
grow I can keep the lights just a few inches from the tops of the seedlings
remember that most vegetable seedlings do best with 12 plus hours of light a
day which you're not going to get from a windowsill in February in northern areas
imagine you're a seedling you go from the temperature and humidity controlled
environment of wherever your human is growing you you have consistent light
and moisture and only the smallest bit of air movement suddenly you're thrust
into the real world you can deal with the changes in light and temperature but
that wind it's just too much your weak little stem has not been conditioned to
the rigors of the outdoor world you just can't take it you topple over and give
up it's a cruel world ok ok that may be a little overdramatic but in all
seriousness you need to give your seedlings some air circulation
this toughen them up a little bit and gets them used to regular gusts of wind
and air movement that they'll encounter outside at the very least run your hand
over the tops of the seedlings a couple times a day
this helps to toughen up the stem I like to just keep an oscillating fan on my
seedlings during the day hours when I'm running the grow lights this increased
air circulation also helps to guard against damping off in seedlings
consider your seed starting media you either want something really light and
fluffy with excellent drainage or you can go with something like a pre-dibbled
grow plug sow your seeds at the proper planting depth this information can
typically be found on the back of seed packets but a general rule is the
smaller the seed the shallower it's sown the rule I've been told is twice
the depth of the size of the seed so you can see this is a cabbage seed it would
go in very shallow the big squash seed would be buried much deeper use a
humidity dome or cover anything that's clear enough to let light through yet
will trap moisture in is great plastic wrap works really well you want to keep
the humidity high during the germination period and once your seedlings sprout up
you can remove a cover don't add fertilizer until your
seedlings have their second set of true leaves and don't use starter mix that
has fertilizer already in it for starting your seeds and a final
important tip make sure that you harden off your seedlings hardening off is the
process of gradually acclimating seedlings to outdoor temperatures and
conditions this process will ensure that they're tough enough to survive the
outdoor conditions of the garden when they're transplanted so now are you
ready to start your own seeds I hope so thanks for watching and I'll see you
next time