Green in garden, fresh on table
welcome to Asian garden to table
Spring is coming it is time to get ready to grow your vegetables
In this video I will show you how to start to your seeds
in seed starters
First, assemble seed starter inserts in tray
There are different kinds of seed starters available in the market.
I like this one because
it gives you the flexibility to assemble
dissemble or combine with other inserts
Let’s take a look at our home made potting mix
It has been covered and kept dry and cool the whole time.
Check your potting mix
to make sure it is loose and moist
Fill the cells with potting mix
Fill the cells with potting mix. Make sure you cover all the cells
Remove extra potting mix if necessary.
This seed starter is 11"X 22" big
It has 72 cells
It is very useful for starting small vegetables
such as cabbage, kale, lettuce, celery,
celery, bakchoi, spinach
and so on
Here is a different seed starter. The long tray was recycled
from seedlings bought in home depot.
The cells are bigger so vegetables like peppers, tomatoes,
peas, beans can fit in very well
The extra space on the side is
just enough to hold 4 packs of small inserts
The plastic pots I am loading now are 3.5" diameter
You can get different shape and size in stores
I use them to start squashes cucumbers
melons which are much bigger size of vegetables.
Insert labels for the seeds you are going to start
It takes weeks to grow vegetables
and it doesn't take long time to forget what you put in the soil
So it is very necessary to label your vegetables
Only put one or two seeds in a container
for big size of vegetables.
Put three if you're not confident with the quality of seeds
Drop the seed on the potting mix
use finger to press it in the soil about 1 " deep.
Try to sow the seeds apart
because you may need to separate them in the future
Shake the tray after finished
It helps to settle the potting mix on the seeds
For small size of vegetable,
use 72 cells seed starter
Dig a small hole
with a stick in each cell.
Because the cells are so small, you cannot use finger press the seeds in
without compressing the potting mix.
You want to keep your potting mix loose the whole time
Insert labels for the seeds you are going to start
Sow the seeds in the small holes.
Try to control 2~3 seeds in each hole
It is OK if you sow more than that
You just need to remove some when the seeds sprout
Even you don't have time for that, , it is still fine
Because the strong plants will grow bigger and weak one smaller
Survival of the fittest
A lot of Asian vegetables are very good to eat when they're young
so keep multiple plants in one hole you can pick some to eat first
and save others for later
Shake the tray to help potting mix settle on the seeds
Add water in the tray
About 1" deep water
is enough to soak potting mix in seed starter
Add one and half inches deep water
for the pots
because they are taller
Do not let the water in the tray deeper than 1.5 " or you may risk of drowning your seeds
Load the trays on a seed starter rack
The bottom shelf has least light
I usually load new started tray on it
Top shelf gets full sun and good for growing plants
middle shelf is okay for both
After the seedlings on top shelf are transplanted into garden
I will move the trays on middle shelf
to top and bottom to middle,
at the same time start new seeds and put on bottom shelf.
Most of the vegetable seeds will sprout in one week
If you sow too many seeds in the cells
it is good time to remove extra plants.
The young plants have developed roots
to absorb nutrients from the soil
So you should start to add fertilizer for them
Liquid fertilizer is gentle and works fast.
Adding diluted water dissolvable fertilizer in seed starters
instead of blank water, will provide necessary nutrients
and water to the young seedlings
It will help the seedlings grow healthier and faster.
This is what I use. Put half tea spoon of fertilizer in one gallon container
if you are organic grower, you can always use organic liquid plant food
Fill the container with tape water
Make sure the granules dissolved
Pour the water in seed starter tray.
Carefully move the insert to get some space to pour water in
It is very easy to hurt the young seedlings
so I usually leave a pack out
just for easy adding water
Add 1 to 1.5 " deep water
Check the tray every day and add water if they are dry.
I prefer adding water into seed starter trays instead of
spraying water over them.There are two reasons for that
First, avoid compressing the potting mix
Second, avoid damaging the young roots of the seedlings
This is how to start your seeds in seed starter
It is easy and it works
You can start right away!
The problem for this method is it requires everyday care
One day missed you may end up with
killing all the growing young seedlings.
Recently I upgrade my seed starting system
now it automatically waters and adds fertilizer
All I need to do is sow the seeds and load them on shelf
Couple weeks later I will have ready seedling to put into my garden.
Do you want to see how it works?
Come back and watch
"how to build your automated seed starting system"
Thank you for watch. I will see you soon.