Starting seeds indoors is an annual ritual for many northern gardeners. The growing season up here just isn't long enough for a lot of plants to grow to maturity and produce a crop, especially for tropical plants like peppers and tomatoes. So when the ground is still frozen solid and covered in snow, devoted gardeners create their own spring conditions inside with fluorescent lights and heat mats. This is my first year participating in the wild world of indoor seed starting and so far things seem to be going well. Everything we planted so far has germinated, and we've had no deaths other than the ones that I thinned on purpose.
 |
| The seed starting set-up on April 11th with lots of tomatoes, leeks, onions, peppers and various herbs |
You can find all sorts of information and advice on seed starting indoors from gardening books and websites, and to be honest, they often make it sound more complicated than it really is. I've mostly been following advice that I got from Pete Amyoony, who put on a presentation on seed starting at this year's Seedy Saturday. Pete is an organic grower with over 50 years of experience, who grows over 100 different varieties of tomatoes every year, among other things.
It gives me a thrill every time I see a new seed sprouting out of the soil, and I've been obsessively checking on them multiple times a day to see how they've grown. Seed starting indoors is very fun to do and doesn't have to be very expensive or too complicated. Here's a run-down of what I've done and why.
1. Growing Medium
These usually have two main ingredients - a water absorbent material like peat, and something gritty to lighten the soil like sand, perlite or vermiculite. Regular garden soil is usually too heavy and not absorbent enough to do the job, and it also tends to have seeds from other plants that could make things confusing. Pete's presentation included a recipe for the starting mix that he uses. Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared enough this year to have any of those materials on hand, so I picked up the only pre-made starting mix that was available from our local nursery at the time. It contains sphagnum peat, perlite, vermiculite and mychorrhizae (these are good fungi that help plant roots).
 |
| Happy little tomatoes - about 4 weeks old |
2. Light
Why grow under lights rather than by a window? For us, we simply don't get enough sunlight in early spring because we live right at the foot of a hill that blocks all our winter afternoon sun. When seedlings don't get enough light, they grow tall and spindly, making them weak and susceptible to breakage and disease. Growing under lights provides an even and predictable source of energy for the baby plants, helping them grow strong and sturdy.
The light fixtures that I got are just simple fluorescent "shop lights" that you get at any hardware store with two "cool-white" bulbs. As far as I can tell from researching the matter, all seedlings really need is light from the cool end of the spectrum anyways and so far, they seem to be doing just fine. For a thorough review on the matter, check out this guy's site. Since fluorescent lights aren't as strong as the real deal, they need to be positioned quite close to the growing seedlings - no more than 2-3 inches away (5-8 cm). They also need to be on for a fairly long time. I have my lights hooked up to a timer for 14 hours a day.
3. Heat
Most seed packets will include an optimum germination temperature, which is usually around 22°C. Seeds will germinate at cooler temperatures, but it takes them longer. I bought a heat mat mostly for my pepper seedlings, because they need a temperature of around 27°C to germinate and 18-24°C to grow. Also, the heat mat came with a seedling tray and humidity dome which I can re-use for starting seeds in future years.
4. Water and Fertilizer
I've been watering my seedlings from the bottom about twice a week, by placing the pots or seedling plugs into a tray full of water for about 10 minutes. Watering like this is better than pouring water on the top because it is more even, and doesn't disturb the surface of the soil. Watering from the bottom also keeps the seedlings and surface of the soil from getting too wet, which is a key factor for preventing the dreaded "damping-off" fungus.
Once the little seedlings start developing their first set of "true leaves", they will need some extra nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous. You can meet their needs by incorporating composted manure, worm castings or other nutrient rich material into the starting mix, or you can feed them directly once they've started growing. I got a free packet of organic seaweed fertilizer with one of my seed orders, so I've been feeding this to my seedlings about every 2 weeks.
5. Timing
Different types of seeds need to be started at different times. Most seed packets will tell you how many weeks before the last frost date a seed should be started. The Farmer's Almanac is a good place to find out the first and last frost dates for your area. The best resource however, is local knowledge. I started my tomatoes, peppers, and leeks in the middle of March, because that is what most gardeners that I talked to around here recommended.
 |
| It's always good to label what you planted and when. I made these tags out of styrofoam egg cartons |
A note on Damping off
Damping off is a pesky little fungus that attacks the stems of little seedlings, causing them all to flop over and die. A lot of the garden advice that I've read involves extreme measures for combating this fungus such as sterilizing all your containers, instruments and seed starting mix. I preferred Pete's practical advice - rather than trying to kill the fungus, simply avoid creating the conditions that it needs to survive. These conditions include low light and a cool, damp environment. The best way to prevent these is to make sure the seedlings are getting enough light and that the surface of the soil stays fairly dry. Water from the bottom, and take humidity domes off during the day to allow for good air circulation.
I am certainly not an expert, and there is still about a month to go before I can put my seedlings in the ground, but so far I am quite happy with how they are doing. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong! The best advice that I can give right now is the check on your seedlings every day (how can you not - it's so exciting!) and make sure their needs for light, warmth, water and nutrients are being met.
No comments:
Post a Comment