Seed Starting

Purpose

To start seeds growing to have viable vegetable plants ready for the warm weather and planting in the outdoor garden. Also to have an earlier harvest season.

Equipment and Materials

– Various seeds (Burpee 66852 Tomato Super Beefsteak Seed Packet
, Burpee 69677 Italian – Eggplant Black Knight Seed Packet
, Burpee Crimson Sweet Watermelon Seeds – 2.5 grams
, Burpee 30957 Impatiens Flavours Hybrid Mix Seed Packet
, Burpee 44461 Marigold Climax Hybrid Mix Seed Packet
)
– Jiffy 5049 Professional Greenhouse 36-Plant Starter Kit
– Dramm 12454 5-Liter Premium High-Grade Plastic Watering Can, Green

Procedure

March 15, 2013 – I like to plant tomatoes before March 17 and i have succeeded with a day or two to spare! I tried using Jiffy Greenhouse with space for 36 seedlings using Jiffy-7 Peat Pellets. I followed the instructions on the package though adjusting the amount of water from 5- 1/4 cups to 4 cups. the pellets expanded as described and absorbed the four cups without any additional water which would have to be drained from the tray. I tried these pellets several years ago and I think that excess water leads to problems. The pellets are more damp then saturated with four cups of water, I can add more in a few days if needed, these Greenhouse kits include a transparent cover which retains moisture. After carefully washing my hands before handling seeds, I used the handle end of a fork to make holes in the top of the expanded pellet and added seeds to each pellet . Tomato seed packs as a rule do not contain many seeds, the Better boy Hybrid had 50 mg of seed and the Super Beefsteak had 400 mg of seed which translates to about 25 seeds in the 50 mg pack and around 100 seeds in the 400 mg pack. The Better Boy hybrid filled one Greenhouse container with a few seeds in each pellet whereas the Super Beefsteak filled about 2/3 of the Greenhouse container with one seed to a pellet. the remainder of the Supper Beefsteak Greenhouse container I planted Crimson Sweet Watermelon with 2 -3 seeds per pellet and have some extra seed for direct planting outdoors just in case.

March 21, 2013 – I have noticed that the Super Beefsteak variety has germinated. I didn’t remove the clear cover which has quite a bit of condensation on it, but I could see the small sprouts. The other tray with Better Boy hybrid and watermelon is showing no activity and has less condensation on the cover.

Super Beefsteak seedlings

March 23, 2013 – Super beefsteak seedlings!

March 24, 2013 – Eggplant seeds were pretty difficult to find. I found Black Knight Eggplant seeds and again used the Jiffy pellet Greenhouse tray to starrt them. I started by adding 4 cups of lukewarm water to the tray, replacing pellets in the tray locks if they floated up with the water. I waited about 30 minutes until the pellets expanded absorbing the water in the tray. I used the blunt end of a pen to pol=ke holes for teh seeds in teach pellet and carefully sprinkled one eggplant seed per pellet. I covered the tray with the clear plastic top and set aside.

Eggplant seeds

preparing pellet trays

Greenhouse tray with water

Using a pen to make holes in expanded pellets

Sprinkling eggplant seeds into pellets

Eggplant tray covered and set aside

March 31, 2013 – I saved some dead head marigold flowers from the previous year in a paper bag. Today I spoiled out the flower heads from the bg and opened them revealing the seeds and planted them in the jiffy greenhouses. i also planted some Burpee 30957 Impatiens Flavours Hybrid Mix Seed Packet. These seeds were tiny packaged in a foil packets, there were only maybe 20 seeds in a package which were difficult to work with because of the small size of the seed. I managed to plant one Jiffy 5049 Professional Greenhouse 36-Plant Starter Kit with two packages of seeds.

Marigold seeds from flower heads

Marigold seeds planted!

April 6, 2013 – I think mice got to my Better Boy Hybrids and ate the cotyledons from the stem, so damage done, not sure if they will sprout scondary leaves from the stems. A few of the Better Boys survived and the Super Beefsteaks were unharmed.But the tomato and watermelon seedlings are getting spindly, probably from inadequate sunlight.

Plant Cart Plans 1/22/1995

So i assembled my Plant Cart and light stand. I built irt feom PVC pipe, tees and elbows, which I never glued together, so I can assemble and disassemble it as needed, it was now needed. the room has morning sunlight and i will augement with the artificial full spectrum fluorescent bulbs