Seed starting indoors

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I havent been able to find the Promix here in the Nashville area. Can you tell me where online I might be able to buy it?

I buy mine local in the store at Lowe's. If not in the store then you might be able to order on line and have sent to the store. I am not sure what that would cost though.

 

[catjac1975]

I havent been able to find the Promix here in the Nashville area. Can you tell me where online I might be able to buy it?[/

I broke down and bought another heat mat. On the good side, it was $20, used to cost $25
Some of my Swiss Chard is an inch high!
I will be putting up an LED Flourescent light above the top of my seed starting shelving unit in the basement this weekend. It is supposed to have 2 light bulbs, but I think one of the ballasts on one side went bad and only one LED bulb will burn...sooooo I bought a 48" grow light for it.
I have a 4 car garage and the previous owners who built it put 10 ceiling outlets (and 8 wall outlets) in the garage, along with handing OLD (1990 vintage) flourescent lights, which have now all died. At Menard's I found these LED ceiling lights withOUT bulbs, 5000 lumens!!!!! It is like Midsummer under them. I also had hung some, but not all of newer LED flourescents with bulbs, but I had to buy replacement bulbs today for them.
5 are up and running, 5 are prepped for hanging with new bulbs where necessary.
The one oddball will help grow plants.

Bottom heat is the real key to growth.

 

[Rammy]

I buy mine local in the store at Lowe's. If not in the store then you might be able to order on line and have sent to the store. I am not sure what that would cost though.

I checked Lowes. Not available within a 100 miles of my location and not able to order. Oh well.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

I checked Lowes. Mot available within a 100 miles of my location and not able to order. Oh well.

I am not an expert gardener and others here may have better ideas.

 

[thistlebloom]

@Rammy , maybe you could visit a local nursery and ask for their recommendation.
A few of the smaller nurseries I go to start a lot of their own annuals.

 

[Rammy]

Thats a good idea. Thanks!

 

[margali]

My local Walmart had seedling heat mats for sale. Not sure if price was good or not.

 

[Crealcritter]

I got broccoli bolt already and I haven't even set them out yet

 

[flowerbug]

another approach to starting plants is to pre-sprout the seeds and then put them into their starting cells after they have just sprouted. this may avoid them rotting before they can start. put them in between layers of damp paper towel in a plastic bag with just a bit of it open to let air in and out. check it once in a while to make sure it doesn't get too dry. if your seeds are contaminated with fungi you'll find the seeds may also rot this way too, but it is a good way to check basic germination rates for seeds too. it does help to know what you are sprouting and how for each kind of seed - some are more ok with cool/cold than others.

my guess from the pictures is that you are not giving warm loving plants the light and warmth they need, but the other possible cause is that the starting medium is too rich in nitrogen which encourages them to grow too fast and also gives weak growth that fungi can easily exploit. lack of air flow can be another thing. some plants will get a stronger stem if you have an oscillating fan gently going over them, but then you also have to make sure they don't get dried out from the fan.

hard to say without actually being there and seeing what/where/how you are doing things. like perhaps you added a primarily nitrogen fertilizer to the water and haven't mentioned it or there isn't enough light or ...

the more details you can give of your methods and how you are doing things the bettter we can be in giving replies.

 

[catjac1975]

I got broccoli bolt already and I haven't even set them out yet

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Take them off the heat and put them in a cool sunny window.