Indoor seed starting

[catjac1975]

This is the second season I have grown Burpee's tomato seed, Veranda. I would not use it as a main crop. But I have started them early as I did last year. I will get a few red tomatoes indoors in the spring and then keep them potted on my back porch until frost. I got some red tomatoes in the early spring, just enough to satisfy my need for some fresh grown tomatoes. All summer I can pluck a few to pop into my mouth as I walked by the plants.

 

[digitS']

It sure is appropriately named for you, Catjac'.

We have passed that infamous date of 2/17 when I started plants, one year. It was a serious mistake. Spring might have been late that season but ... My plants really suffered - I just didn't have indoor room for an unplanned up-potting.

I'll give it a few more days . Nearly all seeds are on-hand!

Steve

 

[meadow]

I started snap peas inside and they were transplanted out a few days ago - doing really well! I've got to get a move-on for snow & shelling peas.

 

[Zeedman]

We have passed that infamous date of 3/17 when I started plants, one year. It was a serious mistake. Spring might have been late that season but ... My plants really suffered - I just didn't have indoor room for an unplanned up-potting.

Spell check is apparently bad at numbers. Or Nostr@digits is dreaming of the future (as are we all).

That is roughly the same mistake I made a few years back, starting transplants in mid-March. The plants quickly outgrew the lights, and some had to be put into the solar greenhouse while it was still cold. The tomatillos grew leggy & died; and while the tomatoes & eggplant limped by with only a few losses, they looked pretty bad by transplant time. Fortunately, they recovered once transplanted.

Even now, I'm still experimenting to find the best planting dates for my location. The most important finding has been that there is no "one size fits all" planting date; for transplants to be the same size on a given target date, they need to be started on a staggered schedule. Onion seedlings are NOW. Habanero peppers & their kin, as well as some herbs, are very slow growers (and often slow to germinate as well). Those get started earlier than other peppers. Solanaceae transplants, in descending order (in T - days before transplant) are:
C. frutescens peppers (Habanero & related) and some herbs & perennials (T - 75/90 days)
C. annuum & C. baccatum peppers (T - 60 days)
Eggplant (T - 7 weeks)
Tomatoes (T - 6 weeks)
Tomatillo, litchi tomato, garden huckleberry (T - 4/5 weeks)

While still a work in progress, that schedule worked well for me last year, in terms of rotating plants out into the solar greenhouse, and their (mostly) not becoming over-grown prior to transplant.

Because I am growing for seed, I start a lot of transplants for veggies which would otherwise be direct seeded. Transplants Round #2 (roughly T - 2/3) are cucumbers, squash, gourds, and other cucurbits. Those are usually started under the lights as the nightshades move into the greenhouse (the gourds first, since their germination can take a little longer). All cucurbits are moved into the sun as soon as possible following germination; either out on the deck or table (weather permitting) or into the greenhouse. Mouse melons / Mexican sour gherkins, for those who might grow them (I no longer do) can be started several weeks earlier, since they are slow growing, and more tolerant of artificial lighting.

Beans of all species are last, transplant Round #3. Transplants are really only necessary to stretch my growing season for limas & some of the long - DTM beans & yardlongs. However, since I am growing beans for seed & have very temperamental Spring weather, transplants vastly improve the chances for success... and help to eliminate empty spots within rows. It has proven wise to keep a few backup transplants even for beans which are direct seeded; they've saved me from failure more than once. With our early Spring warm-up last year, I chose to skip those bean backups - and deeply regretted it, when heavy rains drowned out many of my beans shortly after germination. Lesson learned: if a system works, don't change it.

My small greenhouse ends up being really crowded just before transplanting, especially if weather delays that date... I've been trying to talk myself into a slightly larger, heated greenhouse for years now. That would even allow me to sell some heirloom plants locally. The only thing holding me back at this point is the heat source, which due to building codes, would have to be portable. Last year I ran an extension cord out to the greenhouse & put a small electric space heater there for a few cold nights; it at least kept the temperature above 50 F. degrees, which helped to prevent yellowing.

 

[digitS']

Oh shucks! Maybe I need a nap!

Thanks @Zeedman, I've edited that number so as not to confuse those who may think that I'm in a time warp.

Three trips out to shovel walks and sweep snow off vehicles. Wind gusts above 35mph. 4° wind chill. Hypothermia maybe?

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

It sure is appropriately named for you, Catjac'.

We have passed that infamous date of 2/17 when I started plants, one year. It was a serious mistake. Spring might have been late that season but ... My plants really suffered - I just didn't have indoor room for an unplanned up-potting.

I'll give it a few more days . Nearly all seeds are on-hand!

Steve

It is hard to hold back, Isn't it? Time for the broccoli family.

 

[Alasgun]

University of Alaska Fairbanks has a lot of great publications (online) dealing with gardening in Alaska. Several years ago i started really studying they’re seed starting document and comparing it with my own notes to determine the “perfect time” and now have a pretty good list for our area. Due to the shortness of the season; we want the earliest possible time to move things outside.
Around here most stuff is started in the house under H.O T-5’s where some of it remains. The plants who thrive (not all do) under L.E.D’s get moved to that area next and historically it all goe’s out to the heated greenhouse between April 10-15. At that time of year the snow is still 4 ft deep around the sides where it slid off the roof but it will be 62 inside!
Then the big wait And the final move outdoors can be anytime from May 3-9 clear up to the end of the month.
None of this is set in stone and always vacillates depending on that years pattern.
i always advise people to keep your own notes, published data will get you in the ball park but there are so many different micro-climates that you’ll either be way ahead or behind relying solely on what’s on the reverse side of a seed packet!

Currently Celery, Parsley and some medicinal herbs are emerging And the tomato seed went into starter cubes yesterday, 3 weeks later than last year!

 

[Zeedman]

i always advise people to keep your own notes, published data will get you in the ball park but there are so many different micro-climates that you’ll either be way ahead or behind relying solely on what’s on the reverse side of a seed packet!

Agreed. Cooperative Extension publications, garden books (such as the Sunset gardening books) and seed packets can be good starting dates, but a lot of factors can change those dates one way or the other. With a large heated greenhouse, plants can be grown to a larger point before transplant - even to flowering stage. Raised beds and pots heat up more rapidly than ground, so could be planted earlier... as could transplanting through black plastic. For me, it is often a question of when the soil can be worked, regardless of air or soil temperature. For any gardener, keeping records & observations will help to zero in on the best planting dates (and transplanting dates) for different flowers, herbs, and vegetables.

 

[so lucky]

The only thing I have planted so far are some Marconi pepper seeds. Slow to germinate, slow to grow. Gotta start early.