SEED STARTING ---- MY WAY

[dickiebird]

Recently Hot Pepper Queen shared some of her seeds with those of us who asked for them, I asked for mostly yellow tomato and pepper seeds.
When I thanked her for them she asked if I would keep her up to date on their progress.
I decided to start this thread on MY WAY of seed starting in hopes of giving some of our newer members an idea of how to start their seeds.
All pics I show here will be of HPQ's seeds!!!!

I start with potting mix in plastic containers I've bought other starts in or have collected up from friends.
The potting soil I used for these starts has been used before as I believe the nutrients in the seeds themselves will carry the new plant for quite some time.

This is what the seedlings look like after about 10 days.

The next thing I do is fill some styrofoam cups with potting soil and compress the soil in the cup.
You will see that I don't always use new cups, I reuse until I don't have room to write on them or they disintegrate!!

I then use a 6" rule to work the starts out of one of the cells.

I now use the tip of an E Xacto knife to gently work the roots of each plant out of the soil.

Sorry that last pic wasn't in good focus.

Here's what the tiny root will look like at this point.

Another not so good focus pic!!!

Now I use something blunt to poke a hole in the soil.

And then insert the tiny root in that hole.
At times I will use my blunt instrument to set the root deep into that hole, being careful no to break the root off the plant.

The final step is to set them in trays and water.
On this bunch my soil was very dry so I had to add a little water from the top.
Normally after I set them in trays I flood the tray with water and let them wick it up from the bottom.

You'll notice that I put 2 seedlings to a cup, I did this because they were really not as mature as I would usually transplant, I'll see how this work out!!

The last pic is another tray of transplants that I used small Dixie cups for containers.
I don't like this method as the cups turn sort of ickky from being moist all the time.

Thanks for viewing,please rate, comment and subscribe----Oh, wait thats a you tube thing, aint it???

Hope this helps.

THANX RICH

 

[NwMtGardener]

9.8/10 Rich! A few points off for mis focusing

 

[baymule]

Off to a good start!

 

[journey11]

I like reusing containers too. I need to get some things started too. I already feel so behind!

 

[ninnymary]

I just started some peppers from seed for the first time. Do you transplant them after 10 days? I'm not sure when I should transplant mine.

Mary

 

[dickiebird]

Mary
The last pic shows the size that I usually try to do my 1st transplant.
The ones I did in the pics above that are kinda small that, I try and wait until the start is about 2" tall and then I will set them with about 1" of stem and leaves above the soil.
I used to wait until the start had it's 1st pair of true leaves before I would transplant, but they seem to work out the way I do them now.
On peppers and tomatoes you can bury the stem deep and you'll get a stronger root system.
If you look at the stems of peps and toms you'll see "hairs'" all down the stem, when you cover those with soil the turn into roots and roots are what you want so you have a good anchor when your plants produces fruit!!!

THANX RICH

 

[buckabucka]

I start many of my seeds in damp paper towels, labeled and set in a ziplock bag. Then I move the ones that sprout into soil. I do that partly so I don't have to thin them, and also because it is easier to find a warm place to tuck the plastic bag, than to heat my whole tray of dirt.

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

If I did not know better, I would say those were my cups.

 

[Beekissed]

Do you have a greenhouse you are going to put these out into? If not, do you usually start seedlings this early for your area?

 

[dickiebird]

Yes I have a greenhouse but it will be more than a month before they go out there.
They'll stay in our back room, on every flat surface I can find, and then will go out into the greenhouse.

THANX RICH