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Growing from Seed

Small Seed Starter Packs

15 years ago

I have a fairly small SQF and will be starting veggies under lights this spring. I really only need 6 or so of each variety of peppers, toms, eggplant, and am looking for smaller seed starter kits than I can raise to various heights under the lights as the transplants grow. Everything I've seen is 30, 36 or 72 cells.

Anybody have any ideas about this? Where to find these? Can the larger-cell sheets be cut down?

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Comments (6)

Ann
15 years ago
Have you thought about trying the Winter Sowing Forum for ideas where you won't have to have a light set-up or move seedlings outside? I am a total convert after my experience last year. Also check out the website wintersown.org for info. Cheers, Ann
aliceinvirginia
15 years ago
There are always the Jiffy Peat pellets. This year I will be trying some peat pellets and some starter mix in 2" or 3" pots.

At the moment the dollar store near me has the 3" 10 for $1.
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seedsnsprouts, I agree with you that the pots you used are way too small. The very smallest pot I would consider starting my veggies in would be a foam coffee cup. I start mine in 4"X4"square and/or 6"round pots. You don't have to throw those plants you've started out, but just transfer them into larger pots and they will do well. A quick way to rescue those plants would be to transfer them into cheap plastic cold drink cups if you cannot locate any plant pots quickly, just make sure you first punch a hole or two with a sharp pencil at the bottom of the cup for drainage. I hope this helps. Lou
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AG Garden Starter Refill Pack....
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Comments (4)
Grizzman. Well I thought something like peat moss or this coir stuff,would make everything all messy and full of peat or coir residue...wont it? I mean peat isnt exactly clean thats for sure! And since I dont want the system to clog up, wouldn't peat dissolve and plug up everything? And this coir to? The Rockwool I think dosen't dissolve...but peat will,wont it?. I am trying to find out what these replacement plugs are made out of in that 50 plug pack with fert. And if the company plants in sponge, they must have a reason, that it works good and keeps things clean, I assume? I personally think 50 plugs, with food, for $19 is not to bad of a price. BUT if it were peat moss,or coir,it will dissolve, won't it?? So I figured that this sponge is clean and easy to remove when done. The most you can do is 2 'crops' a year. So how many plugs do you need? 14 is the most you can use. And the tomato kit you can only use 3 per 'crop'! So 50 would last from 3 to 8 years! Depending on what crop I plant. Just all tomatos would be close to 8 years,with that 1 bag,2 crops a year,6 each year, makes close to 8 years on 1 bag. It would probably go bad long before that, or the garden would go bad before that!:) I have just gotten a second AeroGarden for Christmas,a early gift! And I am expecting a 3rd! So I am going to have a lot of things growing. So the nutrients will be the biggest expense,getting the right ones for seeds that I use on my own, not from the kits. IF I can just get this sponge material or some other CLEAN material to plant in. BUT since I have all these extra seed kits with the factory sponges and plastic cups,etc... I can plant whatever I want,like my dwarf marigolds and set it for flowers on the front panel,use the flower nutrients and see what happens. Now I have to find the right food for them, for MY seeds that I want to try on my own. Maybe their flower nutrients will work for other flowers, their vegetable nutrients will work for other vegetables,I guess it will be trial and error. But peat moss,especially 'Jiffy Pot pellets',to me sound like they would dissolve long before anything sprouts, wouldn't they? They dissolve on me as it is in that netting as it is! And that is using them the 'standard' sprouting way. And then that would clog everything up! Right?? or am I wrong? Maybe I should ask if there is a 'general fert'. I could use when I TRY my own seeds and try to get different gardens growing.
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Okay my fellow seed-starters, what seeds are you ordering?
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Comments (17)
Just for fun I stopped at the Ravenna Gardens up in U Village this weekend (I took the bus since my neighborhood's side streets were totally snowed in this weekend). Renee's Garden seeds has packets of rose seeds. I thought it would be fun to give them a try. It says they've been scarified and pre-treated for somewhat speedy germination (I've grown plenty of roses from my own seeds and always just plant them in autumn and wait until spring so they get variable temps/moisture that they need to sprout in spring (or muuuuuch later)), but this is the first time I've tried from purchased seed. I thought it would be fun to give them a try. We'll see how they do, but I'm curious. It says they are small growing, small flowering types in various shades of pink with some white. Below is a nice link to the actual seed pack. Happy growing and sowing, Grant Here is a link that might be useful: Rose seeds from Renee's Garden seeds
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What is the relevance of organic here? seeds are seed, whether they com from an organically grown plant/fruit or not organically grown. I don't think that either way of growing can make a difference in seeds genetics. Organic makes a difference when you grow the seeds that way. I could be wrong ! Seysonn
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chuckstoll
15 years ago
Jiffy peats are the way to go, you dont need cells you can transplant right into 3 or 4 inch pots when you get your first true set of leaves, put as many jiffy 7's as you want in a tray with a dome $5.00 at local garden center. Likely you will see roots coming through the netting that's a good indicator for transplanting. Lighting will provide extra heat, your peppers need a higher temperature than everything else.
retiredprof
Original Author
15 years ago
Sorry, folks: do you mean Jiffy peat pellets or Jiffy peat pots with my own seed mix? Oh, and a big "duh" for me. hahahaha. Why didn't I think of these?

Prof
archerb
15 years ago
I used the Jiffy Peat Pellets with the 72-tray. If you google 'Jiffy Greenhouse', it should take you right to it. The tray, lid and pellets cost me $6.00 at Walmart. I've seen a similar 'knock-off' product at Home Depot made by Burpee for roughly the same price, although the pellets seemed smaller.

Once my tomatoes get their first 'true' set of leaves and/or I see roots coming out the side netting, I transfer to peat pots ($1.39 for ten of them) with actual soil to fill in the spaces. I only use the 3' pots since I don't plan on them living there long enough before the whole thing, pot and all will get transplanted to the garden.

Also note that you should be able to skip the whole peat pot thing and move the pellets with seedlings directly to your garden. I'm just doing it to free up the tray so I can start my 'round two' of plants.

Here is a link that might be useful: You can find these cheaper locally
johngatch
15 years ago
I use the small 2 oz. or so bathroom mouthwash plastic cups that you find in the supermarket, placed in an aluminum food tray that is sold with a clear plastic dome which can also be bought at supermarkets, Walmart, etc.
Punch a couple of holes in the bottom of the cups and fill with a moistened seed mix. You can write on the cups so that you can mix them in the tray. The trays come in several sizes and are very inexpensive.
If you don't have a heat mat, place the tray on top of your VCR or cable box. The heat is just about right for quick germination.

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