I was like you I wanted instant gratification in the winter. So as you did I bought a growlight system and started my vegetables in February. Boy what a mistake, very leggy plants and I had to keep repotting. Eventually I had to make a makeshift coldframe because the plants were too big for indoor lights and that was in March. Then I found the wintersowing forum. Now I wintersow through March so I don't get cabin fever, and start my vegetables in April. Since I had the growlight system and it was taking up space I am growing lettuce and spinach...so far so good. I just have to find varieties that will taste good grown indoors.

Now back to your questions...once your seedlings have their second true leaves I would recommend repotting one seedling per 2" pot or other small makeshift container with holes in the bottom (use your imagination...the plants don't care). You will need to keep them under the lights just make sure the light is as close to the plants as possible without touching the leaves or you will have leggy plants. It is very important to not let the seedlings dry out but at the same time don't overwater them or you may end up with moss (unsightly but it shouldn't kill the seedlings as long as you keep it undercontrol. Also a small oscillating fan is almost a must when growing underlights. Once lavendar is established in the pots they prefer to be more on the dry side. And don't forget to fertilize at first with a very weak solution.

Personally lavendar wintersows fantastically, and so does salvia. In fact I had better luck with both wintersowing vs underlights. I hope you aren't looking for color from the lavendar this year, it could take another year for full blooms.

Hope this helps, Karen

I start all seeds (10, 20, 30 or more) in six inch pots. Six 6" pots fit nicely on one heat mat. When germination occurs I move the pot off of the mat. Transplant when I have time, hopefully before the 6" pots are two crowded. My estimate on that is 2 to 3 weeks after germination. Everything is transplanted to deep 4" pots, and that's what they have to live in until they go outdoors in spring :-) I am NOT a fan of jiffy pots. They dry out and almost seem to suck the water away from the soil. Then they fall apart. I like cheap 4" plastic pots that I can buy by the case (500 pots or so) for $40 and have a 3 year supply.

As for your question, don't freak, like you said, just wait until they develop true leaves (but not longer). If you have 1000's of plants, thats a good thing, although a little overwhelming :). Prepare whatever you are going to move them to (e.g. jiffy pots), then use a little tool like the flat of a small screwdriver and lift each little plant and move it to it's own pot. They are sturdier than you may think, just don't crush or rip the tap root.

For future reference, I would start the plants mini-greenhouse planting trays, made by a variety of companies including jiffy. Rectangular trays divided up into square by either plastic, or the peat material. With the plastic you get as many as 72 plants per tray, although when you plant these outside, you have to remove the plant and roots from the plastic, which can be a pain. The jiffy material greenhouses can hold 50 plants, but it does dry out fairly quickly because the whole thing is a pourous surface area. Just water faithfully, and drying out shouldn't be a problem. They have the advantage of going into the ground with the plant.

The advantage of using these, is you can start and grow the seeds in the same medium without moving them until they are ready to go outside.

To handle tiny seed, what I do is pour all the seed onto a small plate (like you eat off of), then use a small tool, a small paint brush (like you paint a picture with) is best, but you can use just about anything (knife, etc.) to move a few of the seeds into each little compartment. Then once the plants germinate yank out all but 1 plant per compartment, if you have any compartments with no plants, move them from compartments with multiple plants.

Hope this helps.

Hi Laura!

You said you checked out the WS forum so make sure you read about the HOS (hunk o' seedling) method over there. I prefer to grow indoor as well but I have adapted the HOS method. For teeny tiny seedlings it works great. You have to play with it, kinda like trial and error, to see which seeds it works best with. For example it did not work well for poppies and nicotiana last year. the ones I separated into their own cells grew much better. I always do a few each way and then TRY to remember for next year. Salpiglossis and larkspur definitely need to be sown HOS based on last years results. Here's what I mean:

{{gwi:219857}}
Some of those pots may be a little overly crowded but 4 or 5 seedlings would be good. That will save you room under the lights and give you more bang for your buck.

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You can see the plants on top were sown from larger seeds, nasturtium, malva, etc. These are not good for HOS as they get larger much faster, lol. Those are one to a pot.

Any type of plant that you envision grouped tightly together in the garden is good for HOS. Expecially tall lanky plants that rely on one another for support, i.e scabiosa, knautia...

Good luck!!

Julie,

It's all new to me -- do you take each of the pots pictured and plant them in the garden as-is? Or do you break the plants apart? I wasn't sure what HOS meant. Well, I thought it was to break apart what is growing in the milk jug into hunks of 2 or 3 or even more lants, but after your post I 'm not sure I have been understanding correctly.

After seeing your seedlings, and I don't recognize them all, but the Nasturtiums I recognize...when would you plant them out? They look like they are ready right now! Or maybe the picture was from last year?

Lime

Hi all:)
I grow 200 sp. or more species/ Perennials -but also av few like Nicotiana )etc/a year-(2000 and more plants)
I sow everything indoors , under lamps-I also think it takes avay the winter blues and in my climat I have to plant out my seedling in May -to be sure they will survive next winter
Keep the light close 10-15 cm over the seedlings
Sow in trays pots etc , then transplant seedlings (after they have got 3 or more real leaves)into small pots 9x9cm -one plant one pot
Happy sowing !
K

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:219856}}

Lime,

You understood correctly, I just did things a little different. First, those were from last year. It was probably mid April and I did the nasturtiums way too early. They only needed a 4-week head start at the most. WSers divide the contents of their containers into little hunks and plant out. I like to get a better head start than that so I either
A. sow little hunks directly into pots that will be transplanted into the garden as is or
B. when they need a cold period, I scatter seeds into a lasagna pan, or milk jug to go outside for a while, then I divide those sprouts to grow on further in the pots.
Either way, what you see in the pot is what goes into the garden. I wouldn't technically call what I do WS'ing because I don't have the patience to wait for the sprouts outside. In March I put up a portable greenhouse with a heater and all the outdoor stuff goes in there. It usually germinates right away and then I don't have to worry about it freezing again :)

Again, the HOS is only for certain plants. The majority of stuff I do 1 or 2 per pot.

PS, the ones on the left of the first picture that are about 4 to a pot are blue flax and I found out from experience that it wasn't nearly enough. They would have been better of in a heavy clump for effect. The ones that look like they are really dense are poppies which ended up choking ech other out before they made it to the garden. I had to divide some of them further because they started dying. It is really all trial and error!