You can sow them in whatever you have--the seeds don't really care what you use. I like styrafoam cups because my extra toms go to charity sales. I scribe the name on the cup brim with a bic pen--works out nice. I usually sow about three or four seeds into a cup. I keep the largest seedlings to transplant into my own garden. I'm in zone seven and I usually start sowing my toms by mid february and end up by the last few days of the month. These small cups I keep nested in containers, I enclose the container is a big baggie with slits for ventilation and drainage, and I do keep a close eye on them as they can dry out on a warm or windy day.

My soil is very sandy too, I live on an island. I put down soaker hoses hooked to a timer and don't worry about the watering after I transplant small seedlings. I do have to worry about birds which eat them, so I cut the bottom out of water bottles, toss away the cap, and 'screw down' the bottle into the soil, it doesn't go deep, maybe an inch or so, and I can also mound up a little soil around the outside to keep it in place. It protects the seedlings until they're established--which is about the time the leaves of the seedling grow so large they touch the wall of the bottle.

Green bottles are fine, they still let a lot of light pass through. I've used them many, many times over the years and haven't seen a problem yet.

Thanks for the quick reply.

If screwing the bottles in an inch works for you on a coastal island with those perpetual winds it should hold up for me against anything but a tornado.

I'm hoping to have extras to give away at church or at work so I guess the styrofoam containers will be the better choice for these.

Yes, the coffee cups are very nice and easy to prep too. I buy a package of about 50 for a couple of bucks at the supermarket. To prep, all you need do is punch a hole in the bottom with a pencil. You can punch three of them at once, making it faster. Writing the names on the rim is a bit of a drag, but if you choose toms with short names it goes quick enough.

Fran has a nice tip for toms in cups: As the seedlings grow, add a little soil to the top of the cup. The seedlings end up planted deeper. More buried stem= more area for roots to grow.

I do this now and it works well. It makes seedlings look smaller but I do think it helps them grow bigger, better root mass.

I don't like those strawberry containers. They dry out too fast and they don't have enough head room for seedlings.

Karen

My Peppers, Tomatoes and Datura's went under the grow lights Today! We have a pretty short summer her in the Mountains of Utah. At 5500 feet and zone 4. So I start them 12 weeks out. By the first of may they will go out into the garden under walls of water. I get maters by the 4th of July. The garden is beautiful despite the short season.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gallery

Well ya know what I did. LOL.

In the winter sowers swap we got a package of seed named Goat Weed, well it was left with the rest of some of the other seeds I seriously did not know what in the world it was. Well ya really do not know what I went through for that swap. If I did know I got on the computer and looked it up. Well come to find out I found a listing for a herb of Goat weed. I won't say what kind of purposes it has but I will say this, men put down the viagra, LOL... Anywho, well I said heck ok I will keep this, just for that just in case factor!! LOL Well the other day I opened up the pack of seeds and decided to grow it. Well it looked like a pepper seeds. So I went and got back on line and sure enough there is a goat weed pepper, oh my I sure never heard of such.

Well long story that finally is put to rest, I sowed that Goat weed pepper the other day. I am going to go ahead and grow them and not worry one bit about them. Though normally I would wait till late february.

Boy now I really want that herb goat weed!!! LOL I was really excited about it. Even funnier I had the pack of seeds and before I knew what the herb "goat weed" was used for I handed the pack to my father with the words GOAT WEED in clear bold letters. He just kinda looked at me like are you crazy, LOL. Now I wonder if he knew about the herb and what it was used for!! Oh my, how embarrassed I would be if he did!!! LOL

Wow, aquawise, awesome photos! Great selection of daylilies too! I'm in zone 5, but also around 5,500' in elevation, and I am able to successfully wintersow (outdoors) tomatoes. I've had ripe ones by late July before, but August is more typical. I wintersow them in early March, and usually have germination by the third week in April.

I have to agree with your decision to start the peppers indoors though. Our season is just too short for them to ripen before the first frost, even though they germinate just fine using the wintersowing technique.

Bonnie

Goat Weed are {{gwi:350872}} They would go well with {{gwi:350873}}

I started Matt's Wild Cherry tomato last week as an experiment-- its parent did well in the cold... the rest are going out in 9oz cups and a comforter bag next week. It smells like spring today. 0_o

Well silver cat they are neat peppers but I will be honest I would of rather had the herb goat weed than the pepper, LOL.

If you use 2-liter bottles, you can cut slits in the sides and the top will attach to the bottom and not go anywhere. I usually save the lids and also screw them into the ground (amended clay here) until the seedlings are stong enough that the squirrels won't mess with them.

I'm on the coast, cusp 7b/8a. I wintersow my tomatoes March 1st and peppers March 15. I start out in jugs. They stay in the jugs until sometime in April then I repot all. The newly potted plants go in a large clear plastic bin. I keep the lid off but close at hand for any late frosts we may have in April. May 1st the tomatoes go in the ground, peppers sometime towards the end of May. Of course dates are weather dictated.

My plants really aren't that small when they go in the ground. They are at least the same size as the transplants sold at the local stores. I'm able to plant the tomatoes deep which is supposed to be, from my understanding, a good thing.

I may try that cup method mentioned above. I could see how that would work real well.