I am attempting to start seed this year. It is my first try and only my 2nd go around gardening so I thought I'd ask some of you more experienced gardeners if you thought my seed starting set up will work.

What you see in the picture is 2 9x13 glass casserole dishes with 3 in jiffy pots. in each jiffy pot is Jiffy seed starting mix with 3 seed of various tomatoes and peppers. Then another 9x13 on top. These are on top of a regular ol heating pad and under a shop light on my kitchen counter. I plan to put the seedlings on top of the inverted 9x13 when they sprout to get them closer to the light. I also plan to thin or transplant the seedlings down to 1 per pot, of course.

My concern is will the 2 9x13's keep enough moisture in, as you can see there is a small gap between the 9x13's. Do you think I need to seal the gap with saran wrap or something?

RE: will this work?

• Posted by: okiedawn Z7 OK (My Page) on Mon, Feb 15, 10 at 17:26

Kristin,

I think it will work just fine without Saran wrap or something similar.

I raise hundreds of seedlings indoors every year and I don't cover the seed-starting flats with anything at all, and my seeds germinate just fine. I know the conventional wisdom says to cover the flats with those little plastic domes or plastic wrap or whatever, but I don't do it. (You know, in keeping with my philosophy that all gardening rules are made to be broken.....)

When I used to use the little plastic domes, I think my seed-starting mix stayed too moist and every now and then I had issues with damping off (a collective name for some fungal diseases that frequently kill seedlings). Since I stopped using the domes, I rarely lose a plant to damping off, so I feel like I have better results without any kind of lid on the plants. Your results may vary.

When you use a dome or casserole dish or plastic wrap to cover the casserole dish that contains the peat pot, soil and seed combo, be sure to remove the top covering as soon as the seeds sprout. Also, remove the heating pad once the seeds have sprouted because the bottom heat isn't necessary after that point and may, in fact, be detrimental.

The most important thing is to keep the starter mix evenly moist--not dry and not sopping wet, just evenly moist. Excessive moisture encourages damping off. I run a ceiling fan in my guest room where I have the light shelf unit in order to encourage good air circulation. Good air circulation also helps prevent damping off.

Good luck and have fun. The very first time I started seeds inside myself as a young adult, I was so excited...it was just so simple and I had thought it would be hard.

Dawn

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