Many people that want to grow a vegetable garden get put off by the high prices of plants at their local garden center. Prices have really gone up in the past couple years and if you don’t take care in your purchases it can be very expensive to start even a small garden.
On the other hand it is possible to pick up a few packets of seed for less than what you might pay for just one potted tomato plant at the store and grow your own starter plants.
Picking The Best Seed Starting Tray
After you have planned your garden you will understand how many plants and what types you will be growing. Not all vegetables should be started in Seed Starting Trays and you need to refer to the seed provider’s instructions for best results. For seeds that can be started in a greenhouse or inside your home you will need seed starting trays that fit your specific needs.
Professional Farmers and Greenhouses will often use what are called Seed Germination Trays and if you are planting a very large garden where you will need a hundred or more of one plant type then Germination Trays that have about a 3/4″ to 1 inch cell size might be good for you. Each Tray has more than 100 cells for starting seeds. Germination trays are only to allow the seeds to start and once they have grown to about 3 inches in height and established roots they will need to be transplanted to larger cell trays. These trays are often backed up by heating mats to increase the soil temperature. Your plants might stay 2 weeks in these trays after sprouting.
Seed Plug Trays are trays that have cell sizes of about 2 inches. These seed trays are best when you want the plant to develop to a size where you can direct transplant them into the soil. They have a flexible cell that allows you to remove the plant without damaging the roots. They normally come in trays with 36 to maybe 72 cells. Heating mats are also good for larger plug trays to raise the soil temperature and the plants will stay in these cells until they are directly planted or maybe 4 weeks.
Larger Planting Pots are used to transplant the smaller germination cells to a pot that will allow the plant to grow past the size where it can be directly planted but they are not permanent planters. They take up much more space and are a good choice once you are moving the seedling outdoors to a greenhouse that may or may not be heated. Normally greenhouses will get very warm even in the early spring just from natural sunlight. These are the larger 4 inch pots that you might purchase at a garden center.
Display Pots are much larger and permanent places for your plants. They often come in hanging varieties or can be placed in areas were direct planting is not an option. Personally I don’t buy these larger planting pots because they are too expensive however they can be saved and reused for a number of years.
The Best Soil For Starting Seed vs Growing Plants
The best soil for starting your seed is a sterile potting soil that has very fine granules. Sometimes professionals will use a combination of material but the main factor is that it has been put through very small screens. The smaller the granules the easier the seed can get to the surface. It will also make it much easier to transplant smaller seedlings and even plug tray plants.
Potting Soil on the other hand is very basic and often has large chunks of bark and sticks in it. You should never use it for starting your seed and if you are buying bags of it at the garden center you really need to set up a screen bin made out of hardware cloth and a frame to screen out all of the larger chunks. Potting Soil should be reserved for Larger Pots or Display Pots.
Some professionals will use a mixture of products from Vermiculite to Peat Moss and Organic Matter to provide the best growing material for their plants however for the average home gardener you can purchase bags already made up for you cheaper than mixing your own. Even larger greenhouses that grow hundreds of thousands of plants will use pre-bagged materials because it saves so much time.
You really don’t need to add things like calcium, nitrogen, phosphate or potassium to your starting or potting mix. Reserve that soil improvement work for your garden. However a liquid fertilizer applied as you water may be very helpful if you are growing larger potted plants.
What Is The Best Temperature To Start Vegetable And Flower Seeds?
This is probably the most important thing where everyone who isn’t trained professionally makes the mistake. You can start your seeds in a variety of trays and probably get away with different soil types but the most important thing for your seeds is that they are watered well and that they are maintained between 68F and 78F with about 74F being the optimal temperature to start the seeds sprouting.
Whether you are planting in trays on your kitchen window shelf or planting in a greenhouse or even direct sewing seed in your garden the soil needs to be warm and it needs to be kept warm.
You might go out to your garden during the day and the soil is warm because the sun is hitting the surface but 3 inches down its 20 degrees colder. That really does not help your seeds to germinate or plants
The same thing with your trays they have to be kept warm so many people use heat mats in addition to grow lights or natural sunlight. Grow lights are fine but if you pick up your tray and its sitting in water and the water is cold then the soil is going to be cold.
Cold Soil Delays Germination Times and this really can be seen with Tomatoes. When germinating a number of plants if your tomatoes just won’t come up after 10 days its highly likely that the soil was cold. Some plants will do ok like cold weather Cabbage or Broccoli but for the most part you are going to have much more success if your soil is warm rather than pounding your plants with grow lights and drying them out.
Final Note
Whether you are starting your first garden or have been doing this for many years you can really benefit by starting your own seed. If you are expecting to grow a very large garden or have a farm then you should also consider investing in a greenhouse and high quality trays and tools. If you are an average home gardener who might have half a dozen tomato plants, cucumbers and some other things you find interesting then try to keep the price low so that you can enjoy your garden and not consider it a financial investment.
Something as easy as saving seed from your store bought tomatoes and peppers can give you a variety of choices for very little cost. Unfortunately vegetables in the store might not have mature seed or the seed might not be good for planting. You can test this and see what kind of results you have. But if you grow your own garden from seed you can then save the seed from your best vegetables for next year.
I had been having a hard time finding my favorite lettuce seed then I was very happy to find that I had allowed a couple plants to go to seed last season and saved a small bag of them. You never know what you have on hand until you start getting out the planting supplies.
Good Luck and remember if all else fails you can buy a few potted plants from your local greenhouse.