It was high time I learned how to start seeds indoors. This is really the first year I’m growing from seed. Last year it was mostly starters. I had tried some seeds but nothing came of anything except for my spinach (and very little came from that). This year, with 1800 sq ft to fill and 60+ different seed varieties to fill it with, I’m determined to figure it out.
The first thing I did was to consult our local gardening Yahoo group. There are many enthusiasts and Master Gardeners on that list and I’m so thankful they are so willing to share what works for them. However, with this info they gave me, they either have more patience or I did something wrong. Here’s what I did:
I was told we won’t get enough sunlight to germinate outdoors right now. So, indoors it was. The idea still bothers me – so much stuff to buy, so much electricity to use. So, first we bought a giant 5 shelf unit from the hardware store. Then, I was told to buy soilless seedling mix – peat moss and perlite to be exact. Well, peat moss is not sustainable so I shelled out more for coco peat.
Then I needed grow lights. Do you know how many raised eyebrows a girl with dreadlocks receives when walking through the store with a shopping cart full of grow lights? A lot. It was nearly as bad as the guy at the hydroponics place where I bought the coco peat…”So, you’re growing, eh?” wink wink
So I sprinkled my broccoli and spinach seeds in a tray, wet them, covered them with a clear dome lid, put a heating pad under them for extra warmth and put them 2 inches from the lights for 16 hours a day.
Once they popped up and were too tall for the lid, it was removed. I had one blueish colored bulb and one white bulb over the seedlings. I rotated the tray daily and watered with a misting spray bottle. Every morning the lights came on as soon as I woke up, and every night they were turned off before bed.
When they started to develop their second set of true leaves, it was time to transplant them into larger, individual pots. I scooped them out of their trays with a fork and put them in old butter tubs with holes drilled into the bottoms and some small pots I picked up at a thrift store both filled with more coco peat. There were so many seedlings that I ran out of both types of pots and finally got a chance to use my newspaper pot maker thingy
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Then they were put onto trays and placed back under the lights. I also watered them with sea kelp extract. And now I’m waiting to see how they handle the transplant.
Overall, I’m thinking this method is not for me. Sprinkling seeds in the trays meant some of them were growing really close together. The broccoli has a “sticky” quality to its leaves so some of it had grown entangled with others and were difficult to uproot without breakage. The roots were difficult to untangle also and I’m sure I caused damage there as well. The whole process just sucked. I’m also not sure about this “soilless” thing and how they will manage without nutrients other the sea kelp I can water with (not to mention affording new mix every year).
The newspaper pots seemed easier to handle, took up less room than the bigger pots and can be planted directly into the garden. I think I’m going to start my next batch of seeds directly in the newspaper pots and see how that goes.
Overall, it’s been a learning experience, even if it’s yet another one I don’t wish to repeat. I’m hoping that starting my summer vegetables in newspaper pots will ease the process some. And I’m also hoping I can figure out if the soilless seedling mix is something I can do without before next year. And as always, I’m totally interested in what others do for their seedlings.
My name is Tara. I am a mama and a lover, a full-time nomad, a passionate devourer of Life and an Organic Life Coach.
Here is an idea. Next time you go to a family get-together and they are using those big hefty disposable cups, instead of allowing them to throw them away, gather them up and take them home. Wash them out well and use those to start your seedlings. This way you don’t have to “transplant” from a tray. Make sure to put holes in the bottom. Just put 2-3 seeds per cup and then thin seedlings when they develop their true leaves. They are big enough to grow most plants until they are ready to be put into the garden. You can re-use the cups from year to year too if you are careful not to break them when you take your plants out of them.
Also, to save on electricity, you could move the plants to a sunny window for part of the day and give your grow lights a break.
Something else, I noticed in the pics that your plants (on the bottome shelves especially) are pretty far from the lights. Under grow lights, the leaves should be no more than 3 inches from the grow lights. You can hang the lights with small chains to adjust them while they grow.
Good luck!
The cups are a great idea. I’ll see what I can do to start saving those. Unfortunately we don’t have any windows sunny enough. We’re nestled between two 2story homes and are windows are in in such a way to inhibit any direct sunlight coming into the home. Great for our hot summers; not so great for winters. If houses here were built with south facing windows, we’d have no need for heaters in the winter with our mild weather. Come summer time we’ll get lots of sun in two of our bedrooms in the late afternoon but it’s too scorching for seedlings.
I have never started seedlings, I have only dropped the seeds into the pots and let seeds do as they will. I was a bit more in a whatever happens happens kind of thinking process in Germany now not as much.
Completely unrelated to gardening…have you ever thought of owning a chicken? Do you know if this is against regulation within the city limits? I have tried to contact many people but am getting no actual answer. Have you looked into this? Just wondering. Thanks.
Yes! I have looked into chickens. I want two BAD. It’s legal but difficult. You have to have a coop no closer than 75 ft from any structure/home in any direction. But they aren’t strict about it so having one on less land depends on your neighbors and how much they like eggs.
This is for the City of Las Vegas. Half of Las Vegas is in Clark County jurisdiction and then there is NLV and Henderson; I don’t know their laws. I did a google search for Las Vegas laws which lead me to a website where I could search again for the law. Can’t find it now though.
*However* there is talk about getting a community chicken co-op at the new community garden. I’m not sure where the garden is (northish I think – it just opened) or how a community chicken co-op works but I’ll definitely let you know if I hear more.
If you have found that it is okay than I am going to see what kind of chicks Jones gets in at the end of March. Our goal is not necissarily the eggs (thats a bonus) but a pet. My husband wants 3 and I want 2. I have been calling all over with little to no results; I was planning on blogging about it today. If we end up ordering online I was wondering if you would want to order together…Online the chicks do better in groups to stay warm. MyPetChicken has a minimum of 5 if you want all female and they are a day old which means when they arrive to your house they have not eaten any other foods and you can start them straightaway on organic starter feed. I have found a site that you can order 50 lb sacks from California, no such luck any closer. Just a thought. Thanks for the extra info.
Liked your pics and the ‘beautified pics’ as well! It will all be alive and well by July!
Can’t you just drop the seeds directly in the soil? God sakes girl, you live in the desert!
I live in blinkin’ cold England and don’t have a grow light….
Jennifer: For some reason it doesn’t work well here for many things to not have starters to plant. I think it has something to do with needing an established plant before the extreme temps hit. Just another condition to growing anything more than weeds in the desert.
SJS: I’ve heard of a lcoal chickery (is that what they’re called??) in town. Somewhere SE I think. I would LOVE to order together but I don’t think I can swing it this year. I think by next spring we’ll be ready for chicks though. (Here’s a hint: don’t try to google “chicks in las vegas” or even “chickens in las vegas”!! Definitely not finding what I was looking for!)
Is a greenhouse out of the question? The reason I keep pushing you is that sunlight, which you have so much of, is free, unlike the grow light and the cost of running such grow light. They make greenhouses here with plastic sheeting instead of glass and they are much cheaper than they used to be.
Sorry if I sound a pain in the ……….
BTW, the ‘chicks in las vegas’ made me laugh out loud!
I would love to do a green house but being nestled between all the two story houses doesn’t get us enough sunlight in the wintertime when the sun is angled differently. And a greenhouse in the sumemrtime is called a solar oven.
Trust me, I know. It sucks and I hate doing it. The cost, the emissions, the aggravation. I can’t wait to live somewhere with better options. For now I’m making do.
What is the “newspaper pot making thingie”?? Sounds intriguing!
I’ve got to get started on my own seed-sprouting. Ours don’t hit the outside soil till early May here in WI, so I’ve got a wee bit of time.
My plants look a little pale from 5 days of no sun. I sprayed some liquid organic fertilizer on them, so i am hoping that will help.
Do you have the newspaper machine to help make the pots? My dad just bought one on line.
I get to put my one tray out in the sun for 4-5 hours a day. ONe tray is easy to move.
Here’s a link to the thingy that makes my pots. I got mine from Bountiful Gardens to support their cause. I guess it’s just called a pot maker. But that doesn’t do it justice like newspaper pot making thingy, does it?
I googled “ordinances regarding Poultry in Las Vegas, NV” and this site came up:
http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusnvodlasvegas_reno.htm
Under the “farm animals” the portion regarding poultry states:
7.38.050 Poultry and birds–Permit and other requirements.
(A) Except as otherwise provided in Subsection (B), it is unlawful for any person to keep, or cause to be kept, on premises over which any such person may have control within the City:
(1) Any poultry within three hundred fifty feet of any dwelling of another person unless such other person has filed with the Animal Control Officer a written, unrevoked consent authorizing the keeping of such poultry within three hundred fifty feet of the dwelling. In the case of pigeons, this distance shall be two hundred feet from any dwelling owned by another person unless such other person has filed with the Animal Control Officer a written, unrevoked consent authorizing the keeping of the pigeons within two hundred feet of the dwelling, in which case the number of pigeons shall be limited to twelve pair over the age of twelve months;
(2) Any crowing rooster;
(3) Any poultry or birds that are not, at all times, confined within a suitable outbuilding, coop, or enclosed runway that is clean and free from offensive odors, animal wastes, rodents, flies, or any other offensive or unwholesome condition; or
(4) Any poultry within any dwelling house, basement, sub-basement, or cellar.
Hope that helps! I don’t know what year it is from so it may not be up to date. Maybe speaking with your local animal control can get your chicken questions answered.
Good luck!
Thanks for linking that. I looked up LV municipal codes and it’s right and up-to-date. Perhaps it was changed at some point or I looked up Clark County’s prior. I just found Clark County’s and it has NO mention of how far away a coop must be. It simply says they have to be in a coop or shelter of some kind.
anony: Do you live in Vegas?
Just came back for a visit to read earlier posts that I missed.
I hate the whole sowing and thinning thing too. I put into individual cells, or for bigger plants found that the tree bark pot things (spongy squares using tree bark instead of peat) are nice too…I have some cocoa hull mix too this year and found that the cabbage family really likes it alot more than the other stuff. I have two lighting setup areas (well, 3 if you count the under the kitchen cabinet mini lights for small trays of greens). Mix of natural light is doing better this year. I’m starting another tray of stuff today. Woo hoo!