Welcome Back
Today we have an entry from my good friend Scapegoat, please follow him on Twitter. He is also a fellow gardener and wrote an article for us several months ago on Small Space Gardening. I asked him if he would please share his seed starting alpha for us and of course he agreed because he is such an awesome dude. I’m really excited to see his method from start to finish.
Note: I have added amazon affiliate links to the captions in the pictures below for convenience in case you would like to order these supplies straight from amazon.
Farmer's Store
Before we get started I wanted to remind everyone about my farm store. I finally got some nice stickers made for my honey jars. I also added a squeeze jar in 16 oz for convenience and a gallon size for those heavy honey drinkers! There are also two different seed variety packs you can buy.. These are from a reputable dealer who packages them up really nice and they are Non GMO.
Getchu Some Honey!
Seed Starting Basics
Hello Frens and fellow garden enthusiasts! I’d like to thank my good fren Farmer for the opportunity to drop a little seed starting guide on y’all.
With rising costs across the board its going to be a good idea to grow as much of your own food as possible. One method I use to be more self-sufficient is by growing certain plants from seed, starting them indoors. This saves me USTT by not having to purchase plants from the store when it comes time to get the garden going outside.
Below I will go through the steps taken and material/equipment used.
First things first, purchase your seeds (if you’re a pro save seeds from your harvest). There are many places to get seeds: online, hardware stores, box stores, garden centers. Help the little shops out and buy local if you can. Big corporations aren’t struggling these days and it should be clear they don’t care about you so buy from Bob at the corner hardware instead. You all get the drift here, help thy neighbor!
The next step will be to gather what you need to get them started. I like to use the Jiffy Pellets or Peat cells to germinate the seeds and I grow a fair amount each year so I order in bulk. Amazon will have everything you need BUT so will your local go to shops. You can use soil in different containers or even old cardboard egg crates but this is my preferred method. Much easier to transplant a pod than to cut out sections in a tray of soil.
They sell kits with the pods, plant trays, and lids. This is what I started with but will include pictures of what I’ve upgraded to as well. The important part is to have a lid so the moisture and heat are kept in. Get creative if you want but the kits are inexpensive and can be used for many years. Worth the minimal investment if you are going to be doing this every year.
Upgraded to these plastic domes as they are more durable and have side extensions to add when sprouts grow taller. Notice I still use the jiffy kit trays inside the upgraded trays though.
Some folks germinate in a moist paper towel and plastic bag. I personally view this as unnecessary and more work. Not to mention all the handling could damage the very fragile sprout while checking to see its progress. I germinate right in the soil with much success. Germination will occur in warmer soil temps (varies by types so google specific temps needed for your application) and you will need to place them somewhere warm.
Most info online will tell you to place them on top of your refrigerator. I’m a pro so I took it step further out of necessity for what I grow (Super-Hot Peppers). The peppers require warmer temps than most and needed to be between 80-85 degrees. The top of fridge wouldn’t work there so I purchased heating mats for under the trays. There are a few options, but I spent the extra money for ones that had a thermostat too. That way I could set it/forget it and accurately regulated.
**PRO TIP** To soften the seed casing you can soak in a weakened chamomile tea solution for 24 hours. This will also act as a disinfectant. Pepper seeds have notoriously tough shells so this helps soften them and allow the sprout to break thru easier.
Place all your dry pods in the tray and add warm water so they expand. You will need about 8 cups for a full tray of 72 pods.
After all the water is absorbed and pods fully expanded you can now plant the seeds. They don’t have to be deep (no more than a ¼”), you don’t want the sprout to have to work too much to emerge from the soil. The end of a pen or sharpie marker would be good for making your depression in the soil, some kits come with a tool for this. Cover them lightly with soil (don’t compact soil too much).
Now that the seeds are planted in pods you place the tray on your heating mat in front of a south facing window or under a grow light. I use a grow light because I don’t have any south facing windows in an ideal spot for my small operation. The light will be more important once they emerge but I hit them with a powerful grow light once they are planted. Depending on what you’re growing you could have sprouts within a few days up to a few weeks.
With the lid (dome) on you wont need to water very often, you’re just trying to keep them moist not drenched in water all the time. The condensation stays within the dome and keeps the humidity ideal resulting in far less watering. Could even just use a spray bottle to mist the sprouts. You will be able to tell when they need water if they look dry and soil is light brown.
This is a fairly simple job and many get intimidated or lost in the weeds with all the varying information in online forums and internet searches. Have patience and don’t over complicate things! “Keep it simple stupid”
Once they have outgrown the pods (many roots exposed and grown through the pods) I transplant them to a small 3” pot. I use small pots to save space because they’re not quite ready for outdoors full time yet. After the 3” pot you’ll want to repot in 1 gallon pots if they’re not ready yet.
You have to ease the young plants into the full force of the sun. So you want to transport them outside for an hour a day increasing the time every 5 days or so. This will take a couple weeks to acclimate them fully so PATIENCE is needed. Don’t rush it or all your work could be lost if they get fried in the sun. You can even use a shade tarp like I did when I went away for a few days and couldn’t bring them inside everyday. Morning sun would be best before the intensity of mid day sun hits.
I use collapsible transport trays to move them around as shown above (black/blue trays and also green trays from upgraded grow domes) Makes it much easier going inside/outside than carrying individual pots.
Hope you all enjoyed this short article and are getting your plans together for your gardens! This is a great community where we all try and help each other, so don’t hesitate to ask any questions. Farmer is a good man and will assist any way he can or at least point you in the right direction. My DM’s on twitter are open as well if anyone has questions.
Thanks Goat, you really are the Goat! And thanks to everyone who has subscribed to this newsletter, I really appreciate you!
See ya’ll next week.
WAGMI,
Farmer