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There are several key elements to a good transplant:
- Fresh seeds. Seeds really shouldn't be more than 2 years old, unless they have been stored in the fridge or freezer, for proper germination.
- Proper growing medium. You need a good TRANSPLANT medium, not soil, not compost, not potting soil, but actual starting medium. You can make your own, but for most home gardeners it is more economical to buy it.
- Enough, proper, light. A sunny south facing window is fine for a couple weeks, but if you are starting a lot of plants, and/or way early, you need a proper light source with a full spectrum light. Without enough light, your plants will grow too tall too fast and be spindly and weak, and often not make it.
- Enough space. You can start 200 tiny seeds in a single tray, but what are you going to do when those 200 seeds are now plants in pots and still need the warmth of inside and plenty of proper light?
- Enough water. Seeds must stay moist until sprouted. This requires some diligence in checking and maintaining a good moisture content without flooding. Also, where is any extra water going to go? You don't want dirty water on your living carpet because that's the south facing window where you need to put your seedling trays. One full day with lack of water has the possibility of killing off your efforts. Two days, definitely, unless you have self-watering trays.
- Time. Read the instruction on the seed packages to see when and where to plant. It says exactly the time frame when to start transplants indoors so that they will be ready on the proper date for transplanting out of doors. You need to plan for babying through those weeks and supplying what they need to be strong and sturdy.
What doesn't matter, is what you pot them in. I've started seeds in plastic containers from take out and grocery produce. I love tin foil pans for catering that I can buy in bulk and sanitize each year effectively, but they are not real sturdy and need careful handling.
Yes, you can start seeds in anything and put them in a sunny southern-facing window for a few weeks, but if you plan on a large garden, for many years, or selling, you'll want/need to invest in the proper set-up.
I finally got serious about transplants and got a proper set-up a few years ago. It has made a HUGE difference in what I am able to do, the ease of doing it, and the health of my transplants and eventual garden. Here's what I bought.
Starter trays in different sizes for different reasons.
Yes, you can start seeds in anything and put them in a sunny southern-facing window for a few weeks, but if you plan on a large garden, for many years, or selling, you'll want/need to invest in the proper set-up.
I finally got serious about transplants and got a proper set-up a few years ago. It has made a HUGE difference in what I am able to do, the ease of doing it, and the health of my transplants and eventual garden. Here's what I bought.
Starter trays in different sizes for different reasons.
10 pack growing trays, standard size 1020, WITHOUT holes. I use these as the bases for my seedling trays because it allows extra water to go through and collect in the bottom rather than running all over my house. They aren't that sturdy, but I don't need them to be. I also use these as starting trays for very fine seeds. I just sprinkle them all over the soil and cover. With no holes, it retains moisture better, I just need to keep a watch that I don't OVER water when using them without cell trays. If you want more sturdy ones, they will cost you, but you can get them from market garden stores such as Boot Strap Farmers and they will last significantly longer if you plan for heavy use.
I use the 200 cell tray for anything I want to start that has seeds large enough to plant individually, even if it is with a pair of tweezers, that I plan to quickly transplant into larger containers. Most seedlings you can transplant as early as when they get their first set of true leaves, not the 2 they start off with. I usually wait until I feel they have outgrown their cells.
50 cell trays are for things that I want to grow in them until transplant, but they are happy without too much room. Like marigolds that I start a bit later. I like this brand because they are a bit sturdier than the cheaper ones.
Biodegradable pots are necessary for plants that don't like their roots disturbed. I start and end the seeds in these pots, transplanting with as little shock as possible to the plant and maintaining the roots at all times. The larger pots I will use for melons, squash and cucumber. The smaller ones I will use for nasturtiums and spinach. Spinach can go out early, so they don't stay inside long enough to need a larger pot, and nasturtiums I start late, so again, they aren't inside very long. I'm not a fan of peat pellets or these biodegradable containers. I only use them if I have to. They dry out way too quick and if I have them in a warm greenhouse or outside in the wind and sun, they are a pain to keep moist enough.
People love the idea of newspaper pots, but I have not found that they hold up for me. And if wondering about the ink, ink on newspapers is a soy product, so fine. I would NOT use anything other than newsprint, though. No grocery adds, nothing glossy or colored if you would like to try making them for yourself.
These are my very favorite humidity domes. They fit the trays well and they are low enough to get under my lights for new seedlings to get the best light intensity. I bought some cheaper and found they didn't have the adjustable ventilation. I ended up with mold on my trays pretty fast. I keep the vent closed until the first sprout emerges, or I see signs of fungus, then I open the vent until they all emerge. As soon as the sprouts are all out-ish or the first one reaches dome height, I remove this cover.
I can't begin to say how much I love these heat mats. They fit PERFECTLY under my seedling trays and drastically improve germination rates and times.
This unit works beautifully. The width and depth are perfect for my lights and holds two trays on each shelf. I can raise and lower the shelf heights as needed and the center bar holds my lights up by S hooks.
4 foot shop light with grow/full spectrum bulbs
You can use pretty much any florescent shop light, but you just MUST use full spectrum bulbs. Grow light bulbs are often more expensive, but they are the exact same as full spectrum, so no need to purchase the "special" bulbs. FYI that bulb sizes changed and you can't just grab any old shop light off Craig's list and expect to be able to get bulbs for it. Make sure that if you purchase one, it takes the T5 bulbs.
You can't even really find these fixtures anymore, so this year I changed over to these LED linkable bulbs.
LED's are another option. Again, need full spectrum. My brother uses these in his garage growing and is a huge fan. So this last year I bought one on Black Friday at a decent price. I'll be using it for my larger up-pot summer crops until they can go outside. I just read a comment of someone concerned because they were looking at several cloudy cold days and they didn't have enough room under lights after up potting their new starts. They were concerned about them getting leggy. It is a valid concern, so be prepared.
I use these extension banks in several applications. If you have a lot of lights, heat mats, fan, etc. going, they work great.
Doesn't matter what brand. I usually get Jiffy or Promix from Walmart. But get organic.
Solo cups. Yeah, I know, they are a chemical based product, but they WORK. It is so nice to not have to baby my transplants when outside all day and worry about them drying out too much to salvage if I can't be there to water them more than once a day.
So, yeah. This is what I use as final pots for my personal use. I stack them up and use my largest drill bit to put holes through the bottoms. I can wash and sanitize and use the next year.
If stored indoors, they hold up longer than 10 years. If stored outside and freeze, they still hold up about 3 years in my experience before they get brittle. The 16 oz. are the PERFECT size, comparable to a 4 inch pot in volume.
I couldn't afford the one I wanted, or to build the one I REALLY wanted at my city house, so I bought this one off Amazon. I really liked it. Nice and sturdy even though it has little frame work made of fairly light metal. It was surprisingly warm and comfy in there, had good ventilation with the window, nice big entry to wheel stuff in and out, nice and tall so I could stack benches and wide enough to hold a lot of plants and still move around. I loved that I could take off the cover during the summer and replace it with screen for a squash bug-free growing hut, or add cattle panels to make a nice vine trellis, and be able to use it as a shady chicken or rabbit run. It actually seemed like a much better idea than a plastic or glass greenhouse that I could ONLY use for spring transplants and summer storage.
What I did NOT like about it, was that it is a giant kite. Even with cement blocks laying on the down flaps, it blew across the lawn. With the frame TIED to cement blocks, the cover still ripped away. Even with the wind just blowing on it, it tore through the ties and became un-useable pretty quick.
SO. This year I am covering it with plastic AND tying it down to hold everything secure.
With so many plants to get outside pretty early, and it has frosted here just a few years back on May 1st, the greenhouse needs to be kept above freezing, at least. My friend Rick just started using this heater in his plastic-covered hoop frame greenhouse and he says it works beautifully. So, I'm getting one. He says it costs about $4/day to run [Jan. 2021], which isn't insignificant, but when you consider the jump on the growing season you get, especially in colder climates, with doing transplants, the cost can be majorly offset by the benefits.
I know. It sounds like a lot. A lot of stuff and money. It is. But if you are serious about your garden/homestead then making this investment is to your benefit. Food costs are a huge budget line for most families and by starting early and getting a jump on the growing season, you can put up a greater quantity of food for the year. Most of this is a one-time investment with a long-term lifespan, so when you take the cost over say a 10 year span and average it out, it can become quite reasonable.
You also don't have to jump in and purchase everything in one year. Get a used shelving unit locally for cheap/use one you already have/just screw in some hooks to a ceiling to hang a light from some rope/wire/chain, BUY a good light or purchase the correct light bulbs for a shop light you already have and use whatever containers you have on hand.
The light is often the biggest issues for people just starting out with transplants. Get that going correctly first. Just a window isn't good enough for long enough.
Plant just enough to work within the set-up you have. Planting too many seeds that will get leggy has no benefit.
So how does all of this go together? I hang the lights with S hooks on chain so that I can raise and lower them as needed. You can also keep the lights at one height and raise and lower the flats by placing them on books, boxes or any base. Seedlings need to be as close to the light, but not touching, as possible, for about 12-14 hours a day. The mylar blankets get wrapped around the shelving. I found that they fit perfectly two high with the length wrapped around two sides and the back.
The lights are all linked and on a timer and heat mats stay on all the time. [Timers are best purchased after Christmas when they are on clearance.]
I'm pretty precise in seeding my trays. I really don't want to waste any seeds. Make sure to read directions! Some seeds require light to germinate and shouldn't be covered, some require cold stratification of living in the fridge or freezer for several weeks before planting, and some require the hard seed coat to be nicked or rubbed on sand paper so that water can penetrate for germination, call scarification. Some also require being soaked. Some seeds are just hard to germinate, and those I tend to stratify, scarify and soak before planting. Looking at you lavender!
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If I don't have enough heat mats, I keep my newly-planted flats as high as possible in the highest heat areas of the house. Often this is above kitchen cabinets and on top of the fridge. They must be checked daily for sprouts and water needs. As soon as you see a sprout, it needs to be moved under light.
If mold starts to form, I add a bit of vinegar to a spray bottle full of water and give that tray a very light mist.
Plant stems grow stronger outside due to wind. Placing a fan on low on your seedlings will help them grow as strong inside. Turn the flat every once in a while so that they get it buffeted from multiple directions.
As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to post them below!
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