Seed starting?

[kazedwards]

How does everyone start there seeds?  Last year I use a plant light that I bought from a nursery. It worked ok but it is just one long light bulb. I have read somewhere about how to use a normal shop light but I don't remember much more. I would really like to do this. Any advise on it or different ways to start seeds early?

[steev]

I plant in 2" pots, putting them in a covered "underbed" box which has a heating cable under vermiculite for bottom heat; as they sprout, I move the pots outside to grow up to size for potting up singly until they're of a size to plant out. This works for me since there's usually no frost past mid-February in the East Bay, although there can be through May, on the farm.

[philagardener]

I have two dual tube shop fixtures with 48 inch cool white tubes - they are brighter and cheaper than special plant lights. To germinate seeds I put the pots in plastic trays on top of the lights so the ballasts provide bottom heat. Once they sprout, I elevate the pots under the tubes as close as possible for maximum brightness, pulling out spacers to drop the pots as the seedlings grow toward the lights.  I use a timer to get 14 hour "days" and a small fan to move the air.  Pretty simple and works well for me.  Of course, I never have enough space!

[kazedwards]

Much to cold to move them outside unless I had a cold frame.

[kazedwards]

Jan 14, 2015 21:30:33 GMT -5 philagardener said:

I have two dual tube shop fixtures with 48 inch cool white tubes - they are brighter and cheaper than special plant lights. To germinate seeds I put the pots in plastic trays on top of the lights so the ballasts provide bottom heat. Once they sprout, I elevate the pots under the tubes as close as possible for maximum brightness, pulling out spacers to drop the pots as the seedlings grow toward the lights.  I use a timer to get 14 hour "days" and a small fan to move the air.  Pretty simple and works well for me.  Of course, I never have enough space!

Do you know if they are T9 or T12? Or does it matter?

[steev]

I realize I'm in a special environment, but an important part of my strategy is to orchestrate my seeding to the timing of the different stages of the plants in question to when they can go out; for instance: I'll not start tomatoes for a couple months, just because I know I can't plant them out before late May; melons, peppers, eggplants, same thing. I'm lucky that I don't have to work with grow-lights, just frost.

[zeedman]

Used T12 shop lights for many years, in a temperature-controlled germination chamber (a collapsible greenhouse with lights & a heater). It worked OK, but the transplants were leggy, and required a lot of hardening off. Unfortunately, that only got worse in recent years, since I couldn't find higher power T12's due to new Federal energy efficiency standards.

Then two years ago, the company where I work put new lighting over a machine; a 6-bulb high-bay T8 fixture. All of the bulbs had mirror-bright reflectors, and I was impressed by its brightness... but all of the similar fixtures I found initially were too expensive. Eventually I found an affordable fixture - in Home Depot. I used 3 of those fixtures last year for the first time (with 6500K T8's) and all I can say is - Wow!!! The plants were stout & thick-stemmed; even the onion seedlings never needed their "haircut". I will need to adjust my planting dates, though, because growth was faster than it had been under the shop lights. All of the plants required very little hardening off, and I had almost no transplant shock last year.

I start my transplants in waves, depending upon the number of weeks they take to reach transplant size. As soon as weather permits, they get moved outside into an unheated greenhouse, and the next wave gets started indoors. Because I have a short growing season & am growing most of my vegetables for seed, I start my cucurbits & many of my beans as transplants. Beans (especially limas & yardlong beans) are the last wave, they go outside as soon as they germinate. Kind of a hassle starting that many transplants indoors... buy hey, its nice to be "gardening" while it's still snowing outside.

[reed]

I just built a greenhouse, of sorts, a couple years ago but not sure it was worth the trouble. For big scale and market growers it is probably a necessity. I suppose if I had a "nice" greenhouse I might change my mind about it. This year I'm going back to unheated cold frames for things like peppers and tomatoes, also like direct seeding more and more. We do have nice south windows and have one of those bottom heat pads, I use that mostly just for germ testing rather than transplants.  

If you have access to square bailed hay they make good walls for cold frames, just arrange them appropriately and cover with some plastic. I have a couple more permanent ones made form old aluminum storm doors covered with those polycarbonate panels. The door frames are two or three dollars at the junk store but those panels are pricey, they do last a long time though. Plants don't care if it ain't pretty. I have also direct started under hoop houses made with pcv pipe. It's pretty cheap, just bend it into arches, anchor the ends and throw some plastic over. 

I have never used any kind of artificial light, just too expansive and too much trouble for me. 

[ottawagardener]

I have an unheated polytunnel, tote boxes that I use as transportable coldframes but for inside plants, I start under 6 regular full spectrum lights across shelves. These shelves hold four trees apiece otherwise I'd use less lights if you know what I mean.

[jondear]

I built a three tier unit to start seeds out of pallets and some scrap 1x6 boards for legs. Each tier has three four foot shop lights hanging by light weight chain hooked to the pallet above it with screws, with the top lights hanging from the ceiling. The chain makes it easy to adjust the light height as the plants grow. I put it together in about a half an hour with a screw gun.

Whichever lights you decide on, I recommend lights with long cords so that you can get them all plugged into a power strip. I have mine plugged into an automatic timer on/off switch set for 18 hours a day. Each shelve will hold 6 1020 trays comfortably. I use the top one for tomatoes and peppers and if you start them in those red solo cups, find a pallet with narrow gaps between the boards so the cups don't tip over.

I've also read that you should replace bulbs at least every other year, as they lose their brightness over time.

[Al]

I finally got round to making a light, mainly because some years my chilli & pepper plants never really get growing, I suspect due to lack of heat & light early in the season. I'll start with onions, then chillis, then aubergine & tomatoes.
The reflector was made entirely from scrap hardboard, chipboard, tinfoil & rusty chain I had knocking around. I had salvaged the 3 foot light fitting so only needed to buy a couple of T8 tubes. I was tempted to go for standard tubes or "daylight" tubes but also looked at Sylvania Gro-lux tubes made for plant growing. While the daylight tubes have about the right frequency light for plants the Gro-lux have more output according to the technical guy I spoke to at Sylvania. More lumens / hertz /oomph?? Not wanting to 'spoil the ship for a ha'pporth of tar' I got the pukka Gro-lux tubes (ha'pporth = half penny worth), about twice the price but still a cheap set-up given the tubes were all I had to buy. IMG_1305 by portobell0, on [=https://fl[ic.kr/p/qQha9b][/url]IMG_1300 by portobell0, on Flickr

[reed]

Peppers are the one thing I have had problems with in unheated outdoor frames. I think they do need a warmer and more consistent environment. I generally just wait till a little later for them. Al, that's a nice looking contraption you made there, maybe I'll rethink using lights.

[kazedwards]

So it's day 15 and the peppers and some of the tomatoes have not come up. I'm mostly concerned with the tomatoes. How much longer should I wait before starting more tomatoes to replace the ones that didn't come up?

[steev]

Can't get them some bottom-heat? Top of the fridge, for example.

[kazedwards]

I havn't tried bottom heat but they have been in a very warm room. I will try bottom heat tomorrow. The problem is that both trays have seedlings now.