One gardener asked me in early March at what point should she be potting on her sunflowers, because they seemed to be getting big. It’s easy to become emotionally attached to seedlings, and that can interfere with both judgment and actual success with seeds. Keep your seedlings well protected from cats, toddlers, and all other curious onlookers! Filling up all the spare space on your planting table with watering cans, stacks of pots, and other odd objects will usually keep cats from investigating in the first place. She does not like the taste of onions, but she sure loves to pull them out of the seedling trays and spit them out. Air moving around your seedlings will reduce the moisture that can lead to mould and fungus, and it will actually help to strengthen the stem tissues of the plants, to boot. And if you leave a domed seed tray in direct sun, you can end up (as I did once) with a tray of steamed seedlings. The seedlings do not benefit from intense humidity. Once your seedlings sprout, remove the plastic dome from over your tray. Lesson five: Air circulation is your friend. Stout, strong seedlings are what you’re looking for. Use the heat for germination, and then move your seedlings to a cooler environment to slow down their growth. As with a lack of light, soil that is too warm can cause legginess – tall, spindly plants with weak stems. But once your seedlings sprout, take them off the mat so the soil cools down again. With tomatoes and peppers (which can be agonizingly slow sprouters), the difference is substantial. Seedling heat mats will shorten the germination period by several days in many cases. Lesson Four: Those heat mats really do work. This will make all the difference by keeping the plants compact and strong. Keep your grow lights close to your plants (10cm / 4″ above the top leaves), and expose your plants to 12-18 hours of this bright light every day. Some credit is owed to the ingenuity of marijuana growers in developing these products, it must be said. The grow lights & reflectors that are on the market now are much better than they used to be. Lesson Three: You can’t over-apply light. Too much moisture can also encourage the growth of mould and even the fungus that causes “damping off,” which is something to avoid. If too much water is present, the roots of the seedlings will not have access to the oxygen that normally fills spaces between soil particles, and the plants will drown. If not enough water is present, the soil will be a lighter colour, it will feel dry to the touch, and your seedlings will shortly begin to show signs of stress by wilting. After some practice, you will be able to look at the soil surface and judge by its colour whether more water is needed. The first is even moisture, and the second is drainage of excess moisture. If you’ve used sterilized seedling mix to start your seeds indoors (a sensible choice, in my opinion), you can rely on it to provide two key essentials to your seedlings. Lesson Two: Watering is part of the process. They need bright light and a steady, but moderate supply of water. My approach is to lay off all fertilizers until it’s time to transplant them into their permanent growing spots. As those first leaves unfurl, the plants will begin taking energy from the sun through photosynthesis. As seeds germinate, they use this food to unfurl their first leaf/leaves, and to pop out a tiny, rudimentary root with which to take in water and nutrients. Remember that seeds are just like any other embryo, and that their parents have bestowed upon them a supply of food to get them started. I used this plastic bin as a seed starting bio-dome to start seeds for lettuce "Garden Babies," basil "Cameo," and marigolds "Yellow Splash" that were given to me for free by Renee's Garden to trial and write about as part of a communal seed starting project.You’ve selected your seeds, you’ve invested in unfamiliar seed starting equipment, you’ve planted the seeds - and now the damn things are coming up! What to do?! The humidity also keeps the seeds and seedling mix from drying out which contributes to the germination rates of the seeds and ultimately to the feelings of accomplishment of the gardener. Humid air is warmer than dry are, the humidity inside a closed container like this helps the seed germinate by making the air inside slightly warmer than the air outside the box. For the most part, seed need warm temperatures to sprout. The humidity levels inside a bio-dome help the seed sprout in a couple of different ways. Seed Starting Bio-Dome From Plastic Bin.
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