My Seed Starting Process (Part 2)

Welcome back! We ended Part 1 of my seed starting process, with our seeds germinating on a heat mat (or not on a heat mat as the case may be). If you haven't read the first part of the process in my previous blog post, be sure to jump back and check it out for some background info before continuing on with this post so you are up to speed!

Before we go any further though, can I just say: How awesome are seeds!? They come in so many different sizes, shapes, colors, and textures, yet they all contain the ability to grow into exponentially larger plants once the conditions are right. As I tell my elementary school students on field trips to The Farm at Court Manor, seeds are made up of 3 basic parts: embryo, cotyledon(s), and coat. The coat, or outer shell, protects the more delicate insides, the embryo is the baby leaves and roots, and the cotyledon(s) are the food storage and first part of the plant to emerge from the ground.

Once seeds are exposed to correct temperature and moisture levels, the seed coat cracks open as the cotyledons and roots burst free from storage. If you recall from my previous post, once these coats begin to crack open, it is time to have them under grow lights. These little babies will grow quickly! Even without any fertilization or nutritious environment, the cotyledons contain all the energy needed for seeds to germinate and begin to grow. The cotyledons emerge towards the light and appear to be leaves, but they are not true leaves and will have a shape unique from the mature leaves of the grown plant!

Having enough light for your little seedling is very important. If the light is too far away, off center, or not the correct spectrum, your little seedlings will stretch and get too leggy and weak. There are many different systems for home growers, but with the number of plants I need to grow, I use these lights on shelving units with 2'x4' shelves and 2 lights per shelf. Be warned - some of these broad spectrum lights put off a pinkish glow. A couple years ago, we had 3 fire trucks show up at our house one morning before dawn because some kindly passerby reported a glow coming from our house and thought it was on fire! I have all the lights on timers and give them 12 hours of light each day, so especially early on in the season, that means they are getting more light inside than they would outside. The glow coming from the house does look pretty suspicious (house fire, drug lab, etc..ha!). We got a good laugh out of the situation!

One last thing to note about the lights is that you may need to adjust the distance the lights are from the seedlings as they grow. I will admit that I don't bother with keeping the lights a certain distance from the plants, but it is often a recommended practice. Keeping the lights close to the plants as they grow should prevent them from stretching early on, but if you have enough lights on them, I would say they are fine.

With proper light and watering (once a day for blocked trays and as needed for cell packs), the seedlings are off to a good start! The room should not be too cold or drafty (though some plants do grow better at cooler temperatures, so check the seed packet for that information). To keep them growing healthy and strong there are 2 more main practices to consider. Fertilizing: After the first true leaves appear on the plants, I start a weekly fertilization regimen. While it is a bit stinky, I have good results with Neptune's Harvest liquid fertilizer. It is an organic product and a little goes a long way! My house plants are happier this time of year as well, because they actually get fertilized with the leftovers when I'm done watering my seedlings! Resilience building: This is not an actual term, but I've coined it - you heard it here first! Your little plants will be a bit wimpy if they've never faced any hardships living in the ideal environment you created for them. Just like you build stronger muscles with resistance training, your plants will be stronger if they are challenged as well. Some people have a gentle fan moving air in the room, but I just lightly run my hands over the seedlings once a day to stimulate stronger stems.

After my little plants get a good jump start inside, it is time for them to face the real world! The plants in the soil blocks get the boot around 6 weeks and those in cell packs can last a bit longer indoors. Before you plant them directly in the ground, the seedlings need a bit of time to "harden off". This means that they need to go on little field trips outside to help them acclimate to what life will be like out there. I put my trays in a semi sheltered space where they won't be in the blazing sun all day (maybe just morning and early afternoon sun) and where they will be somewhat protected from the wind. If the temps will get close to freezing over night or if it is a rainy day, I will bring them back inside. After 5-ish days they should be ready to be planted outside. If planting in the spring, do make sure that it is warm enough for them to survive! Some plants thrive in cooler spring temperatures and can tolerate a freeze (may need to be covered if it will be quite cold), but others need to wait until after the last expected frost. The frost date is a little hard to nail down, but I figure it to be somewhere in the first week of May around here (Timberville, VA). Again, check your seed packets for information on plant out conditions.

The little plants may need some babying along as they get established outside, so make sure you keep an eye on them and give them plenty of water to encourage root growth to anchor them in the soil. After that, I just sit back and relax as they grow ;)

It is so satisfying to grow plants from seed, so I hope this helps you in your own seed starting journey! Feel free to send any questions you may have and happy gardening!