Here are 28 common garden seed starting mistakes to avoid. I fully explain the reasons and offer ways to correct the problems.
0:00 28 Common Seed Starting Mistakes Intro
0:53 Start Too Large – Start Small
1:45 Windowsills Don’t Work
2:15 Buy Expensive Grow Lights – White LED Shop Light Work
2:39 Buy Lights With the Wrong Ratings
3:12 Don’t Keep Lights on Long Enough
4:03 Raise & Lower the Trays – Not the Lights
4:37 Lights Aren’t Close Enough to the Seed Starts
5:30 Top Watering Spreads Disease – Bottom Water
6:12 Over-Saturate Seed Starting Mix 24/7
7:39 Buy Starting Mix that Has Woody Products
9:05 Don’t Use a Sterile Seed Starting Mix
9:30 Stop Fungus Gnats – Use Boiling Water
10:00 Use the Wrong Fertilizer – Water-Soluble Works
10:30 Over or Under Fertilizer – Slow and Steady
10:50 Wait Too Long for First Plant Feeding
12:00 Add Outside Compost & Other Products
12:28 Use Dry Organic Fertilizers – Not Needed
13:28 Over-Spend on Lights & Supplies
14:35 Starting Seeds at the Wrong Time
15:29 Grow the Transplants Too Long Indoors
17:20 Don’t Acclimate the Transplants – Sun Kills!
19:55 Let New Transplants Die Outdoors – Need Water!
21:00 Over-Plant and Start Too Many Plants
23:40 Forget to Turn On the Lights – Use a Timer
25:05 Buy New Seed Packs Every Year
26:10 Only Start 1 Seed at a Time
26:45 Not Fully Understanding Temperature Needs of Starts
27:26 Use a Heat Mat Wrong
29:20 $1.50 Seeds at My Seed & Garden Shop
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12 Comments
You don't look a day over 40.
Really love watching your videos
Great video as always, thanks!
My setup is in my basement in the utility room. I've been using (3) 4 ft Hyper Tough shop lights with the ratings you mentioned. I bought them over time for $20 each at Walmart.
The water heater puts out enough warmth to keep the room temp at 65°F. I have bought 2 heating mats… one is good, but the cheap one I have to check the temp with a kitchen thermometer stuck in the wet soil before I put seeds in. I did overheat my tomato seeds one year and had to start over.
For shelving: I have concrete blocks set up to hold open metal closet shelves which I got for $6 at a garage sale. I use timers, some which I had picked up at garage sales for $1 each.
For lighting the top shelf: I cut and
screwed together a 1" sq piece of wood to create a bar across to suspend the top light. The legs stick in a 1 gallon jug filled with sand at both sides… the width of the light. I use the top shelf to have more room to raise the light as up-potted seedlings get taller, waiting for weather. These are my plants that require 8-12 week starts indoors.
Then, I attach light hooks below the first and second shelves to hang the lights for the second shelf and floor.
So I have trays growing on 3 levels, 4 foot wide, the width of the lights. It was set up cheaply over time when I didn't have much money, 1 light at a time. It works well, so I keep using it.
Visit My Seed and Garden Shop:
Tomato & Pepper Seeds $1.75 & All Other Seeds Only $1.50
The Rusted Garden Vegetable Seeds & Home Garden Supplies: https://www.therustedgarden.com
Need a Garden Mentor?
Join Perk Memberships ($3.99 a month) to get access to my (5 Monthly) 1 hour Live Chat Garden Mentoring Q&A's: https://bit.ly/4jM0jKA
Thanks So Much for Supporting The Rusted Garden!
Cheers & Thanks, Gary
Visit My New Blog:
https://therustedgardenblog.com
My Books:
The Modern Homestead Garden: Growing Self-Sufficiency in Any Size Backyard https://amzn.to/40rfkIb
Growing An Edible Landscape: How to Transform Your Outdoor Space Into a Food Garden https://amzn.to/41tfno2
My Amazon Garden Store Front:
Just use my link anytime you shop on Amazon https://amzn.to/49VUfN0
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Products I Use & Recommend and I have an affiliation with them:
GreenStalk Vertical Gardening Towers
Use the Discount Code THERUSTEDGARDEN on GreenStalk 'Vertical Planter Systems'. Use this link and enter my code for the $10 discount https://greenstalkgarden.com/?rstr=therustedgarden
LetPot Smart Seed Starter Kit & More
Use my discount code TRG10OFF (Save 10%)
Amazon Link (Domestic) https://amzn.to/4qXALyD
Website Link (International) https://tidd.ly/3ZqYcV7
North Spore Mushrooms
Use my discount code TheRustedGarden (Save 10%) and my link to shop at North Spore https://northspore.sjv.io/OeVaXG
AgroThrive Organic Bio-Fertilizers
Use my affiliate link and my code TRG10 to save 10% on your first order: https://agrothrive.com/?ref=M5o6fjdAruq_S
Vegega Metal Raised Beds
Here is my affiliate link use my code TRG to save 10%: https://www.vegega.com/?ref=le64f3gm30
Become a Rusted Garden Affiliate:
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Gary – You explain it all in this video BUT, I bet you'd sell a lot more stuff from your shop if you put a DIY "Beginner" garden"kit" list together with recommended products to successfully grow a vegetable garden the first year making sure to include the easiest to grow "cool weather plant" seeds and warm weather plant seeds, seed starting mix; containers/ trays and cells; grow light, timer, fertilizer and written instructions for what to do at different growth stages of the plants from direct seed stage to fully mature. It would make growing your own food for the first time less intimidating. [I would have bought a kit like this If there was such a thing back when I first started in the early 2000s.] Having the instructions would teach the first time grower the correct approach rather than making mistakes because he or she hadn't retained all the important advice from the various gardening videos and books he or she may have watched or read forcing him or her to have to learn by trial and error. It is just a thought.
Cheers!🥂
Thanks , Gary💚🌱
Is it too late to start seeds? I usually start mine around the 1st or 2nd week of January but didn't get around to it this year.
Do you use a special (distilled) water during the initial growing process, or a t least a filter for the water?
I'm learning about PPFD as a measurement for the quality of the grow lights. Are you familiar with this? Many talk about 'how far they should be away' which makes no sense to me as light vary so much & distance away is irrelevant.
Although there’s some advantage’s to grow lights. It’s not necessary for seed starting. My grandmother had a garden 150’x50’ in zone 3B. She didn’t have a grow light, in fact she didn’t even have power! Winter sowing. Seeds softened in water. Lots of seedlings in a south facing porch.
And I should add, she fed her family of six year round with the bounty.
Thank you Gary~I garden all the time here in Oregon~I tell anyone in my neighborhood who wants more information on gardening to come to you channel~you always provide great information~Thank you~