Super newbie- seedlings doing ok?
Never grown anything in my life except humans. I’m a “go big or go home” type so there are 18 products in this 72 cell tray 😅 second photo is everything I planted.
I read through some other posts before making this one, and I’m assuming i need to turn my heat mat off and remove this dome and put a fan on them for a little bit.
Sprouting so far is both lettuce varieties, the pickling cucumbers, some types of tomatoes and one purple carrot. This is a bottom watering setup and the lights are on for 9 hours at night. I have the lights about 2 inches above the dome. They are also next to a window all the time, but no sunlight comes directly through that window. Just natural light during the day.
Any and all advice is appreciated. Do I need to separate some of these if they have different germination rates?
by omg_beckyyyy
5 Comments
Hi! Congrats on growing stuff! You would normally put carrots directly into the ground. They tend to respond poorly to repotting
Yes you want to remove the cover once they sprout. You can keep the heat mat if it’s colder in your home or if it’s a warm weather plant. (Peppers + Tomatoes) and with the cover gone push your grow lights much closer, they are reaching a bit. Mine are about an inch above my sprouts.
I would keep the lights on all day and turn them off at night, just like the natural day and night cycle they will experience outside.
I’m not sure what you mean by separate by germination rate. You can wait to separate and pot on until they are a bit bigger and you can decide to keep or discard and weaker or smaller ones. If you only have one plant per plug you can leave them in these trays for a while longer than you think. They really don’t need that much space as seedlings.
You’re going to want to direct sow the carrots, they do not transplant well. The tap root is very sensitive.
If these are doing well then you’re doing great! This brand is notorious for poor germination rates. I’ve had some hit or miss from them.
You have a great variety, and I am excited for you! The best way to learn is to jump in!
Last year was my first full-on attempt at gardening my very own garden and only started tomatoes inside last year. Direct sowed the rest or relied on nursery plants (or my dad, who is a master gardener).
My last frost date is April 27th, with a safe date of May 1st. When you start seeds next year, you might have better luck starting onions and peppers REALLY EARLY. I plan on starting them on Feb 1st next year.
Ohio isn’t too far off from my climate, so I am going to share my planting dates in a reply to this comment. It really helped me figure out what to start and when. It’s my first year, so I know I will learn a ton about starting seeds inside.
They look pretty good! I would put the lights as close to the plants as possible while still getting good light coverage, though. Your seedlings look like they might get leggy