Beginner Gardening: heat mats and lighting, 1 by pirl

pirl wrote:
Sterilize anything that comes in contact with the seeds and soil-less mix you'll be using.

You only want to water the cups when the soil is dry so don't put them in a closet with a tray of water. Why put them in a closet - just for the temperature? They'll grow fine in 65 degrees and with lights. Depending on how many seeds you plant to grow, you can start with one typical "shop" fluorescent light set up with one "warm" and one "cool" light. Just remember, as they grow you'll be potting them up and that will take more space - maybe more lights.

Use damp soil when planting the seeds and you won't have to water for at least a week.

Just use a skewer to poke the holes and do it from the inside downward - not in reverse or they'll hold more water and that's not what you want.

Cover the entire tray with Saran Wrap (or any plastic wrap) until the plants germinate, then loosen, then remove it entirely.

Raise the lights (having them on chains makes it easy) as the plants grow.

Plant roots can't absorb food as fast as you may think so when they're actively growing, about 2" high and after they have their first "true" leaves, just use food at half or quarter strength.

For planting outside on April 15th I'd plant the seeds February 15th. Go to the next size cup (like 16 oz. size) March 15th, plant outdoors April 15th.

If you have more questions just ask and if I think of anything else I'll post here.

In this photo you can see the chains for the lights and how the lights have to be adjusted in height as different plants grow at different rates: impatiens and coleus stay low while tomatoes grow large.

Good luck.