mini green houses for seed starting

Last year was the first time I had ever had luck with starting stuff from seed..My sister had found a table top green house at a garge sale and it worked great but it wasnt big enough. you all know how it is...lol... I know you can use milk cartons and stuff like that but I didnt want a jazillion different things I had to deal with.. I was in the garage and came across some of my clear plastic bins that I store my basket reed in that were empty... CLICK!! I used them as green houses to start my seeds. I took some plastic green house trays and flipped them over and put them on the bottom so the pots wouldnt be sitting in any water . They allow the seeding to get a good size cause they are deep. After sprouting I can take the top off so the seedlings can harden off. Easy to water cause they have a large opening. When I know its going to be a bit cool at night I just put the top on.. if its going to be real cold I can carry them into the house and stack by the back door.. cost wise about 4.00 each and they store nicely. last year I had about 5 of them in use and they were great.Ill probaby end up with about 7 this year...lol..Like many of us the time I really need a green house is when I starting my seeds and they work well for that. I would love to have a real green house to putter in but these will have to do for a while...lol..

Good invention. Are you just using one of those plastic storage containers to put them all in. And using little pots to start the seeds?Can you show a pic?

sorry no pics tonight.. I came across directions on how to make your own little square pots out of newspaper that you can plant them directly into the ground in back yard living last year.. I start my seeds in the paper egg cartons.. after they are big enough I cut each "egg" section apart from each other and plant it into the newspaper pot. I make sure I tear the bottom off the the bottom off of the "egg" to allow the roots to grow into the larger pot. That way Im not disturbing the roots. Then when its time to plant I tear the bottom of the newspaper pot off and plant the entire pot into the ground. I use old plastic nursery trays flipped upside down to hold the newspaper pots above the bottom so they arent sitting in any excess water, cause they will tear easily if they keep getting wet, the newspaper starts to break down. Once I get to the newspaper pots stage, which are about a 3x3, the plastic bins will hold about 25 to 30 of them

Very ingenious! And newspaper pots are a great idea...cheap and a worm magnet. Thanks for the description..I was trying to imagine how the pots fit in the container.

How about an unused fish aquarium? I have one in the garage. I guess I could use that.......??????

if you have a lid that will work too!!! the bins just make it easy to carry in or out if the temps drop and help control the humidity.. and after Im done I just stack them back in the garage till next year..

I have an unused aquarium I am going to put in the garage and have seeds and some cuttings in, it has a top too.

I don't remember if it has a lid, but I'm sure we could find something that would work. My Mom has a plant light she said that I could have.

I'd have to do some rearranging to set it up.....but then the garage needs cleaned out anyway! Now would be a good time before it gets too hot to be out there......

I have heard that you can use the plastic containers with rope light and sand as a heating pad to start seeds,too

after hearing about the snow we are going to get Ive brought my mini greenhouses into the house tonight.. it was so easy just pickingup the box instead of having to carry a gazillion thigs in of course some pots had to be brought in but it was only a few.. gezz... this time last year i was working outside in a tee shirt and jeans... its long johns and jeans now..

My impression with wintersowing is that you can put the tops on and they would be safe from cold even if left outside....don't know for sure..where are the experts?

I've tried winter sowing. The first year was going well and then a coyote (or possibly a "free range" neighbor dog) destroyed all of my seedlings. I had them all outside. Whatever it was chewed up the containers and all. We have an unheated shed/green house now and DH fenced it off for additional security so I've been trying again. It takes longer for the seeds to germinate but it is working. Some of the WS'ers are on this forum, or go on over and ask on the WS forum. They are all so helpful. I would say that WS is the best way to start Salvia. I have not tried it with tomatoes yet, but have a few extra seed packets, so I think I'm going to try with those this weekend (had a cold last weekend) and see how it works with tomatoes. Please don't consider me an expert, I'm not even close. But I like to try new things and have lots of room to fill, so WS'ing would really suit me once I get the hang of it. My understanding is that the seeds are not so much protected from the cold. The are send out into the elements under somewhat controlled conditions to germinate and progress as they would if, say, the tomato fell on the ground and the seeds were to germinate naturally. Also, some seeds need to be cooled prior to germination. WS'ing takes care of the guess work in that. That's pretty much it as far as what I know--other than that it does work. Hope that helps =~).