Today's progress

We had real sun today, and temps of 57- Since we have been in a deep freeze for weeks, I dragged a bag of solidly frozen potting mix onto the deck to let the sun thaw it out. My milk jugs are all sliced and punched and ready- tomorrow I hope to fill the jugs- finally! This WS thing is SO exciting- I plan to also put a few of each in indoor pots under lights for comparing.

Let the sowing begin.........

Hahaha...one of my promix bales was frozen to the garage floor. I left an electric blanket over it all day yesterday so I could pull it off without tearing the plastic.

Well, today I feel pretty smug- I just finished my 12 WS jugs, plus my indoor sowing for comparison (or backup). Here are my 12 milk jugs.

Here are my rope lights set up for my indoor containers

And with the containers on the shelves- The tan color is sand that I covered some of the seeds with.

So--let me see if I have this right. The soil in all the jugs was pre moistened before I put the seeds in. The jugs are now taped closed, lids are off, and they are out on the deck where they get afternoon sun. Now- when do I need to check to see if they are getting dry? The soil is 3-4" deep, so when I water should it be from the bottom? Or since there will be no roots for awhile should water be sprinkled on the top? I want this to be successful! Our temps are hovering right above freezing now.

>>Now- when do I need to check to see if they are getting dry?

I usually start checking mine once they have 'thawed' and you haven't had rain or snow in a while. You can usually judge if they are dry by the weight of the container. [weather depending... end of Feb or into March for me.]

>>so when I water should it be from the bottom?

Some folks bottom water.

I find if you water [pour] thru the top, it creates a hole and moves the seeds around.
sometimes i water with a spray bottle or use my watering can from the house.

Bottom watering works well, but you need something to put them in [kiddy pool] or a large tub - if one has about 100 containers, that is a lot of work.