Flower seeds and heating mat

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AcidCat Richford, VT Apr 11, 2021

Hello! I am new here! It is my second year growing from seeds and I have a question I cannot seem to find the answer for...

I read that after seeds have sprouted you need to take tray off the heating mat so the roots don’t grow too much. I started a 120 cell tray and planted flowers (cosmos and marigolds) among veggies (tomatoes, peppers mainly). I am thinking it was a mistake? The flowers sprouted within 2 days and I imagine it will take quite longer for veggies to sprout... I would rather grow healthy veggies rather than flowers so I don’t want to take the tray off the heating mat until the veg sprout...but it’s way too early to transplant the flowers... anyhoo just wondering your opinion on what to do? I will start a tray with only flowers and probably won’t be using a heating mat this time.
Thank you!

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MaypopLaurel Cleveland,GA/Atlanta, GA(Zone 7b) Apr 11, 2021

I start all vegetables and flowers, not direct sown, in 1" plug trays and on a 4' mat. My potting bench is in a west-facing basement which has a glass wall. Plants are on the mat for as long as possible, even after plugs move to pots. Natural afternoon light is supplemented with double banks of fluorescent lights. Flowers and more cool tolerant vegetables are moved to shelves above the bench as I run short of mat space. There are banks of lights on both shelves. Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are the last off the mat. The longer they stay on the mats, and have good light, the stronger the plants. Make sure to pot up your starts based on their individual growth. Here are photos of this year's garden. There is a second layer of shorter plants under the top boxes.

Thumbnail by MaypopLaurel Thumbnail by MaypopLaurel
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