Jiffy Mini-Greenhouse for starting seeds

Thanks, Janet!

I did check their website, and so far, no luck...I will try again. Did you say that your shelves are 5' wide, and your shop lights are 4' long? I am just trying to get the measurment correct, as I need this info for DH, as I need to be precise for him...LOL1

OK, 5' wide, 4 shelves, how tall are they?

Thanks!

Evelyn

Evelyn, Here is a link to some pictures of the plant stand I made (very cheaply) and also the link to the web site where I found the original plans. If your DH needs a quick project, this stand can be made in about 2-3 hours and mine can hold up to 12 trays at once using 6 four foot florescent lights. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1071830/

Pollengarden, I don't know if you have a Menards Store in your area, but that is where I get all my shop lights. Already wired with plug and pull chain.

Thanks, trc65!

Evelyn

The wire shelves are 4' long and the lights are 4', sorry I thought the lights were 5' it just seemed they were almost taller than me when I was trying to get the lights installed, you most certainly need another person when doing that so you can get them in easier....

Janet

Thank you, Janet!

We don't have a Menard's here, but I may have bought my original lights at one. I may have to go to the old fashioned hardware store - it seems to carry stuff that the big home improvement places don't have.

I myself just started the Jiffy peat pellets. Everything seems to be doing fine, I set them for a few hours a day to get use to the real world, though I forgot about them and left them too long. Now all my strong ones are limp. I watered them and brought them in, I hope they perk back up. I'm also hoping they are ready to put in the garden soon. This is my first time starting a vegetable garden, too. So I'm not sure what I'm doing half the time.

you guys are doing well, I have a raised bed that I started in March, with a cloche over the top, and I have radishes lettuce, peas beans all doing well despite 40F nights and 50 or 60F days. Wow!

Greetings! I signed up for this forum in the hopes of getting as much feedback as I can.
I'm brand new to germinating my own seeds and have a little mystery.
I have a tray of different seeds germinating in little cups (that will turn into compost when planted).
I have been finding these golden colored balls in my seed cups. At first I just pinched them between my fingers and they burst.
Then I thought, well maybe my seeds have a disease.
And finally I thought, 'is this the process of seed germination?"
I'm including a pic of my tomato plant and you can see a golden round little egg-like ball (my mint also has one of these balls).
What the heck is this?
Thanks for your feedback!!

SuzyQu, Those are the encapsulated slow release fertilizer pellets that were included in the potting mix you are using.

trc65 is correct - don't worry.

yep, not to worry nothing wrong with your tomato plant

Janet

Hi all, I'm starting carrot seeds in this mini-greenhouse today, where outside would be the best place to locate this greenhouse?

Also is there an PDF instruction manual for the green house online?

This message was edited Jul 5, 2010 11:57 AM

I'd guess light shade - this time of year, direct sunlight would solarize/sterilize/cook your plants with the lid on. Once they are up, get the lid off - or at least propped up - and start moving them into sun. With the lid off, they will dry out quicker and you will have to water more frequently, maybe several times a day if the pot or pellet is small. Because carrots have a tap root, they won't be happy in a shallow container for very long, and will be fragile to transplant.
Summary: Lid on = too hot in sun, lid off = dries out quick, Carrots need carefully moved to deeper soil ASAP.

Wow, I did not know you could transplant carrots! Has anyone actually done this successfully? And at what time of year? (I would think that the safer time would be in winter/early spring...but that is just a thought...)

The jiffy greenhouse works great for germination, but my problem is once the plants are up, their stems become too flimsy and tall while stretching for sunlight. I have a hard time getting their roots and leaves to grow sturdy enough to transplant. What should I do? If I keep them a light directly above and close would this help?

This message was edited Sep 2, 2010 9:37 AM

Yes, moving the light closer should help because more light is the usual recommendation. However, movement helps a little too. Some people use a fan, some gently brush the top of the flat with a rolled up newspaper whenever they are checking their plants.

In addition to increased light, lower temperatures will also help in producing sturdier plants. At lower temps, plants grow slower and the lower light intensity is less of a problem. Temp may be hard to control this time of year, but when I am growing transplants in late winter/spring I keep most of them in the basement under florescent lights at about 62 degrees. As you start getting temps much above 70 - 75 degrees, it is difficult (for the non/greenhouse grower) to give them enough artificial light to balance the rapid growth.

Thanks for the advice. Actually I have never tried germinating and raising plants for fall transplanting. I do this in late winter for spring. I think it is simply too hot to do this where I live in East Texas. I might be able to do this under air conditioning in the house, but there may be too much outside light competing with direct light over the plants to keep them from growing more sturdy and not stretchiing every which way. Any ideas?

Hello All,
My wife and I are going to be starting a garden for the first time this season. We got the jiffy greenhouses to start off our peppers, tomatoes & cabbage. They have been doing really well. My question is that they are starting to lay in different directions rather than standing straight up. Is this normal? If not what can we do to correct them? Im attaching a photo of what they look like right now! Also at what stage of growth is best to start planting in the ground and should we remove the netting? Thanks and Cheers!

Jek they look a little leggy are they under lights? The lights need to be about 2-3 inches over the plants. I use the shop lights and just keep adjusting the chains as the plants grow.

I've had good luck getting Adenium seed to germinate in the jiffy greenhouse. I've even planted the pellets without taking off the netting for them, because Adenium don't mind having their roots crowded. Eventually they broke through. For everything else I'll gently take off the netting and then transplant.

My daughter has good luck with it. She props the top over with a spring clothpin on both sides once most of the seeds sprouted. For me, I don't care for them except for those plants that resent root disturbance---Nasturtiums.

Here is a picture of my lights. Got the rack at home depot for about $100.00 with tax. It is 4' wide 6' tall. Only put 5 shelves so you have room for adjusting the lights. We hung 2 sets of lights from each shelf- more money to be sure but I found with only 1 light the seedlings on the outside grew towards the lights. I use deep plastic cell packs- really had no luck with the jiffy pellet or the peat pots- they just do not decompose. I got my plastic from www.novoselenterprises.com. they were the most reasonable and you can buy just what you need. They also stand behind there products - several of my trays came in crushed- UPS's fault I'm sure. E-mailed them and they replaced the whole amount. All this was an expense to start but considering what I used to spend on plants,I'm going to save money- plus I grow what I want. Hope this will help.

Great looking rack!!

Although I have a plant stand, I needed more space last year for daylily and iris seedling crosses I made. I purchased three 12" x 4ft long shelves at Home Depo with brackets, and two 4ft long tube lights that I mounted with plant lights.

Mounted the shelves on the wall in my office. Hung the lights with chains from the shelf above. The plants were placed in the large seedling trays that fit perfectly on the shelves. Actually worked great!. When not using, I can store stuff on the shelves so serves as double duty.

Below is the photo of one shelf with daylilies. Photo taken in February 2011

I've used Jiffy pellets with good success, especially the larger tomato pellets. This year, the tomatoes I started in Jiffy Tomato pellets ended up being significantly larger than those I started in smaller plastic cell packs, even though I potted both of them up into the same size 12 oz. plastic solo cups (see picture). The peppers in the Jiffy Tomato pellets were slightly larger, but not as much difference as with the tomatoes. And the Tomato pellets work great for cucumbers, squash, and snap beans as well, all of which can be transplanted to the garden within 2-3 weeks.

Since the pellets make planting seeds so quick and easy, I find I plant more seeds in a timely manner. You do have to remove the casings when planting outside as others have said, but I have not found a need to spread the roots. When I've potted them up to larger cups, the roots quickly expand to fill the cup. The peat pellets seem to be slightly more susceptible to damping off than coir pellets, but I've managed to control that by (1) removing the greenhouse cover as soon as seeds germinate, (2) bottom watering only, and sparingly, (3) adding 1/3 cup of hydrogen peroxide per gallon to the water, and (4) having a small fan running nearby to keep the air circulating at all times.

I had great success with the Jiffy 5042 Windowsill Greenhouse 24-Plant starter kit, just stick it in the window and sprouted tomato plants real fast. However, now I would like to grow some Cyclamen and I heard they need darkness to germinate. I stuck them under the buffet but nothing is happening, maybe I am just impatient, any suggestions?? (This is what Windowsill Greenhouse looks like.)

I just used the jiffy 72 tray with heating matt .did not work well for me... I guess i did not really do my home work.

I planted tomatos , carrots , cucumbers, green onions in side temp was 65-68 I used NO light . by the 4th day my cucumbers were about 1/2 inch long , on the forth day i had emergency surgery so didint get back for 4 days , thats 8 days total with the dome on and heatting pad on the hole time when I got home the cucumber plants were 8-9 inches long real stringy ..the other ones were about 3 inches long stringy too .. so i tossed them all starting all over again .

this time am thinking off using a light and heating pad .

I never done in door growing so its all new to me .

I know you have to keep them moist. If you were gone plus you got lights and heat, so they probably got too dry.

susan

Getting ready for the second shot at getting some tomato seeds going in the Jiffy Tomato Greenhouse, the question is, should I use a mix of water with the hydrogen peroxide to start the seedlings??

Read this several times and just wondered if people used the H202 solution right from the start. I think I killed the last batch by using MG tomato fertilizer when they were still in the greenhouse...

Any help....

Thanks

Kevin

just did my second batch this time i went smaller am useing the 36 jiffy tray with heating matt and a light the temp with the heating pad is around 60-65
with the light on its 82-85 am growing carrots see how it gos.

Kevin, I don't think you use any fertilizer till they get leaves, they don't need it to germinate. I used the h202 on house plants that had fungus. Then kept using it on house plants to keep the fungus from growing. The organic poting soil was attracting fungus gnats.
When I grew my tomatoes I used the seed-starting-mix it has no soil and no fertilizer. after they start sprouting you can pot them up with potting mix and still you don't need fertilizer because it is in the mix usually.
My jiffy tray was sitting right in the window and out of thirty seed 27 germinated. I had huge plants.
Also I hear that some tomato plants need calcium, no need for expensive additives, just throw in a couple of Tums when you pot them up. (the antacid)

friscomole, let me know how your carrots do. Seeds are cheep and practice makes perfect, but its nice to have a forum where you can talk things over.

I thought that you could only direct-sow carrots into the ground - outside!

Well, I think that would be best. I heard they do not like to be transplanted. But people in the north start a lot of seeds in doors. I use the jiffy peat pots and just plant the whole thing into the ground when it gets warm.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7553297_plant-carrots-indoors-transplanting.html

Well, I never ceased to be amazed at what I can learn at DG! Still, I will wait until a good time to sow them outside.

am running in to a problem cant seem to get the plants out doors after they grow in my jiffy green house am using a plant light agro lite BR30 75W my problem the plats grow to fast in one week there about 8-9 inches long stringy .. and they dont give out anny other leafs what can i be doing wrong?
this will be my forth attempt

Well, sounds like they are not getting enough light. I do not know what kind of greenhouse you have. I had the window seal green house and no lights or heating pad. They did fine, sitting in the window, just morning sun.
Can you set the greenhouse in front of a window? They will get a lot more light. :)

See if this helps:

http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/start_seeds.html

This thread seems to be focusing on food plants... Just an observation - it seems as though vegetable gardening is something that skipped a couple of generations, and hence people are rediscovering what everyone used to do. I suppose vegetable gardening was only observed as the norm by people who are now old dinosaurs (like myself :-) ), and it was probably also something that probably had some social stratification about it (it was probably done more by people who needed to grow their own food, aside from possibly preferring to do that; probably not at all what people with more social status/money did). Some recreating of the wheel going on... ;-)

Aside from that, I'm wondering, what plants have to be started in a greenhouse in zone 10? I've never lived in a warm, long-season climate like that, so have no comparison! Here, the only plants that typically get started early indoors are ones that need a longer season than our zone 3 climate provides (even for short season varieties), e.g. tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, etc..