Jiffy Mini-Greenhouse for starting seeds

Bless your heart. :) If you can grow things outside we all should be able, certainly is more light out there, and rabbits. :(
Anyway, this thread is about Jiffy Greenhouses. We all like to experiment a bit and we need to get the hang of this just in case we have a bad winter we can have some plants ready to put in the ground.
The secret is to wait long enough for the danger of frost which is deadly and also happens in zone 10, I hate living in the city because for the price of my water bill, it's not worth it to have a garden, a few years ago we had a drought and we were not allowed to use sprinklers or hoses and everyone's garden died. I had older neighbors and they could not lug buckets out there, that is the only watering allowed, buckets no hoses.
To get back on topic, how do you start your tomatoes, and peppers, etc. Have you a window seal greenhouse from jiffy or do you use styro cups, how do you get your stuff started?

This message was edited Apr 1, 2012 1:34 PM

Okay, no problem, I understand keeping things on topic! :-) As I don't have a Jiffy greenhouse (I have a homemade indoor setup for starting seeds early, along the lines of that shown by pollengarden, and an outdoor greenhouse dedicated to other things requiring a lot of heat here (and only nominally, including tomatoes)), I think I will butt out again soon. :-)

The observations I made earlier were only to reflect on whether or not it is actually necessary to start certain plants early, given the fuss involved which might be saved for plants that really do require starting early. Note that anything I say is only relevant to cold climates - I have no idea what's necessary in warm areas, as I mentioned.
I was absolutely flabbergasted years ago when greenhouses started bringing in cellpacks of lettuce, carrots, radishes... astonishing, as these are all things that would normally be direct sown and do perfectly well even in these short season areas! I guess it was in the name of "convenience"... though how paying a great deal more for very few plants and then having to plant them out anyway is more convenient than simply sowing a row or a pot of seeds remains a mystery to me. :-) I fear though that people who have not gardened before, and have lost that connection (as their parents didn't garden either) might get to thinking that it must be necessary to either buy starts of such plants, or start them early, since that's the way they see them sold. Anyway, that's what I was trying to explain. :-) Out to finish off the spring clean-up on a beautiful day...
Best of gardening,
altagardener



This message was edited Apr 1, 2012 10:55 AM

I think that there are many, any new gardeners, that have been raised in the city, with no parents that have grown plants due to many circumstances, whether preference or not. Some just do not even know that they can grow things from seed and have just not tried. Due to the economic downturn and the plethora of community gardens, which did not previously exist, many are new to seed-sowing. We welcome them all!

I am one of those dinosaurs to which you referred...my folks had a "Victory Garden", and now I too, have one, though not endorsing any kind of war except maybe the kind for fresh organic produce, of which all vegetables were previously until the "Golden Age of Chemicals"!

Also, many people have a very small area in which to do their vegetable gardening as many neighborhood associations allow little of people growing their own produce in many "developments". (I say this "tongue-in-cheek" as to the word development...) We are becoming an undeveloped country quite fast, as so few people even know where their food originates.

Just put a bunch of seeds in the Jiffy Tomato Greenhouse that I killed the previous attempt at starting Beefsteak & Brandywine tomatoes. Hopefully, this time it will work as I think killed the seedlings with the MG fertilizer. Using a H2O2 solution this time so will so if this works.

I think I've gotten bitten with the seed starting bug. This afternoon scavenged the 4' shop light from over my work bench and set it up in the wire shelf rack for a second light there. Now I've got a Jiffy 16 Tomato, a Jiffy 50 Peat Tray GH, and another couple pans with peat pots with various seeds. If it doesn't work this time, I'm really gonna be ticked... I want more tomato plants!!! LOL...

I started 27 plants from seed last year in my Jiffy Window Seal Mini Greenhouse. I planted them outside with weather was warm and no danger of frost. I don't want to make this sound complicated, just share a simple way of starting seeds in your window. No grow lights and no heat mats, that stuff cost a lot of money and it's not really necessary.
You could even use Styrofoam cups if you want, I like the little peat pots better than the peat pellets, for some reason the pellets don't work that well for me. Other people swear by them. :) Both can be transferred easily to garden or large container/bucket.

kevcarr59, Try the MG seed starting mix, you do not need fertilizer to start seeds. Good luck with your tomatoes! :)

Kevcarr59, I have always used peroxide water exclusively for seed starting, whether in a Jiffy greenhouse or something else, and have gotten good results. I even put a splash of H2O2 in the sprayer I use to keep the starting mix moist. I keep using peroxide right up until I set the plants outside. Fear of fungus has made me very wary. Sometimes I even sterilize the seed starting mix in the microwave, especially for my precious tomato seeds. Anyway, the H2O2 is good stuff and won't harm the seeds or seedlings if you don't overdo it.

Yes the peroxide water is wonderful. A must have for seed starting, I forgot to use it in January I was trying to start some Hosta seed and I ended up with the normal fungus I get on the other house plants plus a lot of mushrooms!
Thanks for the reminder Goldenberry, The seed starting mix is sterile and if you clean the seeds you might not need it, but I always need it on the house plants, this organic soil has rotted matter in it and attracts a lot of fungus gnats. Better to be safe than sorry.
Can you remember the correct ratio? I've been using about two or three caps full per quart, I think I should be using more.

Don't quote me on this but IIRC the preferred ratio is about 3 tbsp per gallon. I get sloppy and just put a 'swig' into the half gallon milk cartons I use for watering. So far, no fungus problems. It seems it's a very forgiving compound and a wide range of ratios will produce good results.

Yeah, I know the bags say the seed starting mix is sterile. But paranoia runs deep, LOL.

LOL, true. At least I am not seeing gnats anymore! They like to craw around on my computer screen, drives me crazy! :)

I also swear by peroxide water for everything, including house plants. Many people here use a 9:1 ratio. But here's a link to some good info :

http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/peroxide-garden.html

Also, a sprinkle of cinnamon on the soil gets rid of the gnats. I use self-watering trays for my seedlings and the gnats drove me crazy until I found this trick. Whenever I see one I refresh the cinnamon and they are gone.

Pam

Thanks, I was just looking for that!

Most welcome. I found it here last year-what a difference it made!

Pam

Sure is good stuff. :)

Just checked the GH in the workshop, and lo and behold, I've got 3 cells with Iceberg Lettuce seeds that have already sprouted, not bad since doing them Sunday morning...

And I was worried about the HP...BTW... these are the lettuce seeds I froze last summer...Let's see what happens with them, maybe I won't kill this set of seedlings!!!!

This may be the same website, another page:

http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/gardening-with-hydrogen-peroxide.html


For watering plants or soaking seeds, they suggest diluting 3% hydrogen perioxide by another 30-1 for a resulting strength of 0.1%:
1/2 cup per gallon
or
1 ounce per quart (2 tablespoons)

Double that strength for spraying sick or fungusy plants.

P.S. to the person who had leggy growth: you might nwat soil heat to START seds, but many plants grow stockier as SEEDLINGS with air and soil cooler than the optimal germination temperature.

Some reasons to start plants inside that COULD be direct sowed are:
terrible soil
lots of slugs
cats that think turned soil is a litterbox
lack of outdoor experience, especially with watering
tiny beds

I'm slowly improving my horrid clay and learning more ways to live with slugs. But one little nibble on a 12-hour-old seedling kills it. If I do the etxra work to start and set out a dozen, or 20 seedlings that already have 6 leaves, at least SOME survive the slugs. And the cats around me seem polite enoguh top avoid digging up soil with obvious plants in it.

If my beds were big enoguh that I needed 100 of each variety, I might learn how to direct sow and water so that it didn;t crust up. Indeed I've done that for a few varieties of Bok Choy, Radishes, Snow Peas and Chard. But anything new to me, or less vigorous, I like to start some of indoors so I know what they look like (don't want to weed them!) and get a few surviviors for sure.

On the other hand, you're right: if you have enough experience and decent soil, and can wiat until the soil is dry and warm enough, direct sowing must be 5-10 times less work.

At this point the only thing that hasn't sprouted yet are the Bradley tomatoes. Everything else is poking through and some stuff is already an 1" or so tall, and that's sowing these on Sunday. By this weekend all that is going to germinate should be going strong.

Lorelai, my 5 year old grand daughter, helping Paw-Paw sow watermelon seeds in the Jiffy GH, to be planted in the garden, and some going to try in some containers.

This message was edited Apr 10, 2012 12:00 PM

Thanks for the information Rick! Use one part Ammonia for that slug problem, it will kill the eggs. Check out the tips section on ATP. :)


kevcarr59, Nice work!

Drivng to work today, I was just wondering whether ammonia will kill slug eggs!

I can load a spray bottle, pump it up, then wlak along the RB and pull aside each paver with one hand while pulling the spray trigger with the other hand.

Last year I saw slug egg masses between the soil and the pavers.

Nice poppies, Rick!

Pam

Rick, very nice walkway. Pour not spray! :)

Thank you!

Generally if I see egg masses, they are on a vertical soil edge, between the soil and a paver. To pour, I would have to scrape the eggs and slugs off the soil onto the sidewalk, then pour on them, then mash the paver back down on on top of them.

I suppose that would be very effective!

Go for it !!!

I'm a first timer in using the 72 cell Jiffy peat pots. I planted two flats of zinnias and marigolds and maybe 15 seedlings have germinated. I did not realize the light source was supposed to be two inches or so above the flats. It has been about four days since the seeds were planted. I have removed the covers. Should I consider this a learning experience, or is it possible to achieve germination?

Probably. You can fix the light and continue germinating. I am not a fan of the lights. I just use these and stick them in a sunny window.
This will hold about twenty peat-pots. Or more than that if you the peat pellets.

This message was edited Apr 23, 2012 7:57 PM

Zinnias and marigolds are fast, but I would wait more than 4 days before giving up on them, especially if your room temperature is cold.

If they are in a window and get big temperature swings, or the tray dried out after a day of moisture, then you might expect lower germination rates.

If you have 57 empty cells, maybe push 1-2 more seeds into each empty cell. But you won't want your 15 sprouts at 100% humidity, so if you do replant the tray, you might want to prick out the 15 sprouts first and put them into 3" pots or Dixie cups, just so you c an keep them in drier air.

You don't need extra light for germination. That's for when the seedlings are up so they don't get leggy and weak. Most likely cool temps are slowing things down. Once I started using a heat mat,most things popped up pretty quickly. But there are a lot of people on these forums who not believe in heat mats unless ambient temps are well under 70 degrees. So my advice is to be patient for at least a few more days and see what happens then.

Good luck!

Pam

New Gardner here..... YAY!! I've always wanted to start a garden, but never seemed to find the time or energy, but as a project for work I am working on a teaching garden. So I will be getting paid to garden.... :-)

The problem....I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'M DOING!!!

Someone donated four 72 count jiffy mini greenhouse trays for my garden and I bought herbs seeds and veggie seeds.....I've been reading all of the post and it seems pretty easy. I planted herb seeds yesterday and stuck them in a spare room with a heater. I was told that they like warm weather and since my apt is kind of cold, I turned a heater on in the room. However, I found that the heater is drying them out, so I turned it off and now the lid is full of condensation. I'm assuming this is a good thing? When should the seeds germinate? My goal is to have them planted by May 23 (we have a deadline with my job....long story). Some of the post I've read had seedlings as early as a week....Can I expect to have them put in the ground by my deadline?

Even if they aren't ready to be planted by then, this is turning out to be a FUN project....

I've also heard that the jiffy trays aren't good for tomatoes because tomatoes need more space? Can I plant anything in the tray?? I read the post about carrots....what else is not good to go into the trays??

Moe,

1.
If the lid has no gaps or holes, I don't think the heater could actually be drying the soil much, becuase the lid would keep the humidity near 100%. Try to keep the area near the trays around 70 if practical. Most seeds germinate faster if warmish, but after they sprout and emerge, many plants prefer coolish air that is NOT humid. A small fan is good for them after emerging. You'll have to take the lid off after they emerge, or the damp soil surface will encourage mold and rot called "dampoing off".

The fact that you got a lot of condensation when the room cooled (drops, not just fog?) says the soil probably had enough water. I think it is more common to overwater than to underwater, so don't add water unless you actually see dry soil surfaces.

Don't let water stand in the tray under the cells. If that "greenhouse" has some capillary mat that supplies just a little water to the bottom of the cells, I guess that is OK since it is designed that way, but don't let those 72 cells (also called "inserts") SIT in water. That would make soil TOO wet, and roots would never be able to use the bottom half of the cell. Roots drown and die if air can't reach them .

2. How long to emerge?

It's different for every plant. Vegetables tend to be fastest (4-14 days?) Perrenials can take weeks or longer and some need special treatments to "break their dormancy". Annual flowers range from fast to slow.

If you list what herbs you started, and the room temperatgure, maybe some people familiar witbh herbs can guess. What do the seed pkts say, for "days to emerge"?

If you have many different plants in the same tray, some will emerge faster than others. You should take seedlings away from the 100% humididty as soon as they show themselves. It's handy if the 72-cell trays have "tear-apart six-packs" becuase you can cut out or tear away the cells that sprout first and move them to a tray wiuth no lid.

If you can't separate the slow from the fast sprouters, remove the lid as soon as 6-12 of the cells show sprouts. Perhaps lay some plastic film (Saran Wrap) over the other cells to maintain damp soil. Sometimes I cut little 4-5" tent poles from half-wiode or 1/3rd-wide mini-blind slats to hold the film up away fromt he soil surface. Remove the film as soon as a cell sprouts.

>> My goal is to have them planted by May 23

I find that what I want or what I plan, has very little effect on the plants. It's up to them whether they live or die, and how fast they do it.

As you learn every single possible thing that can hurt them or encourage them, and find techniques that are convenient for you and pleasing to the plants, you may entice more of them to live, and some of them to grow faster.

Probably, this year, you'll find a few kinds of herbs that are relatively easy to start indoors, and several ways to kill or stall the more difficult ones. I've never tried herbs, and I wsould have guessed that there are more easy vegetables and annual flowers than herbs.

Hi RickCorey,

Thanks for the insight....I did notice two sprouts today when I checked for progress. I'll keep in mind about the opening the lid once others are sprouting.

I'll be reading plenty of the post to help as I go on this journey. I'm so excited.....

Very well put Rick, you got me excited too! Now I'm looking for something else to plant. :)

I love starting seeds indoors. I don't worry about birds, cats, slugs, crusting rain, frost or "is-that-a-sprout-or-is-that-a-weed?"

Also, since my light shelf is in my bedroom, I get to sleep with my seedlings. Once I got past overwatering, they are less demanding as pets than my cat!

>> Now I'm looking for something else to plant.

I always try to plant plenty of easy things, so I don't get disapointed and frustrated. Then, when some tray of fussy perennials just sits there doing nothing for weeks, the other seedlings reassure me that I did SOMEthing right.

That's a good point, Rick. I've had no luck at all with white Liatris, and the Thalictrum was slow and sparse. On the bright side, the Polygonum and Platycodon did very well. And then there are the huge successes-Snapdragons, Nicotiana, Zinnias, Cosmos, Basil, Morning Glories... Whew, I'm must be doing something right!

Pam

Yep! Way to go. :)

I can agree about these:
Snapdragons, Zinnias, Cosmos, & Morning Glories

So maybe I'll try some Nicotiana. They're fragrant, aren't they?

I think Marigolds are the easiest: big African ones, not little French ones.

Bachelor Button / Cornflower / Centaurea cyanus were also easy

Allysum were easy for me, and they spread, and sometimes came back next spring.

Lobellia weren't too hard, just tiny seeds and tiny seedlings that grow right on top of each toher. They didn't flower really profusely.

I was surprised to succeed with petunias two years in a row, then total failujre the third yhear (wrong soiless mix?)

Delphinium took me three years to get a survivor, becuase the slugs mowed down seedlings as soon as I walked away.

My hubby cleared off a shelf in his workroom, so I now have three 75-cell flats planted with herbs, four kinds of tomatoes, zinnias, and marigolds. I am a novice to this process.

I did not realize how late in the season we were for planting tomatoes from seed. How tall or how far developed should the plants be before planting them outdoors?

I loooove nicotiana. Many types are fragrant, but not all. I usually do Alata in white, pink and lime, Sylvestris, which is called Indian Pipe, and Langsdorfii, tall clusters of green bells (pic).

I usually start my tomatoes around St Patrick's Day, 3/17. Peas and spinach get planted outside at the same time. But you could still start them now. The most important thing with tomatoes is to not let them get long and leggy-- like mine did last year (!). In years past I've put them in a cold frame, which kept them compact and the stems got thick and sturdy. But I didn't have the right setup last year and they were ready to go out before I was ready for them, so they really got out of hand. They need lots of light and not too much heat once they're up and growing indoors. If you start them inside now, there's no risk that they'll get ahead of you, they'll be going outside next month. You can buy them all sizes in the nurseries, and they all bear sooner or later. It's only when you're trying for 'first' that it matters... And there is a theory - someone will probably bring it up if I don't, lol - that since bigger plants take longer to recover from being moved, in the end they're all the same.

My gardening theory: when in doubt, go ahead and try it.

Pam

My belief is that tomatoes like it fairly warm before they benefit from going outside: if night go below 50F, it might be too cold out.

At SOME temperature, the cold would hurt them and they would take time to recover.

At some slightly higher temperature, they just wouldn't grow - what I call being sulky and just sitting there, doing nothing.

I'm not sure if "50F at night" is actively bad for transplantgs, but I was afraid it was, so I left them in pots and juyst carried the pots back inside every night predicted to go below 50.

If they are starting to get long and leggy indoors, they need more light and soil, so try to move them outside as soon as possible! May pot them up into something bigger, but still carry-able.

Or make a tent of plastic film to put over them olutside, to keep them warm at night!
The cheesy wire one is mine - the classy 10-foot PVC hoops are someone elses.

I potted my tomatoes up on 4/16, some into 16oz Solo cups, some to 1 gal pots, planted deeply with only the top leaves showing so they can grow roots along the stem. They have been outside in this unheated mini-greenhouse ever since. I filled 2 1/2 gallon bottles with warm water and put them on the bottom shelf to absorb heat during the day and keep the temp up a little at night. When I'm there, the zipper is opened during the day so they don't cook, and closed at night. When I leave, I attach a piece of row-cover fabric over the opening with clothespins, open the zippers and leave the door down loose. When I put them out, night temps were in the mid-40's, day mid-to-high 60's. I was gone for 10 days when I had expected to be away only 3 days, and got back in time for the cold spell over last weekend. Mini-maxi thermometer in the greenhouse showed 35/82 (during the day it heats up fast once the sun is on it). At that point the plants had grown about 3", the stems were thickening, and they looked quite healthy.

Over the weekend, outside the lows were in the mid-to -high 20's in the area, but my outdoor sensor, sheltered on a house wall, showed 32. The miniGH (door zipped closed) showed 35. Highs were mid-50's. My tomatoes looked fine. Luckily the weather improved just as I had to leave again, so it was safe to unzip the door again. I'm still a few weeks away from planting out, by then they'll be ready to get out of the pots.

Just sharing my experience...

Pam

This message was edited May 1, 2012 11:21 PM

Rick, I love your little home made greenhouse! :)