Starting Seeds Inside

I am 21 working on taking over some plants my grandma gave me. It is important I am able to take over this "craft" which she and I share a love of. She is deaf and Lives in another state so it is hard for me to ask her things. :) This past early Spring I started some seeds she gave me and was estactic when they grew. The problem was when it was time to transplant most of then had died. I only have one of 75 transplants growing outside now (well not really growing just kind of living LOl.) I want to know what to do next year to have a better turnout. P.S. I have iron in my water and a gas heater (one of the old, old ones) that only keeps my living room warm in winter. So I don't know where I can keep them and get them to grow. If anyone has any suggestions I would be VERY grateful.

Here's a few tips from someone who learned the hard way.

If your house is warm enough to get the seeds to germinate, it should be warm enough for the plants to grow and live.

Lots of lighting is very important. Buy a fluorescent shoplight and lights (about $10 total cost from walmart) and hang as close to the plants as possible. If the light is farther away than two or three inches from the top leaves then its too far away. The lights will also provide some good warmth. The light should be on at least 14 hours a day, I leave mine on 24 hours and have had no problems.

Watering- let top of soil dry out between waterings. Use room temperature water, not cold water directly from the sink.

If your starting seeds in one inch plastic seed starter things the plants should be transplanted into something bigger when they're about two inches tall. I've found that yogurt cups work really well. You may want to stay away from those jiffy pots and other degradable containers which you are supposed to plant directly in the soil, I've had really bad luck with them and I've heard other people say the same thing.

I hope this helps. Also, if you want some help growing out some of your grandmothers seed, send me an e-mail and maybe i can help. Maybe we can make a new heirloom tomato discovery and name it after her.

You also have to harden the seedlings off by gradually getting them use to outside conditions. If you take them straight from indoors to transpalanting without hardening off, they seldom make it through the shock. To do this, you set them out in a shady spot for a an hour or two, on a warm sunny day, then take them back in. Do this every nice day, gradually lengthening their time outdoors and exposure to the sun. It usually takes a couple of weeks, and you'll have stronger transplants. Protecting them from strong, drying winds or sunscald when you first transplant is a good idea, too. I use a tent made from newspaper, weighted with soil, or something of that nature, just to give them a day or two to get settled and used to the cooler soil temps. Hope this helps!
Martela

Get a space heater for the seeds. I live in a house heated with wood and the seed room is generally 20 degrees colder than the room with the stove. So what I did was get a big sheet of plastic and taped that to the walls around the seeds shelves and put the space heater in side the plastic "room" and voila! the seeds now had a 85F space to germinate and grow. Before doing this things like peppers would germinate alright but damp off due to cold conditions.