1st time starting seeds in my greenhouse

I just joined. Excited. I have been a gardener since before conception, just I haven't accessed all my knowledge yet! I have a sweet little green house I just built this summer. Within my little house I built a germination chamber (2X4X24) in which so far I have been relatively successful in germinating seeds. My geraniums now are beginning to show true leaves, but only one a piece...should I wait until a full set of true leaves appear before I transfer to individual pots?

Second question: Once I transfer the true leaved seedlings into larger pots, will it be OK to have them under grow lights even though their location is in the window of my greenhouse...i.e., will that be too much light?

Thanks to anyone who has suggestions.
Deb

I don't think it will be too much light, but I'd acclimate them kind of slowly to the increased light---kind of like "hardening off". But they should do much better with the increased light.

Thanks for the good idea. I just moved them over this afternoon. As I mused about them I concluded they would probably do OK since my germination box is quite bright with reflector insulation making the light they had been getting quite intense.

I wish my impatiens seeds were as encouraging as the gernaiums!

LOL, Fairywinkle! Impy's can be a pain in the p'toot to germinate. I've got 60 of them on the gro-mats now. Some varietals germinate relatively quickly, and some seem to take forever. But all the volunteers that pop up regularly around here seem to germinate instantly, with NO TLC! Why is that?? I keep having to pick them out of my pots in the GH, and some of them haven't been within 50' of an Impatiens in their lives.

I think so far I have about a 50% take rate on the Impy's but they are progressing, anyway. I have started two new flats with hopes this round will do better than the last. Tiny little suckers aren't they!

Do you cover yours with a thin layer or just let them sit on top?

I use the Park's sponges in the Bio-Sphere's on a gro-mat to germinate seeds. Those sponges have a little hole in the top of them, maybe 1/8"-1/4" deep. In the past, I had always dropped the teeny-weeny seeds down the hole, figuring they'd still get enough light down there. And they did. I'd routinely get 80%-90% germination over 4-8 weeks. This year, I "planted" them on top of the sponges (didn't drop them down the hole). Ten days after planting, I had 60% germination, and today (14 days), I'm over 80%. I've got two more flats of Impy's to start this year when I get room on my gro-mat. One is a whole tray (60 sponges) of one variety (Wild Thing). I'm going to drop 30 seeds "down the hole", and lay 30 seeds on the top of the sponges. See what happens. But the quicker germination that I got from leaving the seeds exposed on the surface seems the way to go for me. More later (if there's any difference).

Oh, StonoRiver, wow. Thanks for the information. I will check at my local suppliers and see if they have these miracle sponges. I have been squinting as I drop the Impys on a standard flat...picking those puppies out and putting them in six packs is a real chore. Your system looks more rational. How many times will you then transfer to larger containers before they are ready to plant? Thanks for the great information.