Seed starting with grow lights

Thank you so much for all the information. Personal experience is always worth its weight in gold. Very nice to hear what works and what doesn't work and why.

I will keep very close tabs on my plants this year, and report the progress at the end of the growing season.

I have tried growing my seedlings in the trays, but I never managed the transplant well. But this is the first year I am trying to make a researched effort. So it was more than likely my error in the past.

I was reading the hype on the peat pot packaging on how this is better for the environment, because the pots aren't thrown away, and I was thinking, I never throw away my pots. They are free pots. :) May be ugly, but they hold a plant. But I imagine lots of people do throw their pots away. I use my plastic trays year after year from my carnivorous plants. I don't throw them away and buy new ones. With Florida's near desert environment (we are considered a desert climate, and would be a full desert of there wasn't water on both sides), fungus is very rarely a problem. We get very little rain between November and April or May. In the summer we can measure it in feet, but it evaporates rapidly.

I gave up peat-pots years ago because the plants' roots didn't seem to be able to penetrate the pots. Last year I tried newspaper pots for the first time. It was a little hard to keep the newspaper shaped like a "pot"and when the paper got wet, it kinda fell apart. After much trial and error, I found that if I used more than one thickness of paper, they stayed together better. I placed several of the newspaper pots with soil mix in a plastic box, planted the seeds, and let them sit under grow lights. When the weather was right, I carefully removed the pots and planted them in the garden. I left a collar poking above the soil-line, which prevented cut worms from mowing down the plants. After a while, the newspaper pots below the ground rotted away, making the collar easy to remove.

Starsplitter-if your seedlings are only two weeks old, it might be more successful transplanting if you wait a little longer. This will give time for more root development and stronger seedlings. Even if they look really large and healthy, they are still very young and fragile. When you plant, make sure the peat pot is wet. Carefully cut the sides of the pot-don't remove it cause you'll pull the fragile roots away with it. This should help the roots push through sides and bottom. I can't even plant anything until May, so if you wait for a while to transplant your plants will should still have plenty of time to grow. (I'm not sure of Florida's growing season, but I assume it's a long one.)

I use plastic seed starting trays. I am on my 3rd year (6th season) using them and they show no sign of needing to be replaced.

I replaced mine this year, after using them for (I think) 6 years. I did a lot of damage to them when I first started and I kept them in the whole 72 cell trays. Trying to get the middle ones popped out wasn't quite that easy. Now I cut them into 9 cells-makes it a lot easier. I don't have to drag the whole tray around to plant. I know how to handle them now-I bet this set will last 10 years. Recycled the plastic-cut the old trays apart and used as seedling markers and dividers for my bulbs (I started some early inside).

Thanks Melissa. I appreciate the advice. I will wait a little longer. I am just worried about the beans because they are 8" tall and the roots have grown through the bottom of the peat pots and are spreading along the bottom of the tray. They are leaning on my corn. I assume, I could switch them for a tray with seeds that haven't sprouted. Today it was 87 degrees, sunny, slightly humid and sunny. No rain predicted for at least a week. It is so dry. We are only allowed to water once a week -- on Tuesdays. Not exactly convenient. :)

My tomato seedlings are laying flat to the soil. Anyone know why? They are on a screened porch. Are they not getting enough light? They are definitely wet enough.

Beans don't really need to be started indoors. The seeds can be spritzed with a little water and then planted immediately in the ground about 3/4" deep. Do not soak bean seeds for more than a couple of seconds or they can rot. Beans will come up in 6-9 days.

Did you start your tomato seedlings outside or did you start them inside? How long ago?

I started *all* my seeds in jiffy pots between March 4 and 19. I am afraid to start them outside, because it is too hot and dry (and in Feb we still had hard freezes-- it has been a difficult year), and we are under watering restrictions. It is much easier for me to make sure they get water if I have them on my porch. They are on a screened porch, so they still get the 87F and partial sun, but not the blistering heat and dusty ground of being outside in full sun. By me putting in seedlings, I can spot water. I am also in the process of digging up the back yard. It is a dust bowl of sand. I have been adding top soil, cow manure, turning the soil and watering each plant that goes in. I spot water from my rain barrell.

The tomatoes went in on March 8 (in Jiffy Peat Pots) and they are 2" tall. But they look very weak and spindly. They still don't have true leaves, so maybe they will look better when they get their real leaves.

Are your tomatoes leaning toward the light or are they flat and limp on the soil? Might be bad news for your tomato seeds. If the soil is really wet and the seedlings are laying flat, they may have "dampened off" and could be dying. Hope I'm wrong and they come out of it....

I think they were leaning so much to get to the sun, then fell over. I turned the box around. Maybe they will lean the other way. I only planted a couple seeds, and have hundreds, so I will try again, if these don't perk up. They are against the soil, but not limp. I have a feeling I need to put them outside, that my porch is too shady for them. I worry because I have very active squirrels and a raccoon. I do better with actually plants outsidew, because otherwise the squirrels dig them up looking for the seeds. Iknow tomatos grow here, because I have a few accidentals that got past the squirrels. I don't eat tomatos, but my family will. I grow them because I like the plant.

I don't eat to many tomatos either. But my other half takes them and other veggies to his crew at work and they bring him free lunches. They tell him his lunch credit is over lol, so I pack up a couple more bags of veggies....

That's really cool. I give away our oranges or cut them for the birds and raccoon. The cardinals seem to like to drink from the oranges. I like to share anything extra I have. :) I am glad I am not the only one who grows stuff I don't eat. :) I also have collards for my Dragon and I grow lots of hot and sweet peppers, and I don't eat them either. But they grow well and are beautiful!

I don't know anybody who likes swiss chard, but I grow the neon color variety because I think it's cool. I also grow the colored leaf lettuce varieties because they are pretty, but I do eat that.

I have eaten swiss chard for about 60 years that I know of maybe and probably longer

Maybe I'm cooking it wrong. What do you do with it?

Remove stem and coarse viens and discard.

Boil untill soft and limp

drain add salt and butter

Drizzzel limon juce or vinagar on it

EAT just as good for you as spinich and you can keep it around a lot longer

Thanks, I'll have to try this. I always heard the stems were supposed to taste like asparugus-I didn't think so. Probably better without them.

I do eat the toung tender stems just the top part though. I never thought for a second they tasted like aspargas.

Has anyone tried growing asparagus? How does that work out, I might have to try that.

I got my plants in peat pots and they transplanted well. I peeled the pot off. the plants were sturdy when I got them. I'm not going to use peat pots on my seedlings though, I have some seed starting cells I saved from the pansys, plus I got one from burpee.

I have stuff planted both in newspaper pots and regular pots to see if there is a differance. I have read conflicting reports. I havn't had a problem yet keeping them moist. I got plants this year but next year I want to start my tomatoes from seed, and other vegatables like peppers and stuff. I just got/made a grow light and still have some basil cilantro and pepper seedlings. I am using the grow light to suppliment the sun because of the critters and bugs.

This is my first vegatable garden as well, although I helped my parents with theirs so I have a little bit of familiarity. It was a differant zone and differant plants though. I planted my first batch of tomato plants I got this year, then the weather got bad and they froze. I got some more and they are doing fine. Next year I will be better prepared since I now have a better spot to move them in and out, plus the light.