We previously constructed our new germination station in our basement. But now it’s time to start planting some vegetable seeds indoors, so that they can eventually be transplanted into our permaculture gardens later in the spring. This is our definitive guide to starting seeds indoors.
VIDEO: Starting Seeds Indoors: A Beginner’s Guide
We previously constructed our new germination station in our basement. But now it’s time to start planting some vegetable seeds indoors, so that they can eventually be transplanted into our permaculture gardens later in the spring. This is our definitive guide to starting seeds indoors.
whats a good temperature for the room when starting seedlings?
Do I keep a grow light on 24/7?
I used Popsicle sticks to mark my plants and the moisture wicked up so now I can barely read the sticks. lol No biggie! Gonna grow what grows and enjoy the growing. Love your videos!
You get the honor of my very first post…. OMG Im love your videos and have subscribed……One day when I grow up I wanna be just like the two of you!
6:36 Your writing is so neat. A font straight out of a word processor.
Only thing I do differently is when I thin the plants is pot the plants I pull.
Excellent. Best video on germination of seeds and tnx for Farmers Almanac tip.
I live in Hawaii, no such thing as a growing season here. Our tap water also has no calorie either. Hardest thing about growing in Hawaii, sun intensity. Need shade cloths for specific crops like lettuce or it bolts way too fast.
I usually boil water, add the water to a 5 gallon bucket filled halfway with dirt, stir with a wooden spoon until soil is moist(not soggy), add warmed dirt(when I can hold the dirt without it being too hot)to my plastic containers and then I plant the seeds, then place on warming mats, under the grow lights. Love your garden videos btw! The potato expansion was amazing! I use the stout method of growing them too. Much easier.
By the way you can see the difference between the tiny Tim and a beefsteak because tiny tim is a dwarf variety so it will be small still after a good 5 weeks and the beefsteaks are going to be way bigger but i really love your videos
3:29 Kale… Kohlrabi
that's not english is it?
Were your fluorescent lights close enough to the seedlings so that they didn't come out spindly? Back when I used them I kept them about an inch from the seedlings. The domes seem very tall. Also I you put together a warm white and a cool white fluorescent that equals what they market as grow lights. Last you might consider some sort of protective barrier ( like a sheet of plastic) between the flats and the wood shelf so it doesn't rot.
for tomatoes, you should look up craig lehoullier. He plants 30+ plants per cell and splits them out after they sprout to pick the very best and being able to start them all with only 1 of your lights on (will save quite a lot of room)
Frost dates can be deceiving also, I am sitting here at 5am on May 21, 2019, and we have fresh snow on the ground that fell overnight. Our last frost date was supposed to have been May 6th for the North-Central Colorado area… last year we had fresh snow on June 1st. We are getting ready to move to Central Ohio and they had frost warnings a few days ago and their last frost date was supposed to have been April 22nd. Your best bet is to just keep track from year to year and make a pretty good guess as to when to move your starts outdoors or to even begin planting seeds into the ground outdoors. Love your channel, lots of really good ideas, thank you
SO many similar videos on youtube on this general range of topics; but you guys do the best job BY FAR. You always address exactly the issues I most want to know about, and you don't "jump around" in the explanation, which can make a mishmash that's hard to follow. Great job!
Of course, Spain is not Canada, but cold reaches lots of places. I live 65 miles from Barcelona, in a mountainous area. Not high mountains as Pyrenees but low. This year, my house last frost day was 10th. May. I sow my potatoes on April 15th and they almost died because of cold. Fortunately I could save them, and now they have a very nice look, Iberian Peninsula has many different areas. North is very wet. Mountainous areas are really cold, and different climates can be found. The closer the coast you're, the less cold the weather will be, and Gardens near Barcelona can be cultivated the whole year. Southern regions (Valencia, Andalusia… ) have never frost dates (well, in andalusia is Sierra Nevada a 3000m mountain range, it's supposed to be very cold), and there are great areas covered by plastic in order to cultivate edible vegetables. In my opinion an horrible place. Main problem here is water. I want to try No dig Techniques in order to save the more water that I can, This is a transition season and next year hope to be working similar to what you do. Thanks for your inspirational videos.
I had an epic fail with damping off disease with my tomatoes this year. I used heating pads, grow lights, seed start soil and clear lids. So discouraging! I ended up buying starts. I will try again next year.
I thought seeds need darkness to germinate. Once they germinate, then put them under a light.
I realize it's 2 years later, but nowadays, if you google "last frost date nearest town or city" you'll get it right there 🙂 I also label my sticks with 1,2,3 etc.. and keep a separate list with what each number is. This way, I can re-use them next year, even if I grow something else (well, that's the plan, at least 🙂 ).
Rather than using heat mats I just use a cardboard box with a low wattage light bulb in it and put my trays on top of it heating the roots that way.. Of course this depends on how much height you have available but generally doesn't take much space or money. But in my humble opinion you're off to a great start although this video is a bit older I'm sure you have come up with something different by now.
Any update to this? Any lessons learned in nearly three years? I am looking to start seedlings in my basement this year and this really helped (but still not sure which lights to get)!
I know this video is 2 years old, but I wanted to post this anyway. Harbor Freight has 4' LED shop lights with 5000 lumens. With their coupon, they are only $19.99 each, making them an affordable option!
My favorite method of starting seedlings I learned from Charles Dowding: plant lots of seeds in one cell. When they sprout "prick" out each seedling with tweezers and plant the best ones into individual cells. This works great with tomato seedlings, peppers celery, eggplant, herbs, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli., onions. Wouldn't work for squash or melons.
First year that I have started so many seeds indoors. I started a lot of tomato varieties, many heirloom from Baker Creek, Green Giant, Classic beefsteak, German Pink, German Lunchbox, millionaire, tappeys, and some hybrids, Big Daddy, Porterhouse, etc, and some giant Belgium pink from etsy. Also some herbs, broccoli and strawberries. Still plan to start some early tomato, Cherrie tomato and Big Zach tomato.
Love your videos. Other folks seem to get off topic wasting precious time and a quick loss of interest.
You are entertaining and to the point without the fluff. I would love to see a network pick up your channel. Keep up the wonderful work!!!
I just want to add my personal small experience with growing from seeds. Me I usually put 3 seeds (or more) when working with old/stored in bad conditions seeds , and when more than one grow, i pluck the weacker, but instead of throwing it away, i put it in it's own dirt. Most of those "bonus" usually end up growing again after a few days. I'd say that 90% of those "rehoused" survive. Even some with really damaged roots from the removal can heal and grow. I Personally neevr damaged (yet) the one staying in the initial bucket. I think the key is to be verry gentle and do it pretty early too (i'm not afraid to gently dig up a bit of dirt around the stem to make the plucking safer).
Anyway, that's how sometime i end up with twice more plants that I initially wanted lol (you then can do gift with them, my neigbohrs were really happy).
Just discovering your channel, seems like you produce great content 🙂
I have to have my tomatoes started about 10 weeks before my last frost date (18 Nov here) so that they're well established and just ready to start flowering when I plant them out. That's the only way to leave enough growth and maturation time before first frost (April). Not what most folks expect for Australia
Your voice is fantastic for narration!! As a side income you should narrator amazon /audible books – it is a super easy side job 😉 Not affiliated, just letting you know!
"Everything you need to know" — mentions pre-sprouting seeds, says "we'll cover that in another video"… ffs.