Interesting seed starting idea?

[Dixana]

I came across a website earlier where a guy was talking about using eggshells to start his tomato seedlings! You save your egg shells, come spring fill with seed starter and plant seeds. When they get their first true leaves you crush the eggshell and up pot the whole thing!
I think this sounds like an AWESOME idea!!!

[applestar]

Hmm... it IS and interesting idea. I think though, that 1/2 eggshells are a little small for tomato seedlings at first true leaf stage unless you open the eggs at one end so you have practically the entire eggshell to plant in. That would mean carefully cracking your eggs each time, and I'm not sure if I have the patience for that....

I might consider the 1/2 shells for lettuce though....

Hm. What about drainage?

[Gary350]

Place a wet towel on the counter top then sprinkle some seeds on 1/2 of it and fold the other 1/2 over the top of the seeds. Place the towel in a warm place 90 degrees F is perfect. Some seeds will sprout over night. This is good to find the good and bad seeds. Very carefully place the sprouted seeds in soil then water them. The plants will come up within a few days.

You do not want to sprout seeds that sprout easy on their own in the garden like corn, peas, beans and you do not want to sprout seeds that so tiny you can't pick them up.

Very tiny micro size seeds can be sprinkled into a wet cotton ball and sprouted. Then you can plant the cotton ball.

[lakngulf]

Yall do some interesting thinking. Keep it up. Before I started seed indoors last January my wife had read an article about using the core from toilet paper roll. This worked great:

I cut the core into thirds
filled a flat with potting soil
stuck the inch long core thirds into the soil
was able to get 50 in one flat

I place individual seed in each section.
At the time of second set of leaves I transplanted whole thing to
five inch peat pot.

Worked great. Now I just need more space for indoor sunlight.