Advice for starting seeds inside

[MekenzieH]

I wasn't going to do a garden this year, but I couldn't help myself! I'm only doing strawberries, I have 72 planted in trays inside. I do have two problems though, looking for some advice from some experienced gardeners! First problem - our heater isn't working in the house, so it gets a little cold. Right now the highs outside are about 55 and lows are typically mid 30's, but a few nights in the forcast this week show a low as low as 29. I doubt it gets as cold in the house as it does outside, but it does definetly get cold. Is this a problem for newly planted seeds? Or will they be okay and germinate just fine? The weather is supposed to keep getting warmer so I doubt we will have but another couple weeks where the temp outside drops to freezing at night. The other option I have is to move them upstairs into the room with the heater where our animals are right now while it's cold, but it's kept probably mid to high 80's in there for the animals and that seems too hot. Which would be better? Seccond question - how much light do they need? And at what point? Where they are now they aren't under a window. There's a small window about four feet away that lights up the room in the daytime but isn't direct light on them. Is this fine while they are seeds? If so, until what point? I will start adjusting them to outside and taking them out for a few hours of sunlight and outdoor exposure every day once they are a few weeks old and have leaves, but right now they are just seeds. Thanks in advance the for advice!

[ButterflyLady29]

The cooler temperatures won't harm them. The seeds may take a little longer to sprout but they'll sprout and grow just fine in the cooler area.

But the light does matter. They'll need quite a bit of light as soon as they sprout or they will grow long weak stems. You need a 1 or 2 light (florescent lights work very well) shop light fixture with some good bulbs, daylight spectrum bulbs work best. Keep it 4 to 6 inches over the trays. The lights don't need to be on all the time, 10 hours on, 14 off will be just fine. Strawberry seeds can take a frustratingly long time to sprout.

What kind are you growing? I did alpine strawberries once. They were really nice flavorful berries but they all died one really bad frigid winter. I'm doing more this year but they are outside in the cold frame. I hope they'll get enough chill time before spring really sets in.

[MekenzieH]

I am growing the alpines as well. We get cold winters, hopefully they will make it! If not I will have to try a new type next year. Thanks for the advice, I ordered a plant light on Amazon so it should be here by Monday. How cold was your winter if you don't mind me asking?

[ButterflyLady29]

That year we had a month of below freezing temps with a couple weeks of below 20*F high temps. Overnight lows were in the negative teens. A good snow cover might have saved them but we had all that cold and no snow. Maybe they would have been ok if I had mulched them but I didn't get around to it. Or the wet soil might have done them in, hard to tell. My fig branches all died too, despite the mulch and covers I had on them.