My First Starter attempt...

[somegeek]

My wife and I had horrible results last year with our seed starter attempt so this year we've done research and we'll hopefully get starters in the garden from seed.

I have a 2' fluorescent lamp w/ two T12 20W cool white bulbs w/ a shroud about 1" above my tray. On the side I have an 80mm PC case fan powered with a wall wart to put a slight breeze on things to help strengthen the seedlings. This tray is in my office which is pretty warm during the day(~75ºF) with my PCs running. I would have gone with a 4' lamp due to the increased light output but we don't have the room for it. Built the shroud out of 6mil coroplast (same stuff campaign signs are made with) and painted the inside flat white to reflect the light vs absorb it.





My Dahlias are popping up and don't look leggy like other starters I've had in the past. These were planted seven days ago and I put the light over them about four days ago.



My first Lettuce Leaf Basil starter...


Soil is a bit moist as I just shot a few spots of mold with Chamomile tea as well as the shoot... otherwise I've been letting the surface dry up.

These were planted in a peat/potting soil mix.

We planted Roma & Beefsteak Tomatoes, Genovese, Lettuce & Sweet Basil and Jalapeno Peppers. Also the Dahlias and some other kind of flowers that escapes me. Some of the seeds are a few years old and were planted in a 'can't hurt to try' attempt.

Enjoying watching these grow.

somegeek

[The Helpful Gardener]

Us too; keep the pics coming...

HG

[somegeek]

I went ahead and dusted my entire tray of starers with cinnamon yesterday as I read this is a great fungicide. Used a paintbrush to knock any off the foliage. Also potted up a few more basil and tomato seeds using only coir. Used cardboard for some rough dividers since I ran out of the 6-pack trays.



As an aside...

Took survey of my raspberries. Need to move the suckers into the middle row. Thinking with that many suckers we'll have a solid row. We got lucky last year. Planted a half dozen canes in the middle of last summer and they grew to full height loaded plants before summer's end. Anticipate a haul this year.


Lettuce mix is sprouting up...

This mix did great for us last year. Going to plant another row in about two months so once the first one is done, we'll have another to keep us with fresh lettuce for another few months.

somegeek

[BrianSkilton]

Very nice and organized! Seed starting is looking super. . I never heard of using cinnamon as a fungicide, what a great idea. This is way off topic but most people are just aware of the Indonesian cinnamon which is very strong and almost offsetting. Whenever I need cinnamon in a recipe for baklava for instance I always use Ceylon Cinnamon -- very sweet and subtle tasting. (mainly from Sri Lanka) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon. I'll have to try cinnamon as a fungicide.

Anyway enough of my rambling, everything is looking good, looks like you'll have good success.

[somegeek]

Thanks for the kind words.

I see my first Roma seed sprout has popped up as of this morning...



And a few more Genovese Basil seed sprouts are coming through...



A few Daliahs did die - one due to the light being to close a few days ago and drying up the foliage(left side) and one from dampening off - fell right over when I touched it. Base appeared pinched. Another lesson learned about how not to keep these soaked.



I did note that a few of my starters pots that dried on top formed a bit of a hard crust which I imagine the seed shoots would have difficulty penetrating(?) so I soaked them to soften them.

Learning a lot with this go around so far.

somegeek

[somegeek]

Between yesterday and today the majority of our Romas came up - pretty cool how many sprouted in that short of time:



Beefsteaks are starting to pop up...



Our first pepper is coming up as well - woohoo...



somegeek

[somegeek]

I've learned that using a mix of outside garden soil, organic fertilizer and peat moss was not a good idea for starting seeds indoors. The basil shoots I had all fell over when touched today due to damping off. My pepper trays had a single seed with a brown sprout. The few trays I started with this mix were all emptied tonight and cleaned with bleach spray. Lesson learned regarding using sterile/clean medium.

I have fresh coir I am using for these replacement seeds.

Hopefully they follow the same route that my tomatoes are on.

somegeek

[somegeek]

Dampening off is the gift that keeps giving. I was checking my Dahlias which were also planted with a bad mix of stuff and they too were wobbly and a few tipped over when touched...





Hard lesson learned. Gonna replant some Dahlia seeds in coir now.

somegeek

[somegeek]

The Green Sword cucumber(similar to English) seeds we sowed on Sunday are up already...



Roma and Beefsteak are coming up nicely as well...



Will need to thin the herd though soon. The cardboard dividers will allow me to break these up into four plants easily. Those seedlings getting whacked will just be cut back to soil level.

[somegeek]

The Green Sword cucumber(similar to English) seeds we sowed on Sunday(six days ago) are very much up!



I'm blown away by how quickly these have sprouted. Time to start hardening these to go into the garden?

somegeek

[GardenLisa]

Everything looks wonderful!

[somegeek]

Thanks, GardenLisa.

Beefsteak starters... there's a cardboard divider in there so I'll get four starters out of here to transplant. Just need to figure out who's making the cut here soon.


More beefsteak seedling...


Sweet pepper...


Jalapeno pepper...


Romas...


Genovese Basil...


Side view of my starter tray...


There is an 80mm PC fan with a super fancy paper duct on the right side blowing upwards into the lights to ventilate them and put a slight breeze over the whole bed.

My wife and I picked up a few tomato and basil starters but we saved room in our beds for these late starters(I shoulda started these in early february). Also planning to replace this 24" 2400 lumen lamp setup (2 x 1200 lumen 20 watt bulbs) with an ~8000 lumen lamp setup (3 X 2750 lumen 40 watt bulbs) which I'll assemble myself to save a few bucks, embrace my DIY geek side and ultimately so I can try growing some herbs and what not indoors year round. Fresh basil off the plant in January sounds nice.

Feel like a little kid as I check on these a few times a day at least.

somegeek

[James282]

Great seedlings! How much do those lamps effect your electric bill? I am thinking of starting from seed this year but hesitate to do so due to what I perceive the additional costs to be. Also, because it would be my first time and I intimidate easily

How much does the more advanced lamp cost up front?

Keep the pics coming!

James

[somegeek]

Great seedlings! How much do those lamps effect your electric bill? I am thinking of starting from seed this year but hesitate to do so due to what I perceive the additional costs to be. Also, because it would be my first time and I intimidate easily

How much does the more advanced lamp cost up front?

Keep the pics coming!

James

Sky is the limit, but depending on your budget and intentions you could do a very basic lamp on the cheap.

Get something like an 85watt CFL like this and connect to something like this which you can get at Home Depot.

Put it a few inches above your seedlings and you're set.

If you have the room, a 4ft fluorescent lamp with T12 bulbs is probably the cheapest way to go for a large area of coverage.

somegeek

[James282]

very nice thanks!

James

[somegeek]

very nice thanks!

James

I shoulda mentioned as well... those clip on reflector lamps - they come in different sizes. The largest could probably accommodate two bulbs on a y-socket adapter. You could get 40W 2000 lumen bulbs for around $4 a piece. Double those up to get the ~4000 lumens you'd get from the $20 bulb I linked.

[somegeek]

Went to Home Depot and picked up some sockets, Walmart for (6) 26W 6500K CFLs and True Value for some hardware and a piece of aluminum. After a few hours in my garage I have a 9600 lumen lamp. Only running four bulbs at the moment. This thing is bright! Will use this this winter to grow some herbs indoors and for my starters from now on. Can't knock it for about $35 and a few hours work.



somegeek

[applestar]

Feel like a little kid as I check on these a few times a day at least.

Isn't it great? I'm finding that my little kids are much less interested than my inner little kid
(Me: upbeat sing song announcement) "I'm going in the garage!"
(DD: playing with her toys) "Oh, you're going to go check on your plants? OK bye!"
DD2 is a bit more accommodating, and agreed to sow some round carrot seeds of her own per www.growinggrub.co.uk that someone posted. She's enchanted that they've started to sprout and mists them everyday (I keep pouring out the excess water from the tray for her. She'll get the hang of it.)

The 6 CFL lamp you made looks great. Is it hard to put together? Can you post instructions on how to make one

[somegeek]

This is a rough write up but should give you the main idea of how to build one...

My materials list:
(6) sockets - $1.50 each at Home Depot
(3) 2-pack - 26W 6500K CFLs for ~$21.00 at WalMart
Piece of aluminum duct from True Value - $3.50
Some wire from an old extension cable
Small piece of pegboard - 1/4" wood material minimum to support bolts
Old PC power cable with end cut-off
Electrical Tape
Solder and solder iron
Some nuts, bolts, washers from True Value
Aluminum tape
Coroplast shroud (built previously)

Pics show the general assembly.

Got started by cutting the board to size which the reflector and sockets would mount to.



Put a towel in my shroud so the bulbs wouldn't roll around while I figured out what kind of layout I wanted.



Drilled the board and reflector and mounted using the screws.







Drilled holes for the AC wiring.

Bent the socket tabs and drilled the holes in the tabs so the bolts would fit. Pre-bent pic of socket...



Taped the sockets for some extra reflectivity.

Mounted the sockets with two nuts(jammed) and wired them in(black wire(hot) to center pin and white to shell(neutral)).

Put hot glue over the terminations on the back of the sockets to prevent any shock risk.

Installed wire loops on the board for the hanging chains through the shroud.

Pressed the board/reflector assembly down to the bottom of the shroud (reflector is a bit springy) and taped in place at the edge of the reflector using 2" foil tape(very solid adhesive on this stuff).

Screwed in lamps - voila.





9600 rated lumens at 156watts. Also wired up a low speed panaflo 80mm fan to cool things over my herbs/tomato starters.

You can run PC fans using a wall wart with enough power.

Will pick up a 6-pack of 2700K bulbs ($13.88 at WalMart) for when I try to get stuff to flower.

somegeek

[oldschoolvdub]

sorry to get off topic, but am I the only one that can't see any of the pictures in this post?

[somegeek]

sorry to get off topic, but am I the only one that can't see any of the pictures in this post?

Imagine this is a comcast issue since the images are hosted there. Happens once in a great while.

somegeek

[somegeek]

Found that soaking my trays for about 15 minutes in 1" of water assures they get saturated with what they can absorb. Doing this every two to three days depending on how much the cells lighten up. I have my CFLs warming things up as well as a small fan which leads to further evaporation.



Will be thinning out and potting up my beefsteaks today...





Basil is coming along nicely...



Romas have been hit and miss but a few are getting there...



I added some foil lined bubble wrap to reflect light back into this area. Going to pick up some more and line the shelf walls and back with it.

somegeek

[somegeek]

Potted up our Romas and Beefsteaks and they spent the afternoon outside in the sun.

Some had roots barely 1/2" long while others had roots stretching over 1" from the original seed. The majority of these are 22 days old.



They drooped after about 30 minutes of being in their new pot but stood up straight after a few hours and did well after moving outside into the direct sunlight for about 5 hours. Looking forward to watching these take off.



Note to self - don't use organic potting mix which contains natural fertilizer if planning to keep potted plants inside the house under a warm lamp. My office stunk. I love the smell of the stuff since it usually means I'm spending time in the yard but it's not something I'm gonna dab behind my ears.

The lessons keep coming...

somegeek

[oldschoolvdub]

Well I can see the pics now, and your stuff looks great! I've been looking for some lighting info as well, so very cool lighting ideas.

[rainbowgardener]

I'm blown away by how quickly these have sprouted. Time to start hardening these to go into the garden?

somegeek[/quote]

IMHO, they are too little to put out yet. I'd transplant them into separate pots, keep them under the lights until they get a couple sets of true leaves and then, weather cooperating, start bringing them out to harden, gradually. But I don't know if others agree.... Also I believe cucumbers are very much a warm weather plant, don't want to go in the ground until the soil is nicely warmed up. (I don't actually grow cucumbers myself due to space constraints and I don't particularly like them unless they are made into pickles )

[somegeek]

I'm blown away by how quickly these have sprouted. Time to start hardening these to go into the garden?

somegeek

IMHO, they are too little to put out yet. I'd transplant them into separate pots, keep them under the lights until they get a couple sets of true leaves and then, weather cooperating, start bringing them out to harden, gradually. But I don't know if others agree.... Also I believe cucumbers are very much a warm weather plant, don't want to go in the ground until the soil is nicely warmed up. (I don't actually grow cucumbers myself due to space constraints and I don't particularly like them unless they are made into pickles )[/quote]

Thanks for this. Will pot these up tonight to spend some time yet inside.

somegeek

[BrianSkilton]

Hey SomeGeek, that light setup you made is pretty amazing, nice idea. How bright does that thing get? Your probably said in your post, but I didn't read it all.

[Midnight Gardener]

I'm blown away by how quickly these have sprouted. Time to start hardening these to go into the garden?

somegeek

IMHO, they are too little to put out yet. I'd transplant them into separate pots, keep them under the lights until they get a couple sets of true leaves and then, weather cooperating, start bringing them out to harden, gradually. But I don't know if others agree.... Also I believe cucumbers are very much a warm weather plant, don't want to go in the ground until the soil is nicely warmed up. (I don't actually grow cucumbers myself due to space constraints and I don't particularly like them unless they are made into pickles )

Thanks for this. Will pot these up tonight to spend some time yet inside.

somegeek[/quote]

So how well is everything growing now? Have you put anything outside yet?

[somegeek]

My (2) 24" 20W T12 Fluorescent lights had a total rating of 2400 lumen. This new (6) 26W 6500k CFL setup has a rated output total of 9600 lumen. Quite bright. Roughly 4800 lumen per sq ft. Think the desired amount is 5000 for indoor growing? Gonna put up some mylar on the walls of our bookshelf to keep more light in. Will work great this next winter for some indoor herbs and maybe even peppers.

The tomato are spending their second day potted and outdoors in the elements. They're doing well. Nothing in the dirt yet. I got a late start on these. Looking forward to putting some in the ground in the next few weeks I think.

Everything I put into coir has done very well. I ordered the bricks online last year. ~90% germination rate. The newspaper cups as containers didn't do so well. They didn't drain so well since I had the bottom of the cups lined as well. Just going to stick with putting seeds in the small cells and separating when potting up. Save room as well.

somegeek

[somegeek]

The tomatoes did well for their second day outside all day. It was between 55º-65ºF w/ rain showers and periods of sun all day.

They're back under a light overnight.

The second set of true leaves is creeping up now...







I'm wondering if these spending their early days under a high lumen lamp helped ready them for direct sunlight?

I covered some pieces of cardboard with mylar (emergency blanket from WalMart) using 3M spray adhesive and put them on the sides and back of our lighted shelf. That area in our bookshelf is super bright now with all the light being reflected back into the light/tray. Going to put mylar on another board to attach to the front of the shelf with velcro.



Read about how to do this on another site. It seems 90% of the hits you get on google for grow lights are regarding cannabis... those guys really have their technique dialed in. Lot of good info on those sites regarding growing plants indoors.

somegeek

[somegeek]

Some pics of our garden.

Spinach / Carrot / Five Lettuce Mix / Walla Walla Sweet Onions / String beans(back half / Snap Peas(front half)



String beans starting to sprout...



Soaker hose layout. Connected them to the sprinker zone a few weeks back=good stuff. My son spent the morning with me doing yard work. Hoping he inherits a green thumb and appreciation for nature doing things like this. Bed is 8' x 5'. Soaker hose is 50ft.


Snap Peas...


Spinach...



Carrots...


Five Lettuce Mix...



Italian Parsley(starter)...



Tomato and basil currently...



This bed gets sun exposure from about noon til sundown. The hardi-plank siding on the house holds a lot of heat into the evening hours so hot climate plants do well here. Empty bed space will be filled up with basil and pepper plants. I've pondered tearing up another foot of grass to expand use of this area.

somegeek

[Kitty]

What a wonderful garden you have! Everything looks great. Keep those pics coming.

[oldschoolvdub]

Looks great! I'd like to get my garden area to look that clean. I'm kind of Jealous! But looks great... And I keep starting my seeds inside, and they never turn out as good as if I start them outside. I think I may end up doing that next time.

[elevenplants]

Here's a little pic of some of my lettuce, with radishes in the foreground and some beets just up in the mid-ground. Oh, and with onions and garlic ringing the whole plot.




Rebecca

[somegeek]

Thanks for the kind words.

Nice lookin lettuce, elevenplants.

Looks great! I'd like to get my garden area to look that clean. I'm kind of Jealous! But looks great... And I keep starting my seeds inside, and they never turn out as good as if I start them outside. I think I may end up doing that next time.

I've found that using a grow light this year has done the trick well.

Last year I had leggy sprouts that damped off. This year with a grow light and proper draining medium I've seen very good results.

somegeek

[somegeek]

Roma & Beefsteak Tomatoes...


Sweet & Jalapeno Peppers...




Lettuce and Genovese Basil


THinking the secondaries on these got fried by my grow light being a little low?


Added an exhaust fan on the left to compliment the intake fan there on the right. Really moves the air through now...


somegeek

[somegeek]

Cucumbers are pushing out their second true leaf... almost time to put them out here in a few weeks...


Genovese basil is looking nice...


The peppers have really taken off this week. Have many that are finally pushing out their first set of true leaves...




The peppers have definitely taken their time.

somegeek

[somegeek]

Questions...

How dry should I let the soil in the seedling pots get before I water? I've been watering from the bottom every three to four days, but there is still a little bit of moisture in the soil when I do this. Curious if I am not letting them dry out enough between waterings?

What's causing the yellowing on these leaves of my tomatoes?

Do folks ever trim these leaves from these young plants to redirect the plants energy to the new growth?







They spend the days outside in the sunlight and night under a fluorescent light. I've seen pics online of good results with basil under 24hr grow lights, but curious if any plants actually need time to rest at night?

somegeek

[somegeek]

Cucumbers have spent the last five days or so out in the garage and outside to harden off and have been doing well so I took the next step to get them into the garden. 23 days old from seed.

Nice looking roots...


The roots penetrated the paper divider in a few places, but overall the dividers did their job as the four quarters pulled apart pretty easily.


Putting plastic pots over them for the first few nights.


I'll be putting up string to train these up onto the frame.

Tomatoes are coming along nicely as well.



The biggest of the Romas and the biggest of the Beefsteak went into the ground today, one each. Those in the image will be given away to friends here in a month or so. Will be cool to see them do well in other yards and enjoyed by friends.

somegeek

[somegeek]

Basil is coming along. Next year I'll plant a few more seeds in a smaller area and just move them together in a clump of multiple plants.





Peppers have taken off it seems...





Potted using ~75% plain potting soil and ~25% perlite.

I also planted some more basil seeds but instead of just straight coir, I mixed in about 40% perlite. The straight coir seemed to stay a little too damp. Think the perlite will help with drainage.

somegeek