Sprouting seeds inside

Hello All:

We have been sprouting seeds inside since 16 February.

Here are some photos of our setup. We use a shelving unit equipped with ordinary 4 x 40 W fluorescent light fixtures. We set this up in our guest apartment and keep the temperature at 20-21C. Here is the shelving unit and lights:



We start the seeds in 5 x 5 x 5 cm plastic containers. These come in interconnected sets of 36 containers and are supported by water tight plastic trays about 3 cm deep. Each container has a small slot in the bottom to allow water to flow in or out. They are filled with a 'sterile' growing medium. It is about 50% ground sphagnum moss and 50% vermiculite buffered to neutral pH with lime. This medium has no added fertilizer/nutrients. I wet the medium to the consistency of a damp sponge before filling the containers.

Then we put seeds in the containers - pushing them into the medium to the requied depth or, in the case of very fine seed, sprinkling them over the surface.

Once the seeds are in the containers we cover the surface with plastic film and newspaper and wait for them to sprout. Here are some trays we put up on Sunday, 15 March. They contain flower seeds: portulaca, hybrid lupines (dwarf red) and some hybrid morning glory varietals:



Once the seeds germinate I take off the plastic film and newspaper and place the tray under the light units. The lights are left on 24 hours a day - no rest allowed! The first few days after germination are critical - the seedlings are very small and have very little root to absorb water. During this period we use a water sprayer to 'mist' the trays several times a day as well as adding water to the trays to keep the growing medium damp (but not too wet or the roots will rot).

About a week after germination we start fertilizing the plants with a 25% diluted fish emulsion (1-0-0), increasing the strength of the fertilizer over the next weeks to 100% in four steps.

I started some wild lupine and lobelia seeds on 16 February. The lobelia haven't shown much action (they are 'erratic' but average - 21-28 days to sprouting, according to the package) but the lupines are beginning to germinate. I scratched their very hard seed coats with Wendy's diamond nail file and, clearly, did a better job on some than others.

Here is a closeup of the wild lupines - one seedling is doing well, while another is just emerging:



(BTW, the growing medium in this photo is ordinary potting soil, not the stuff I described above - hence the large white chunks of pearlite)

On 3 and 4 March I started some alpine strawberries and parsley. I soaked the parsley seeds in water overnight to encourage germination. These are in the tray on the shelving unit in the upper photo and, if you look closely, you can see the parsley seedlings in the right center (the lupines are just beyond them, in a separate tray).

Here is a closeup of some alpine strawberry seedlings:



Pretty small, yes?

The position of the light unit is critical for good growth - it should be as close as possible without touching the leaves. During the first few days after germination of the strawberry seeds I had the light unit set too high above them and some of the seedlings show the result. They were on the window side of the shelving unit and got a trifle 'leggy' trying to get closer to the sunny window...



Notice how long the stems are and how the seedlings are tilted to the right. I have since corrected this problem and they should turn out OK.

The alpine strawberries are a 'hobby' plant - we put them on the edges of our flower beds and they yield tiny but extremely flavorful berries. They are perennials but tend to fade after several seasons. I last started these in 2003, I think, and the plants from that batch were starting to fade last year. We should have plenty of new ones by May...

We will add seed trays over the next six weeks until the shelving unit is completely filled with plants.

We have an 11 day trip to Arizona and New Mexico coming up, leaving 26 March and returning 5 April. I hope these seeds germinate before then - otherwise I will have to rely on my tenants to do all the fussy business of watching for germination, misting, etc. We shall see...

wb