Seed starting for Pros and Market Growers.

I start a ton of seeds every year and I am sure many of you start millions more than I do. I don't do them the same every year. I was answering a question for someone the other day and it started me wondering how you people that do it on a huge scale start yours. Do you do a lot of seeds in a larger container and prick them out or start 1-2 seeds per hole in a flat or plug tray or? I don't think I have found the perfect method yet. LOL Is there one?

I know the advantage to sowing a lot in one container is minimizing the amount of seed mix used, saves space and is easier to keep the seed mix moist. The problem I have had with that is sometimes waiting too long to transplant and the roots are entangled. Sowing 1-2 seeds per hole in a flat is nice and easy and you can leave them alone for 2-3 months or until planting. They are also easy to bottom water that way. The only downfall there, is if seeds don't sprout, you have used up a lot of seed mix and space. I like the plug trays because they don't take up much space for thousands of seeds and they are SO easy to transplant since each seed is in it's own little plug. The downfall I found with those (at least the 512) is that it dries out too fast and not evenly and they don't fit on top of or into a flat which makes bottom watering more difficult.

Soooo, how do you mass producers start yours?

Tiny seed I broadcast in a flat and transplant after the plants have their first set of true leaves. Larger seed I plant individually.

Hi Shelley. Thank you for your answer. Do you use flats or plug trays or something else?

I use the plug trays when i sow them individually. I use those dome trays with no inserts --just soil in the bottom tray to sow tiny seed like petunias and begonias. Those plastic round pot bottom trays that you get at walmart work great too. clear. Any size. They are like $0.39 to $0.99 or $1.49 each.
Last year I had to start 100's of elephant ears from old runners off the Black Magic, Black Imperial, and the Red Stem elephant ears. I had very little space. So i took some web flats and put plastic to fit the webs, then punched holes in the plastic , filled with the soil and runners off those elephant ears. I had 14 flats done that way. Ended up 300 baby elephant ears. : ) Transplanted them as they showed their heads.

Look at all those sweet little ears!! Illustris will always be one of my favorites.

So you start tiny seeds in-do you mean those clear saucers like 2 or so inches deep that you can set potted plants on? That is a great idea. You'd even be able to see the roots! How'd you come up with that one? LOL

I never think about using clear food containers and stuff like that. I always think of plastic bowls but never the 'disposable' stuff either, until I have already used something else.

I have lots of speedling flats that I used for years when growing sets for my truck garden. I absolutely love them!! Unfortunately they don't work the best for me when it comes to flower-type seeds.

For those I have started using the bottom half of gallon milk jugs. I have over 20 varieties of lilium, several varieties of day lilies, agapanthus and milkweed germinating in some, as well as candlestick plants, BOP and 8 varieities of hardy hibiscus. What I really love about them is I can fill them half full with soil, plant my seeds, cover with plastic wrap and not worry about the seeedlings hitting their heads on covers until they are really large.

I also thought about the plant trays, but opted instead for some shallow food containers that were larger and less expensive. In those I am germinating 2 varieties of butterfly bush, as well as single varieties of desert willow and lavendar. For coverings I am floating plastic wrap over the tops.

I also have some fast food dishes with lids, but they aren't working too well for the duranta varieties I have germinating. Should have used milk jugs - they're hitting their heads. To make room for the growth I've had to uncover the container which let the soil dry out, plus gave an 'in road' to any fungus gnats flying about.... For now I've taken the lids off and put the trays in gallon ziplock bags.

Next time I will try to find some clear plastic boxes used for ready-made muffins from the local grocery. I have some Jacaranda seeds germinating in one and it's perfect!!

For lights some of these containers are on a hoop table I have in my backyard. It's a table made from a sheet of plywood covered with plastic. There are 3 hoops going from side to side with a sheet of plastic over the length. The sides aren't fixed so they can be rolled up or lowered as the weather dictates. The ends are covered with overlapping sheets that can also be opened or closed. Along the top is a line of mister nozzles that are fed by a water hose on a timer.

On that table I have my daylilies, hibisucs seedlings, brug cuttings, germinating Tx Mountain Laurel seeds, oak tree seedlings, as well as some oxalis, etc.

On my backporch I have a long table with suspended flourescent lights above. There I have everything that is tiny and/or keep covered for better germination.

Not set in our ways. My son does all the greenhouse planting. I did do a bunch of marigolds the other day.
Lots of different planting methods here.
Alyssum, Moss Roses come in a cluster seed. (2 to 5 seeds per pellet) they are planted right into 4 packs they will be sold in.
Marigolds & things that grow fast are sprinkled in a flat, must be transplanted shortly after they come up.
All petunias, geraniums, and lots of others go in different size plug trays. This is a new way for us here, we like it! (Don't have a plug tray seeder either, all done by hand, 1 at a time. My son is very fast doing the seeding.
Also buy some things already started. They come in ell-pots. Then just stick them in 3½" or 4½" pots.
Bottom line; do whatever works the best at the time.
Bernie

Different plants may require different trays for starting and then transplanting. Effeciency in saving space is important to me at the start. Seeds that present few problems like annuals ie. marigolds, coleus, or cosmos etc.go in either 8x8 or 10x16 inch trays with about 2 inches of planting medium. These are the ones that are inexpensive, sprout at the same time and don't usually require extra heat. They separate easily and so transplanting poses no problems. More expensive seeds that germinate irregularly go in plug trays. That might be New Guinea impatiens or Gerbera. The ones that germinate more quickly can be transplanted without disturbing the slower ones. They frequently require constant soil moisture and extra warmth so heat pads and capillary cloth are necessary. Just a slight drying of the soil can damage fragile root systems. Once the seedlings are big enough to transplant to larger containers like 6 packs or more commonly now, 3 packs they can go into the greenhouse which has now warmed up and space is not such a problem.
Jiffy pots are good for things like peppers and tomatoes or cuttings that grow quickly enough that you don't want to fool with transplanting until they are ready for 4 inch pots..
The disposable/ reusable glad ware type containers are pretty handy when you have small quantities of relatively expensive seeds in several varieties. I am doing several varieties of portulaca this year and a package of the seeds fits one of the 8x8 inch containers pretty well. I can put the soil and some water in one, cover it and nuke it in the microwave at odd times so I always have a sterile container and soil ready.
Timing can be important too if your space and help are limited. You don't want to wind up with several thousand annual seedlings to be transplanted all on the same day so spread the sowing of seeds with similar needs and response time over several days.
I set up a system in shoe boxes divided by date and subdivided by growing requirements. It lets me keep the workload spreadout so I don't wind up with everthing needing attention at once. Jessamine.

Micro Wave Jessamine?

That's a clever idea.

How long?

I'm going to do my best to follow your system. I like it.

Time in the microwave depends on how much water is in the container and the power your microwave puts out. Figure the amount of time it takes to boil a cup of water in your oven for every cup you added.Then add one minute. The water needs to turn to enough steam to remain above 180oF for about 10 minutes for best results. I run the oven while I am doing other things. Sometimes I stack several containers to heat at the same time. Multiply by 1.50 for every additional container just like the instructions for heating more than one frozen entree. In general one container takes 5 to 6 minutes and two take 8 to 9 minutes Jessamine


This message was edited Mar 31, 2005 7:38 PM

Thanks a bunch to those of you that have posted. You have given some really good information to me and anyone else that is starting seeds on a larger scale. I guess I for one, need to get rid of my ideas on uniformity and starting things the same way. I tend to try to do everything one way. I see there are things I could have sown in plug trays and things I should have sown in a larger container and pricked out. I like the way the tiny plugs come out and are so easy to keep seperate for replanting. I also remembered how hard it is to keep those tiny ones watered! LOL I need to invest in some deeper and larger plug-trays. I can also see that I am going to need to buy a LOT of cell trays. Ouch.