Mike - I germinate my seeds in all kinds of salvaged items. One of my favorites is the plastic trays that Russell Stover chocolates come in. It's got individual little cells that are perfect for this purpose. All it takes is some plastic wrap over the top, and it will maintain a moist environment for them.

EG

Here is a link that might be useful: EG's garden blog

EG,

I think I have a plurality of el cheapo genes in my body - no use spending money on fancy set-ups when the simple ones work.

The Russell Stover trays sound great.

One other type of tray I have played with is a Styrofoam type that has 242 cells. Conical cells are 1" wide at the top, 1/2" wide at the bottom and 2.5" inches tall. There is a 1/4" hole in the bottom for watering. They are used to raise tobacco plants and I've seen plants that are over 1" tall that never wilt the least when transplanted. But no one in the "city" wants to buy a leggy plant - they all want the bushy ones, preferably with blooms. My tray cells are 3.5" deep so I can let the plants grow to 3" or more and transplant them to their bottom leaves. In a month or so, I have a plant that is only 4" tall sitting in the container but has a fantastic root ball and lots of foliage.

One other thing I have been doing and I like the result - I bought a cloner earlier this year to try and clone some hot pepper plants. It has a special blend of ferts to promote root growth. After transplanting, I use some of this in the water.

Mike

Mike - I've never heard of a styrofoam one that has 242 cells in it. I'd really like to see one of these things. Do ya know an online source for them?

EG

Here is a link that might be useful: EG's garden blog

EG,

Alas, I do not and trust me, I have Googled until I am Blue in the face. They are technically called Todd Trays and there are some references to them in research papers. Carrington's Farm Supply in Georgetown, OH will carry them in about a month or so - they girl told me they cost about $2.50 each. If you live in a tobacco producing area (or close to one) you should be able to find them.

Mike

EG,

Carrington's web page is: http://carringtonfarmsupply.com/

They have a toll free number listed.

Mike

Thanks, Mike. I'll research that a little bit. Do you have a blog, or anything? I'd love to see some photos of your setup, and process...

EG

EG,

I post some pics in The Hot Pepper forum but at this time it is mostly my tomato and cucumber plants in hydro progress.

Here's three of the container, though I cut it apart last year because I didn't have room in my grow chamber. The full size is 11x22 cells.

http://www.valleycat.net/garden/container1.jpg
http://www.valleycat.net/garden/containerside.jpg
http://www.valleycat.net/garden/containerplants.jpg

The tomatoes were sown December 14 and have been under a 105 watt CFL bulb since they sprouted.

Mike

Mike - thanks for the pics! That's perfect. Yeah, I'm gonna be on the lookout for some of those things.

EG

What about the Yoghurt Cups? Last year I was blessed with twins and since they turned 6 months, they have been going crazy with Baby Yoghurt...Ive collected all of them,punched drain hole and filled it up with soil. Lined them up under a HD Shoptlight covered with Mylar. Ive also placed them in a tray where I fill water when neccessary and let nature do the water absorption for me? So far my I have a row of Blazing Stars Floristan White (Liatris spicata) that have sprouted in 2 days. A row of Hibiscus still in the wait...

please tell me if am wrong with this el-cheapo idea?

vinny,

It's working so how can it be wrong!!! The only thing I would caution you about is overwatering. It's good for plants to have the soil dry out a bit after the plants get good roots. It makes them stronger.

Mike

Thanks Mike. I have never had problems with germination. My issue is always the post germination period. This time I have made sure light conditions are well set. Being in newengland, I figured I needed to early start if I wanted flowers the same season. Yesterday I started a row of purple echanacea and coneflower each. If this growing from seed setup ever works, I will never buy plants ever again. This is a lot more fun I tell ya. Who would have thought I could recycle yoghurt cups and gerber boxes. If this goes well by mid Feb, I might get another pair of shoplight to make to a set of 4 bulbs.

Vinny,

My name is Mike and I'm addicted to sowing seeds!

Welcome to Sowers Anonymous, a group where people get addicted to sowing seeds. Signs of addiction:
You can't wait for seed catalogs to arrive in the mail
The first aisle you visit in a department store is the lighting department, followed by the fertilizer aisle.
When you grocery shop, you buy items based on if the container can be used in growing something (trust me - we switched Kitty Litter to take advantage that the buckets are perfect for a hydroponics unit).
You can't wait for the kids to grow up and leave so you can convert their room to a grow room.
You can cite the lumens per watt for CFLs, MH, HPS and LEDs, and even know what the letters stand for.

Two years ago, I spent about $70 on tomato and pepper plants for the garden. This year, I spent just a bit more than that on seeds. But instead of 70 plants, I'll have well over 1,000. If I had room, I would have double the number of plants. (I plan on selling most of them at yard sales, flea markets, to friends and at farmers markets.)

Mike