I'm going on my second year of gardening and both years I started everything from seed thanks to your helpful advice. I find this part of the process (potting up) so satisfying. I just did a bunch today. I wish I had started gardening many years ago. It's so enjoyable. Thank you for your tutorials.
This time of year is busy planting up seedlings Its a constant balance of sowing and moving on then planting out will begin in a few weeks. Great video Scott
I've grown to hate seed starter mix in few short years of gardening. From now on I'm using a good potting mix (one of the "full cycle" soils they sell at grow stores are generally great) to start seeds, they seem to end up being much healthier. The only change I'll probably make will be to sift the mix to get out chunks. I'm also switching to all 4 cell trays, with those the only plants I'll move to 3" and 4" pots will be peppers, tomatoes and some herbs, the rest can stay in 4 cells for the 4-6 weeks I need.
Totally agree. Used coconut coir and had to throw it out--mold. Heard someone used it thought I would try, never again. Don't like seed starter either--no structure.
Never hurts to go over the basics, good video for that. I just finished potting up my tomatoes, and they are now taking up almost half of my space under lights. Its a real juggling act at this time of year. I still have to up pot my tray of peppers and I started 2 trays of flowers and other short term plants. Lucky for me I am also hardening off some things so that will free up room for the peppers I need to up pot and the melons I plan on starting soon. Only three weeks left Mothers day, when I plant most things outside.
Liked & subscribed! Easy to follow presentation, well explained, sufficient video closeups to see the procedures, and no stupid background music muddying the waters. A pleasure to learn from you!
Good info. I do remember a gardening writer for the Sacramento Bee newspaper over 25 years ago writing about planting tomatoes; Just because the frost has gone does not mean you can plant your tomatoes; they will just sit in your garden and sulk until the heat comes. Para-phrasing because I certainly do not remember the exact quote but I remember the sulking line, and I have seen that. Thanks Gardener Scott.
I agree about all plants needing true leaves before you transplant. I personally start with seed starter mix only with seeds, then when ready to pot up, I use 50:50 mix of compost and promix adding some one shot and mycorrhiza. The next step then is to ground. By doing this they adjust to organic food and stay healthy since next step is ground with 70% loamy soil and 30% compost. For space, I do same thing. As inside plants reach a few leaves up to several inches, I put them into greenhouse with heater for hardening off and space allowance. So far it works perfectly. Great video
Potting up tomatoes yesterday and today. Had really good success using leaf mold over peat or coco choir, finding the occasional worm is a bonus. Going straight into a 4" paper pot, should be good for another 4 weeks before they go into the garden. So far I have gone through approximately 50 gallons of home made potting mix. I know one thing, I might run out of leaf mold and compost, gratefully I harvested another 10 gallons of worm castings the other day. By the way the black krim and sun gold tomatoes have done extremely well, thanks for the suggestion.
I use potting mix, well screened, add extra peat and perlite to make it lighter as a seed start. I'll let the plants get a little bigger, not much then up pot. One rack is 4 feet wide, 6 shelves, with LED lights on 5 sections. Another rack is 2 feet wide , 5 shelves and is used to hold any plants that are big enough that they do not need lights, although I have now added lights to these too ( my old fluorescent fixtures).
Incidentally I transferred some of my tomatoes today, Chadwick tomatoes. I have tons of other tomatoes, peppers, basils, flowers and several types of herbs. Thank you
I’ve always been told to use seed starting mix when starting seeds because of it being sterile and having the good light fluffy texture. I’ve never had great success with it though because it seems like the plants need nutrients before they are large enough to transplant because the roots are still too small. This year I used the seed starter and mixed in some of my homemade worm castings and that seemed to work better. Next time though I think I’m going to use a good potting soil and just sift it first to get out any too large chunks. I like the 3.5 inch pots to up pot too.
I sterilized everything and still got mold. Someone mentioned coconut coir and never again. Potting soil only. I don't sift it and they do fine, but I do pick a few pieces of lumber out. Love winter sowing and I will be starting them that way from now on. Less hassle and supplies.
Great informative video. Really tough when someone started way to many flower seeds this year Lol. I guess I will have to kick some pansy and lisianthus seedlings outside to a frost cloth covered bed to harden off so will have more room.Lol
I do it this way as well. Less overwhelming 😊 Btw I love the fact that you chose to highlight less popular plants in this tutorial video, like Coreopsis and Milkweed, instead of the famous tomatoes and peppers 😁
Thank you so much for this video! This is one of those things that I didn't know that I didn't know. I didn't use see starter though so idk how that might change things. Oh well, more learning to do! Thanks Scott
It has been a juggling act of which gets light and which can be outside at least during the day. The twice daily dance has been working but the cold weather tomorrow presents a challenge...
I started my seeds in beverage containers and they are 6 inches deep and stay in until my tomatoes are now 18 in above soil and roots are great and avoiding the transplant job and time. Thanks
What do we want?--All the plants! Where are they going?--We don't know! 🤣🤣 That's me every year. I was forced to heat the greenhouse for the first time due to bare root that broke dormancy when shipped. So I'm kind of excited about this as I went to get transplant materials and kick them out there. Won't be excited about electric bill. Need to rework GH and add heat sink. Yesterday I thought I forgot to start broccoli till I seen a video on winter sowing. YES! I tried WS for first time this year. I was out finishing another hugalculture bed and thought I would check jugs. WOW!! Was I surprised--broccoli, cabbage, foxgloves and esters all up. Then I freaked--we are experiencing lows around 19° in zone 5a WI. I threw them in the GH also! I'm telling you I was on cloud 9 after seeing the success of WS!!! It's a game changer as I will no longer need to babysit all those flats for weeks on end. No longer have to have the nuclear power house lighting, no longer will have leggy brassicas, no longer have to under and over water. Just pure Bliss I'm telling you. We are expecting snow tonight into a.m. Enjoy! GS--how are your winter sow jugs doing? Have you checked them?
@@GardenerScott oh, I thought that vid on winter sowing was this year. After reworking greenhouse this year I may just continue using it through winter if I can assist heating with heat sink. Now I did see your latest vid unboxing the trees. I ordered for first time and didn't have choice for shipping and they were all leafed out. The GH is full with seedlings and plants. Had to pot up the plants and they're doing well, but with next week still freezing at night I'll be waiting a bit yet. Very impressed with the quality of plants you received--very healthy.
Is this the best plan if the weather isn't ready to put them in the earth, here in SoCal it actually snowed last week in the Inland Empire, we have night temps in the high 30's, coldest early spring in decades,..I figure we're 2 weeks from warm enough to put the seedlings into the garden. My pods, some are 4-6" already! Thanks Scott
Economic wise i use home made compost and worm castings with some perlite. If the seeds are viable they do pretty good. And once the roots start they out pace the top by allot. But as soon as they are in the ground i don't have shock and by the next day they show new growth.
Love your channel! Question: why not by cut up all the tray cells first so they are separate? Then you can take out some seeds that are slow to grow and tuck them in the light station. That frees up the tray flat to start a new batch of seedlings.
Cutting them is an option and a good idea for mixed germination. I try to match the plants and deal with the whole flat at the same time, but it doesn't always work.
Everything I grow seems to end up leggy even with the lights darn near on top of the soil. I've got greens ( collard & turnip ) that are almost 4in tall with only baby leaves on them. They had light from day one...SMH!
i put tomatoes straight from jiffy starters into pots, with a 50/50 miracle grow potting mix and peat moss. they're growing fast. not as big as the ones in the store but they'll get there. Also im putting together my first raised bed so im using the Gardner Scott cheap method :-D
I made mine by digging 12 inches into my clay would and sifted all the rocks out of it. I lined the bottom with big wood pieces I couldn't put in my chipper then layered clay with a couple sifted wheel barrow fulls of 1/4 inch minus wood chips/ compost in each and thoroughly tilled it in. With my bed heights being 10 inches it makes 20 inches plus of pristine real soil.Yes it was the extra mile , but it was the best way to do it if you want to plant things like Turnips. I also enjoyed it.
@@kjrchannel1480 I ordered two of the amazon prebuilt kits, im going to fill the bottom with leaves and fill the top with peatmoss and a few bags of cheap compost. 4ft x 12ft, easy peasy for a starter box
Thank you very much for this video. I’ve only been at gardening for a couple years and this is something I’ve been struggling to determine. So thank you for sharing this video. Now I just need to figure out when to actually transplant them into their permanent home for the season. So any help there would be much appreciated. I’m in zone 9A but our weather has been all over the place. Just when I think it’s going to stay at 50 or above…bam we get hit with a cold spell. So do I wait, do I transplant? That is the question….😂☀️☔️☀️🥶☀️☔️
Random question....what do you do with everything you grow? Obviously eat it. But, do you consume salads, cook with the veggies, or something else? I know your channel is about gardening. However, I feel that knowing how to cook or prep the garden is very valuable as well. Thanks!
It's my second year seed starting and I had a hard time getting them growing with no fert. Most will talk about the stage of development to fertilize but I'm beginning to think it's a combo between time and development..
Hello, this is my first time and first year growing from seeds. I never planted before at all but I have the jiffy strips. I think I put to many seeds into the starter pot, I was wondering what is the best things to do so I don’t lose the seeds? They have been planted for a few weeks now and I’m not seeing any growth. Thank you in advance for your help.
Mr Scott, can you start the seeds in your greenhouse? I have limited space also and the up potting has always been an issue with me also. I have a new little greenhouse this year and wondered what I can actually start out there. I started all my tomatoes and peppers inside because they had to be started before last frost but I am in zone 7b so hopefully can work outside now. Just don’t know much about seed starting. I usually always did starts from the store. Excited about this new adventure.👩🌾☀️🌻
I know you didn't ask me, but since I do have a greenhouse. It is one of those Harbor Freight smaller versions. It has 2 univent auto openers installed. I remove the cylinders in winter and secure the mechanism so wind can't open them and ruin them. I also live in 7a/7b. You can plant seeds directly in a greenhouse if those plant varieties can handle the lowest temperatures it will experience. As it has been said in so many terms before a greenhouse can help your plants, but also kill them if you don't have a way to regulate plant safe temperatures. Since it has snowed in mid April for me it is still to cold to put Summer loving plants in a unheated greenhouse for a while longer. If I am confident temps won't drop below 50F at night then I will put them in it. If it gets cold enough in a greenhouse then plants will still freeze. A person will still have to harden off plants, but not as much. I open my doors on sunny days to let the breeze in and keep my plants cooler even with the vents open until it is p!anting time. I also found out the hard way that greenhouses can promote cold season plants to bolt faster from the heat if it gets to hot. Be prepared to babysit your plants and greenhouse.
@@kjrchannel1480 thank you for responding. I love our homestead community and how we all help each other. To me,that’s how I grow and learn not only by my mistakes and experience but by others as well. I never thought about plants bolting because it gets warmer in a greenhouse. My flower seedlings are ready to up pot and we should be thru with any freezing here so I’m going to try it. I’ll only be out a few seeds and my time if they don’t survive me. Now my vegetables, I’m more careful with because that’s future food supplies. Again, thank you for your help. I definitely love being outside and in the greenhouse. 👩🌾🌻💙☀️
Yes I agree as stated above be prepared to babysit them in green house as our temperature here was in 60s & greenhouse was 118 degrees while i was at work & fried a bunch of babies! So in otherwords much easier starting inside under light with controlled temperature then bring out once they are established. Just my 2cents
I can start seeds in my greenhouse, but it depends on the seed. My greenhouse still gets close to freezing because my nights are so cold. When it regularly stays warm at night seeds can be started. Begin monitoring the temperature inside your greenhouse. Seeds like spinach and lettuce only need 40-50F, but squash, tomatoes, and peppers need closer to 70F.
Another reason to start in small pots is that store bought seed starting mix for all of your starts can get pricey. Potting up into potting mix is a more economical choice.
I don't have room to pot up. It's too cold in my unheated little coldframe for me to leave my seedlings in overnight and I have only enough room inside for the seedling trays I have going under light. So for the next few weeks I'm planning to give most of my post true leaf seedlings some half strength fertilizer weekly and keep them in their seedling trays. A select few will get potted up (e.g. tomatoes) right away. What is your view on that strategy, Scott? I also have 4 (well, 8 because not thinned as of yet) hyacinth beans that I started in solo cups with seed starter mix on the top and potting soil on the bottom. I figured that would give me the extra time without having to pot up & they're looking pretty good: several branches already on each plant (in baggie with wet paper towel to germinate March 16th; sowed in solo cups March 20th)
@@GardenerScott Thanks. I wish my setup were more ideal, but I don't currently have the room. Maybe before next spring I can do some purging and rearranging of my space to accommodate my needs better. I also started a bunch of the flowers I want to grow outside in a kind of winter sowing situation which is, so far, getting mixed results.
Me and my husband are just learning how to plant, we started seeds to also show our children the process, but we are now finding issues of knowing when to move the seedlings to pots, or even straight to our garden. When is the seed starter tray too small for the plants.? We planted a variety in the same tray and have gotten to the point of what do I do now?
When the second set of true leaves are growing it's usually a good time for a new pot. Beyond that you'll probably see that new leaves are slow to emerge. The plants should have ample leaves and a sturdy stem before going outside.
i see that you have soil in a stored container. do you often store your soil in a container? would you happen to know how long soil will last in a container before usage?
I make a big batch and try to match it to how much I expect to use. So it usually is used up in a couple months. I've had it for as long as six months with no problems.
I’m doing this for the first time and have my seeds (mixed Perennials) in a 72 small cell cartridge tray on a heat mat with the humidity dome on them. Today one of my Lupin seedlings came up nice and healthy and high but it’s only been three days since I’ve started. And the rest haven’t sprouted yet. I heard the germinated ones will die if I wait for the others to sprout with the dome on. So if I move the one seedling to a bigger pot now, do I put the one and only seed now under my light I bought? Or is it okay a few more days in the dome. I’ve only planted four types this year on one big tray. Just a practice year lol. So the few I have are previous. Please help!
Early germination does not mean they will die if they have a few days under the dome. Once they have true leaves you can transplant even when the others are still germinating.
My plants are in a plastic greenhouse on a heating mat. Most have the first two leaves but can't really photosynthesize bc of the cover and location. Will they still grow true leaves if I leave them on the heating mat? Thanks for anyone who can help!
Hi, Scott: I have sweet peas started and they have 2nd, 3rd, and 4th leaves!!! Yikes!! They are still in their starter trays under grow lights. I've heard the roots of sweet peas don't like transplanting, so I wanted to wait until May 15th to set them directly in the garden. Do you think I will have any issues with waiting, or should I try to put them in larger pots now? Thank you.
Sweet peas can handle temperatures down to about 25F so you may be able to put them out earlier than that. If you leave them in the trays, to avoid stressing the roots, you might consider using a diluted fertilizer but in the small starter tray the plant growth may be stunted.
do I need 🤔 some kind of fertilizer for the seedlings 🌱 when I take them out of the pots and put them in the ground or my growing toates , I'm going to use containers self wicking and some homemade earth 🌎 boxes and grow them in my green house 🏠 next month when they are ready . Right now here in Idaho mid state we are having winter again.
@@GardenerScott ok 👍 ,,in the containers will be compost I get from our dump and then I have bags of peatmoss with the vermiculite mix they are free from this company my wife brother works at , they grow peas for farmers . So I do about half and half. In my strawberries 🍓 is what I use for them an they grow very well .
@@GardenerScott like to send pictures 📸 of what I am doing , maybe get some pointers from you . My planes is to keep the weeds down in my garden. There's another gardener I look at that I love ❤️ his garden , but here in Idaho our where is bipolar like today it is a blizzard of snow ❄️.
You can always send to gardenerscott@gardnerscott.com. If you join the channel membership you can post to our facebook group and get input from other gardeners: ru-vid.com/show-UCWsI0LmiDyezbnN2JCL4P9wjoin
A little hardening off is usually good, but it depends on the temperatures inside the greenhouse. If they are warm and similar to indoors hardening off may not be needed.
@@GardenerScott thanks I live a little south of SLC Utsh so similar to yours in Colorado. Your videos have been very helpful. I've been gardening for most of my life but not the technical side as much as by site and feel of the soil.
Is a potting mix really a lot worse for seed starting than a seed starter mix? Seems like the only downside is it doesn't hold as much water, but then the starter mix doesn't have any nutrients and forces an early transplant to potting soil. What if you start seeds in a potting mix but just water it more frequently? (or maybe also add more vermiculite) Then I assume you don't have to transplant quite as soon and risk disturbing early roots or killing the seedling.
Potting mix isn't worse, just a different method. As you mention, seed started mix often holds moisture better and is usually lighter for roots to grow easily.
Hey Scott, we've never had to keep our seedlings in the pods or transplanting so many into 3.5" containers for this long in SoCal, some of my Cucs, Squash and Zucch already have 2nd true leaves but beginning to yellow a bit. I've been giving them the 4-5 warmest hours outside (mid 60 degree temps) and back to the indoor grow lamps around 5 PM, is this a mistake or could it be I haven't fed them yet? Sorry to reach out, I just don't want to lose my crop right before they go in the earth...we didn't know we were seed-starting too early this year.. Hope its soon, who has enough lighting to take care of 72 3-1/2 inch pots, not Southern Californians LOL
They are probably in need of nutrients. Diluted fertilizer, at about 50% strength or less, can help. By moving them outside you're helping them harden off so they can be ready to put in the ground when normal temps return.
@@GardenerScott You called it, they haven't been fed since the day the pods were started, I thought my wife fed, she thought I did LOL Thanks for responding, I look forward to following your channel, liked and subbed
I don't have a lot of experience with that, but my buddy Tony made this video that may give you some ideas: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AKFXeGwaS10.html
Then there are times when you have a tall robust tomato seedling with big true leaves and it falls over from hidden damping off evidence. Being a narrow brown root stem union. SomeTomato varieties seem to suffer more. I have had snow in mid April this year so my seeds I started in late March are getting big, and I don't want to put a heater in the greenhouse yet. I set my shelves up so I can have 3 10x20 trays side by side on each shelf under one light. Depending on the depth of your shelves, you could fit 12 trays on it if the inside of the supports is 30 inches wide. I use two 48 inch fluorescent fixtures with 2 led compatible tubes in each. On a table like yours I repurposed a single tube 48 inch flourescent pool table light with a chain at both ends with hooks on the ceiling. I can fit four 10x20 trays on it. In my greenhouse I made supports for wire rack shelves with 2x4's that allow side by side 10x20 trays to maximize use.
