thats a good idea. Once they break the soil I can just remove the lid for a bit and run the ceiling fan. I’m gonna try to find a plug in timer to turn off the heat pad and lights. I’m lazy and that might be easier
Yep, plug in timer is the way to go. I have a fully programmable timer for the lights with a light sensitive timer for the heater inside the lit area. It's cold where I have the plants. I did run the lights 24/7 earlier because the lights produced more heat than the small heater but I won't next season, it definitely affected growth. Most plants need a dark cycle. The fan is running 24/7 for stem strength and dispersal of moisture.
does running a fan take the place of hardening them once they're big enough? Or is that in addition? found a decent little timer on amazon. I'll run the lights and mat off it. Where they are, it gets a lot of light in the morning but not so much direct sun in the evening. This room stays around 68-72 degrees, it's my home office and exercise area so I think the temp should be good. Figure the mat will just be a nice supplement.
No, hardening has to do with UV exposure mostly. Also gets them used to outside conditions like humidity and temps. UV is the main thing though. You can fry your babies if you put them in direct sun immediately . Best to put them in a shady spot for at least a couple days to ease them into their full time home.
Less than 24 hours after I planted the seeds and there’s about a half dozen already breaking the surface. Are these fucking mutant plants?
I can probably go ahead and put the tomatoes in the ground and just cover them at night. It'll be mostly in the low 50s this next week, dipping down to 47 one night, and I have covers I can use. They've been in a shady place outdoors for several days so they should be ready to go. I just moved out everything else so that in a week I can put them in the ground. I don't want to have to cover a million things and the squash, zucchini, and peppers really prefer it warm. I think my May 1st date was right on the money. I'm super excited about the luffa squash. That'll be a fun summer project. I love that I don't have to know the correct time to harvest them for sponges. You let them brown on the vine and then peel off the dried skin. I will have plenty to save/use and to sell if this all goes okay.
on the left in those larger pots, looked like you put is it squash or zucchini right next to the edge of the pots? Is there a reason for that or just where it sprouted up?
It is just how it came up. I germinate all my seeds first and then plant them in the center of the pot. If you look, you can see one of the leftmost zucchini plants with almost like a taproot before the clump of leaves and buds. That taproot came out of the center but then the plant flopped off to the side. In some of the photos you cannot see where it is actually coming out of the ground, but they are all planted in the center. It also has to do with positioning of the pots under the light because plants are photosensitive and will grow directionally towards the light source. Hopefully that makes sense. When I transplant the starts out to the garden, more of the plant will be buried underground. Those taproots will not be visible anymore. I would advise you to do the same with yours, especially your tomatoes. Your tomatoes specifically will form roots all up and down the stem that is buried which helps in a lot of different ways. It is especially important in a hot climate.
@Revengeofthenerds Here's a couple picture to show what I mean. They all lean towards the lightsource and that initial stem under the cotyledons is at an angle.
Feel like a mad scientist, they’re growing! Got the timer setup last night, lights and heat lamp run 7 am to 8 pm. Water twice a day with a turkey blaster, the lights are just to supplement the natural light since it’s not direct sun
Nice job! Are you using the jiffy seed starter? If so, you should be able to bottom water and the water will wick up uniformly.
topsoil mix. Thought it came with seed starter, I was wrong. By the time it arrived that's all I had on hand and the time was more important than ordering whatever and having it take another week or two to arrive. I'm not sure about adjusting the humidity with the vents. So far I've just been leaving them halfway open. Figure the plants will respond and tell me if they need something different. There's three vents, one on each side and a big one on top.
I would be happy if the frigging temps would get above the forties more than one day a week. This "stay at home" shit would be great if I could work outdoors and not freeze. It's snowed several times in the last week here.
I said "fuck it" and did some minor yard work yesterday in a small snow squall. Normally it'd be about 60 here, but like everything else in 2020, the weather is being an asshole.
No, I mean the contraption you have for the seeds, not the soil mix. A jiffy seed starter has multiple plastic compartments for soil and seeds sitting in a covered tray. You can add water to the bottom tray and the water is wicked up into the soil. The covering retains humidity and keeps the top from drying out too fast.
We have had some really nice weather here. 68-70F daytime, 48-50f at night. Its borderline too cool at night so I've been moving the baby plants against the house under the deck. I did get my tomatoes in the ground yesterday and I've been hardening the rest of plants off this week. I started extras and listed them for sale, I've got them all pre sold except for a couple pickling cucumbers and yellow squash. I think the tally is up to about $140 which will cover my soil and extra electricity used to start them. It was an interesting exercise to see what sold first and best. I'll take notes for next time.
oh, yeah it's one of these. It has that second tray so it looks like it might work watering from the bottom? Watering twice a day seems to work just as well though, just try to keep the soil moist but not swamped. I have 6 of each veggie so I'll be able to select the strongest looking plants to put in the garden, it's ok if a few don't make it