Seed starting indoors

In an effort to grow more sooner I recently purchased a heat mat and seed starter kit. The heat mat helps regulate the soil to the correct temperature required for germination. The plastic dome over the seedlings helps regulate temperature and humidity.

It holds 72 seedlings and fits the heat mat perfectly. The above picture was taken approximately 5-7 days after planting. The column A and column G where both squash/pumpkin vines. I've labeled each row to easily identify each seed/plant. I've also documented on a journal what date each were planted and their germination times.

This picture was taken 3 weeks after planting. I've already transferred the pumpkin/squash vines and the 6 packs in the foreground are tomatoes and peppers. I'm using a tupperware container to make sure I don't spread soil and water all over my living room.

The two lights I am using were bought at Home Depot. Each was $50 and came with the chain and hooks to hang and are made just for seed starting. I built the support using a couple of pieces of wood. I've set the lights to turn on and off with a timer letting them get 18+ hours of light and about 6 hours of darkness. I've set them up to run the lights at night that way the cool evening temperatures are combated by the warmth of the lights.

You can also see the cord for the heat mat under the seedlings in the photo. This is my first time trying growing indoors with lights and heat mats. I have to say I'm rather surprised at how quickly and easily I set this up and how quickly I saw results.

Comments

Topping your early pepper plants

So I know you are going to think why would I want to cut the tops off my young pepper plant? Won't it die? Won't it hurt the plant? Take this example above of this young Shishito pepper plant. Now you can see with my snips I am about to cut just the top section of the leaves. Below the cut area I still have three levels of leaves. I don't recommend cutting your plant if it only has one set of leaves. Only perform topping when there are more than one set, preferably multiple leave layers. The cut will force growth back to the lower levels making your plant more stable with more lower branches as well produce more fruit. One stalk will be unstable when fruiting and limit production but the topping will add more layers and depth to your plant. This topping exercise can be performed more than once to help make a more dense plant. Some will even go so far as to remove flowers to help the plant grow larger or stronger before producing peppers.

Pest Control. My methods of extermination.(Gophers mainly)

So if you've seen some of my past posts you know that I've had encounters with possums and raccoons in my backyard garden. I've trapped 3 raccoons and eliminated 2 possums but gophers had been a problem in the past I wasn't really willing to tackle. At least until recently. The gophers in my backyard alley were ruining plants and soil everywhere. I'd had enough. So after some serious research I chose my weapon. A Victor Black Box Gopher trap. The amazon reviews were great and it was under $15. Now as you see the trap here it's set and ready to go. You would just point that end (the open end) towards an open tunnel. It works like a reverse mouse trap, instead of pinning a rodent down it pulls them up and pins them to the roof of the trap. The trigger is that coat hanger looking metal piece in the middle. It packs quite a punch when triggered. Now you can't just look for an open hole and stick it in front of it. I watched YouTube for about an ho...

Tomatillo stages

Just a few shots of my juvenile tomatillo plants. Above is what the tiny tomatillo starts out like. It will quickly grow and expand out. It's good to have some kind of netting, fencing or string because the stalks of the tomatillos tend to weaken with the rising weight of ripening tomatillos. I used some clothesline to help guide my young plant towards my fence in hopes that I can weave branches for structure. I think the smaller plant may be a purple tomatillo plant. It would be a welcomed color change from all the greens and yellows.

Cardiff Garden Blog

Search This Blog