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SueCT · March 13, 2018

I grow 75-100 seedlings/year and give away all but about 15. Many are to people who have never tried to grow a tomato before but would like to try. The most common reasons I see for people failing with purchased plants (or free ones, lol) are not enough sun, planting in containers that are too small or in containers using heavy soil from the ground or bagged soil not potting mix, and poor watering practices. In ground, not preparing a large enough space and just digging a hole in hard ground and putting a plant in it instead of preparing a planting bed.

I disagree with the peat pots and discs. I have found them more difficult to keep evenly moist but not overly wet and the plant roots don't break out of them easily after planting. I used them and found if they dry out once they are difficult to re-wet. I like to use a shallow basin like you might soak your feet in, put in soil starting medium, wet and mix with my hands and let it sit a little while to soak up the water and become evenly moist. Then test it, if at that point it is too wet you can still adjust by adding more soil and mixing it in, if its too dry, add a little more water and mix again. It should be lightly moist not WET, holding together when you queeze it in your hand but not dripping out water.

I use plastic generic dixie size cups like you would use in the bathroom, you can get a bag of 50 or 100 for a dollar or two at Walmart so you don't have to invest in expensive kits to start out. Put your money into buying the correct seed starting soil. I use a nail to put 2 or 3 holes in the bottom of each cup. I can use a long nail and do about 6 cups at one time. Fill each cup, press down lightly, you can write the name of the variety on the side of the cup with a sharpie, again no money spent on things to label with. I never fill it to the top, I leave at least a half inch from soil to top of cup. That way, you have room to water later. Place seeds on top, sprinkle a SMALL amount of damp soil on top of the seed, firm down lightly. Place in a warm spot in the house with a piece of plastic wrap loosely laid on top to keep them damp. Since you haven't put soil all the way to the top the plastic will not touch the soil or seedlings. If they aren't too wet in the first place you won't have trouble with mold. I use a spray bottle with water to keep the tops just damp as needed. I don't water and never bottom water because the soil gets saturated all the way down the cup that makes it too wet, and there are no roots yet to use up that water.
As soon as they sprout, they are removed from under the plastic, and they go under lights that are only about an inch above the plant. I check them usually twice a day to see if any are sprouted. Since they are in individual cups, you don't have to worry about when to move them. You only move the cups as they sprout and leave the ones that have not sprouted yet under the plastic. I put 2-3 seeds in each cup evenly spaced and remove the cup from under the plastic and put it under the light when the first sprout appears in each cup. They usually all end up sprouting, but since I only need one seedling per cup, once I have a seeding I don't worry about the rest and just take care of the seedling.

That is just my method. I ended up buying a heating mat and a thermostat for it but was just as successful before I bought those more expensive items, it just speeds them up a bit and I get a little bit better germination percentage from my seeds.

Let me just also say, you are going to find a ton of different techniques here, all of which are successful. Pick the one that seems most comfortable and simplest for YOU. There is no one RIGHT way. My way was developed over the last 5 years as I learned to start my own seeds. Before that I always bought plants, for maybe 20+ years. So I remember the confusion I had with all the techniques, how it seemed that after buying all the supplies I spent as much as if I bought plants already started, and I wondered if would be worth the extra work. I had questions with the trays, like what do you do when only a few have sprouted, but many have not? Do you keep them under the dome or plastic or move them to under lights? At what point? The germinated plants needed different things than the ungerminated cells.

So that is my advise. If you find another technique more to your liking, go for it. You can always come here to get advise if you run into problems with any technique you use. If you want, once you get the seeds planted, post a picture and see if the experienced people here can make any suggestions to decrease your chance of having problems.

March 13, 2018	#10
SueCT Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Connecticut Posts: 1,460	I grow 75-100 seedlings/year and give away all but about 15. Many are to people who have never tried to grow a tomato before but would like to try. The most common reasons I see for people failing with purchased plants (or free ones, lol) are not enough sun, planting in containers that are too small or in containers using heavy soil from the ground or bagged soil not potting mix, and poor watering practices. In ground, not preparing a large enough space and just digging a hole in hard ground and putting a plant in it instead of preparing a planting bed. I disagree with the peat pots and discs. I have found them more difficult to keep evenly moist but not overly wet and the plant roots don't break out of them easily after planting. I used them and found if they dry out once they are difficult to re-wet. I like to use a shallow basin like you might soak your feet in, put in soil starting medium, wet and mix with my hands and let it sit a little while to soak up the water and become evenly moist. Then test it, if at that point it is too wet you can still adjust by adding more soil and mixing it in, if its too dry, add a little more water and mix again. It should be lightly moist not WET, holding together when you queeze it in your hand but not dripping out water. I use plastic generic dixie size cups like you would use in the bathroom, you can get a bag of 50 or 100 for a dollar or two at Walmart so you don't have to invest in expensive kits to start out. Put your money into buying the correct seed starting soil. I use a nail to put 2 or 3 holes in the bottom of each cup. I can use a long nail and do about 6 cups at one time. Fill each cup, press down lightly, you can write the name of the variety on the side of the cup with a sharpie, again no money spent on things to label with. I never fill it to the top, I leave at least a half inch from soil to top of cup. That way, you have room to water later. Place seeds on top, sprinkle a SMALL amount of damp soil on top of the seed, firm down lightly. Place in a warm spot in the house with a piece of plastic wrap loosely laid on top to keep them damp. Since you haven't put soil all the way to the top the plastic will not touch the soil or seedlings. If they aren't too wet in the first place you won't have trouble with mold. I use a spray bottle with water to keep the tops just damp as needed. I don't water and never bottom water because the soil gets saturated all the way down the cup that makes it too wet, and there are no roots yet to use up that water. As soon as they sprout, they are removed from under the plastic, and they go under lights that are only about an inch above the plant. I check them usually twice a day to see if any are sprouted. Since they are in individual cups, you don't have to worry about when to move them. You only move the cups as they sprout and leave the ones that have not sprouted yet under the plastic. I put 2-3 seeds in each cup evenly spaced and remove the cup from under the plastic and put it under the light when the first sprout appears in each cup. They usually all end up sprouting, but since I only need one seedling per cup, once I have a seeding I don't worry about the rest and just take care of the seedling. That is just my method. I ended up buying a heating mat and a thermostat for it but was just as successful before I bought those more expensive items, it just speeds them up a bit and I get a little bit better germination percentage from my seeds. Let me just also say, you are going to find a ton of different techniques here, all of which are successful. Pick the one that seems most comfortable and simplest for YOU. There is no one RIGHT way. My way was developed over the last 5 years as I learned to start my own seeds. Before that I always bought plants, for maybe 20+ years. So I remember the confusion I had with all the techniques, how it seemed that after buying all the supplies I spent as much as if I bought plants already started, and I wondered if would be worth the extra work. I had questions with the trays, like what do you do when only a few have sprouted, but many have not? Do you keep them under the dome or plastic or move them to under lights? At what point? The germinated plants needed different things than the ungerminated cells. So that is my advise. If you find another technique more to your liking, go for it. You can always come here to get advise if you run into problems with any technique you use. If you want, once you get the seeds planted, post a picture and see if the experienced people here can make any suggestions to decrease your chance of having problems.