Quote:
Originally Posted by bower
If I had lots of space and wanted to save time, I would probably go direct from mass germination in big cells right into pots. I have to do mass germination, limited space on heat mat.  |
Most of the time, not all of the time, I toss my seeds into moist coffee filters and baggies. I place numerous labeled baggies in a 1020 tray on top of my room heating unit with several spacers (about 85F at that location). I don't think I've ever tried more than 20 seeds of one variety per filter, but you could probably do 50. The nice thing is that you could literally do 1000 seeds or much more in one 1020 tray and only waste soil space on the ones that germinate.
Dedicating space for a plug tray for germinating is not the most efficient use of that space (or heat), especially in the Spring when you need the space to start other things.
I think once the cotyledons are fully out, the plants can tolerate a cooler location. My house is a 68-70 normally so I haven't experimented with the 50F growing range yet.
But the point is, you really only need a very small space for germination. After that, additional space is dedicated only to sprouted seeds and that requires some pre-planning.