INTP Live

Any contributions welcome.

What’s your favorite method for sanitizing seed starting trays each season?

I washed them in my tub last year pretty thoroughly and still lost a whole tray to what I suspect was soap residue.

I haven’t tried a bleach-based method yet.

elfsprin wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 06, 2022 6:46 am

What’s your favorite method for sanitizing seed starting trays each season?

I washed them in my tub last year pretty thoroughly and still lost a whole tray to what I suspect was soap residue.

I haven’t tried a bleach-based method yet.

In my own garden, i don't. never have a problem either.

Love raising things from seed, I am a bit of a kleptomaniac regards seeds and cuttings. I bring things back from all over the place and like trying to grow thinks from fruit I eat. Strange hobby for someone that works in plant research all day, and is on farms all the time but I still enjoy it.

What are you growing?

djm wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 06, 2022 11:01 am

In my own garden, i don't. never have a problem either.

Love raising things from seed, I am a bit of a kleptomaniac regards seeds and cuttings. I bring things back from all over the place and like trying to grow thinks from fruit I eat. Strange hobby for someone that works in plant research all day, and is on farms all the time but I still enjoy it.

What are you growing?

Last year was my first time bothering to do so. Maybe I just won't bother again for a few years.

Growing from cuttings or seeds you've saved randomly is fun. I really enjoy growing unusual things and rare varieties.

I'm growing all the things, as usual. I grow heirlooms/open-pollinated so I save my own seeds as well. I'm keen to get into grafting at some point, but I want to get all my landscaping done first and then maybe build some cold frames and a collapsible greenhouse...

Some pics of parts of my home garden and a giant list of stuff I grow is in the spoiler if you're interested. The list is from last year, copy/pasted from a post I made elsewhere.

If you want to really nerd out I could share more about the varieties I grow. I think last year I grew around 160 different varieties.... yep, 156. I'd certainly be interested in hearing more about what you and others grow as well.

This is second hand (my wife's the gardener), but she just planted seedlings inside since it's about 2 months before planting (last hard freeze hopefully). Tomatoes and their relatives (chilis, eggplants) take a long time to go from seed to harvest, so there's a lot of those. I think she put in some greens as well which are cold hardy and can be planted relatively early for a head start.

The setup is 6 pack planters, about 48 in all in trays on a shelf under grow lights with a space heater nearby to keep the average temp of the soil around 70 so the seeds will germinate. She's using some sort of potting soil that isn't to rich in nutrients - too much nutrients caused the sprouts to get 'leggy' or 'spindly' last year.

As far as seeds go, she buys them online and on sale locally, keeps quite a few varieties and experiments to see what works with our local conditions. She usually plants only one or two of a given variety.

Which lights does she use? I have four different kinds I’ve been experimenting with for the last two years.

I grow my seeds in my furnace room lol. But, it’s an upgrade from growing them in my garage.

I wish I could be starting already, but our last frost date is quite late in Minneapolis. Getting that collapsible greenhouse idea realized could mean growing year round which would be great.

*moans with desire*

Want.

djm thought you might appreciate these. I bought them in like 2009 when I got my first house and started on my quest to grow my own food. Highly rated by me