Seed Starting

I'm putting together a seed-starting unit for next spring. Every year, I need about seven full flats of annuals in the gardens, and our local nurseries always have the same old things available. This will give me a lot more latitude on what I add, although some of the old favorites will still make an appearance.



That's the unit, a standard shelf with open gridwork for air and light transmission between the levels. I hung a T12 work lamp on each level, with 2 40 watt bulbs in them. One warm white and one cool white should give a good enough spectrum for seed starting and initial growth. With minimal distance over the sprouts, I should have around 1,000 foot-candles. That's a bit low, but should be workable.

I put aluminum foil behind the unit for additional light reflection. Mylar would probably be better, but I had Reynolds Wrap on-hand!

I've been collecting seeds from the garden for storage. At the moment, I have Melampodium (Showstar), Bonfire salvia (although they probably reproduced with the Red Hot Sally), and French marigold seed (of random colors as I have a wide mix).

Germination testing on the Melampodium is going well. I suspect the others require a dormancy period before testing, so I'll try those in December or January, early enough to order seeds if they fail.