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| Crazy weather brings AWESOME rainbows! |
This year's indoor seed sowing adventures began several weeks ago. Last year was a failure, so I was skeptical about trying it again. Michael saw last year as a learning experience and was determined to try again. So we dug out our grow light lights and our collection of seeds, determined to make this the big year for beautiful plant starts grown in our multi-purpose guest bedroom.
We filled six trays with lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, tomato, pepper, zinnia, and cosmo seeds. Sadly, what should've been the makings of over 400 tiny little plants, became:
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| The Resilient Bunch |
Six struggling tomatoes
Two less than peppy peppers
Eleven happy zinnias
One triumphant cosmo
Add it all up and you get: one giant disappointment. So, for now, at least the crazy weather is buying me a little more time.
Here's what I think went wrong:
Old Seeds
Apparently there's a reason for the date marked on seed packages. The lettuce seed was the oldest in the bunch, and it didn't even sprout. The broccoli, cauliflower, and brussel sprouts were all at least one year old. Yep, our survivors were all from fresh seeds.
Bad Dirt
We used the remainder of last year's starter mix. Dirt is dirt, right? Wrong. We think there was mold in the mix. So, even our freshest seeds were effected.
Light
Maybe too many trays and not enough grow lights? This time, we're going to try using reflectors on each grow light... hoping this will help.
Temperature
We used a space heater during the germination stage. Once we saw sprouts, we turned down the heat (Michael read that this is the thing to do). I think the variation in temperature may have been a factor. This time we'll turn down the heat after germination but keep the heater on a low, consistent temperature.
Water
When we weren't under-watering, we were over-watering. I'm ready for a drip system.
Tips or advice for starting seeds indoors? Yes, please share.
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