starter plants for the new year

[Nainoa]

this is going to be quite a project if i do it correctly as you say. i want to do this right. take a lot more pride in the achivement from the seed up. {kind of like building my own smokehouse}. would i be better off going to a nursery this year and buying their plants and putting them in the ground and start collecting the "tools of the trade" as you describe this year and getting my room set up properly for the following year? also, what type of lettuce would you recomend in this area to grow? good luck.

What I would do (And did) when I was in your shoes... Is start out with some Heirloom tomato seeds... Before I found my set and just started keeping my own seeds, I would buy my seeds from Tomato Fest . com and Southern exposure seed exchange.

Tomatoes are more forgiving than peppers... If you make a mistake and they start to get leggy... You can just pot the tomato deeper and it will sprout new roots from the stem.

Then you can just buy some peppers... Get the art of "Growing Peppers" down... Then next year you can start Germinating peppers and add to the experience with the tomatoes.

After much expiramentation my Heirloom tomato playlist is:

San Marzano

Brandywine

Rosalita

Black Cherry

Black Krim

Glacier

My Black Krims and Glaciers JUST started emerging a couple of hours ago!

[reinhard1]

thanks. so much good information. i will take your advice with the seeds and the web site. hopefully they will have the lettuce seeds as mentioed above. i told my daughters to let me know by this weekend what they want for part of the garden. thank you again. good luck.

[Big-Al]

I started mine tomatoes and peppers last year about Feb 20 and put them in the ground about the 25th of May. The tomatoes were fine but the peppers (the most exotic I had was habenero and paper lantern) were a bit larger than I like for transplanting so I backed off this year and started them early this week. I think there is time with good grow lights and heating pads.

[Swimmer]

[Nainoa]

thanks. so much good information. i will take your advice with the seeds and the web site. hopefully they will have the lettuce seeds as mentioed above. i told my daughters to let me know by this weekend what they want for part of the garden. thank you again. good luck.

Oh... Sorry... I missed the lettuce question...

Personally I've gotten tired of the time and effort it takes to grow "Head" lettuces.

While I've had great success with an heirloom variety of Romain called "Cosmo" (Which has less propensity to bolt to seed... Which bolting ruins lettuce)

I have to say that the most bang for the buck is to get a musclun greens / Spring mix packet... You can get 2 some times 3 harvest out of it if you just cut it back to a point where half an inch of the original leaf is left.

And then I'll augment with good old fashioned spinach.

[reinhard1]

thank you. my notebook is getting full of great info. we use a lot of lettuce at home. good luck.

[Nainoa]

thank you. my notebook is getting full of great info. we use a lot of lettuce at home. good luck.

Not sure if I mentioned this or not...

2 things to read in young tomato seedlings... If you see purple forming under the leaves... They need more phospherous (The Leaves are outgrowing the roots) Get "Bloom Plus" fertilizer or any fertilizer that has a large 2nd number.

I just give a light amount of this once a week once they have strongly established their first true leaves.

If you notice yellow forming on the leaves in between the veins, it means you're over watering an/or they need more magnesium... Add a T of epsom salt to a gallon of water.

[reinhard1]

you are giving me and all who read these posts valuable information. thanks. i write this down as i get it. thanks again. good luck.

[Nainoa]

you are giving me and all who read these posts valuable information. thanks. i write this down as i get it. thanks again. good luck.

No problem... When I'm not grinding away at my day job getting a small fishing magazine off the ground, I'm working my seedling service and writing a rustic cook book; Half of which features a "From Planting to Plate" section of recipes that helps the average joe learn how to plant, grow, cook and preserve/can.

So making sure I can effectively communicate this stuff, is great practice etc...

[luckycrank]

I finally purchased some lights today all though I did not see the term full spectrum when selecting. I eneded up purchasing sylvania 40w grolux bulbs

Although I have never used them before.I'll try it based on a couple things i read here

my tomatoes did end up leggy last spring. probally do to the fact I have a 3 season all glass porch which was used for growning. problem was the porch is on the west side of my house. causing my plants to lean to the south because more light came there than the north.

they also became difficult to stake because the stalks where skinny and they where heavily fruited. I ended up loosing a few.

live and learn come to mind.

[Nainoa]

I finally purchased some lights today all though I did not see the term full spectrum when selecting. I eneded up purchasing sylvania 40w grolux bulbs

Although I have never used them before.I'll try it based on a couple things i read here

my tomatoes did end up leggy last spring. probally do to the fact I have a 3 season all glass porch which was used for growning. problem was the porch is on the west side of my house. causing my plants to lean to the south because more light came there than the north.

they also became difficult to stake because the stalks where skinny and they where heavily fruited. I ended up loosing a few.

live and learn come to mind.

Yeah actually the number one thing that plants want is South Eastern Face... They ache for the light over night and will lean toward the first photon they can get.

Is there the word "Daylight" in your bulbs?

When it comes to the stalks...

-Lightly brush the tops of the plants each day

-Blow a fan on them lightly for an hour or two each day

-Let the seedlings experience a soil temp in the mid 50's each night

-When you plant them, plant them a couple of inches deeper... The stalks on tomato plants will grow new roots.

[luckycrank]

tube it came in reads stimulates plants that thrive in direct sunlight

grolux/aqaurium wide spectrum lamp

[Nainoa]

tube it came in reads stimulates plants that thrive in direct sunlight

grolux/aqaurium wide spectrum lamp

Yeah that should work... Probably just a different brand than I'm used to.

[soldoncass]

Nainoa, How far are you from St. Cloud area? Thanks

[Nainoa]

Nainoa, How far are you from St. Cloud area? Thanks

I could bike to the St. Cloud City Limits in a matter of minutes etc...

[soldoncass]

Last year I tried to start my own tomato seeds....without much luck..... I think I will just buy some this year. Would you e-mail me please....dchunter46athotmaildotcom. Put tomato in the subject line, so I don't delete it with my "junk". Thanks.

[croixflats]

Dang! This year I am using some water bed heaters for keeping the soil warm while germinating tomato seeds. Well I waited till last Saturday to start them and this morning they are already sprouted, that was fast.Those heaters are nice kept the soil at a constant 75 degrees, I constantly checked the soil with a digital thermometer at the beginning making sure there was not going to be a period of a spiked temperature which did not happen.

I went over board on the tomatoes again. Oh well looks like people will get free tomatoes again this year.

[Nainoa]

Dang! This year I am using some water bed heaters for keeping the soil warm while germinating tomato seeds. Well I waited till last Saturday to start them and this morning they are already sprouted, that was fast.Those heaters are nice kept the soil at a constant 75 degrees, I constantly checked the soil with a digital thermometer at the beginning making sure there was not going to be a period of a spiked temperature which did not happen.

I went over board on the tomatoes again. Oh well looks like people will get free tomatoes again this year.

Yeah I'm having a similar situation with my peppers... Because I've been saving my own seeds I've been selecting faster growing peppers etc... And then add in the improved bed heaters... And all of a sudden now I've got some poblano, Jalapeno and Aji Dulce peppers that are the same size now that they normally are on May 1st!

This is going to be really out of hand by planting time!

[luckycrank]

sounds like I need to get a seed heater I still have some brandy wines and bell peppers I planted the 8th that have not sprouted yet

[luckycrank]

Not sure if I mentioned this or not...

2 things to read in young tomato seedlings... If you see purple forming under the leaves... They need more phospherous (The Leaves are outgrowing the roots) Get "Bloom Plus" fertilizer or any fertilizer that has a large 2nd number.

I just give a light amount of this once a week once they have strongly established their first true leaves.

is it advisable to wait for true leaves to develope or can it be at the cotyledon stage ?

If you notice yellow forming on the leaves in between the veins, it means you're over watering an/or they need more magnesium... Add a T of epsom salt to a gallon of water.