I've always failed miserably at starting my own plants ...

[turkeyrun]

Planted tomatoes, tomatillos, green beans, carrots, lettuce, bell peppers, eggplant, herbs last week.

BB, have had much better luck with a heat lamp in a clamp-on flood light ($6) than the heating pad. Plants on a shelf in the laundry room. Tried the greenhouse, but plastic wrap and wind don't do well, hope to build one with plexi-glass panel or some such stuff, but it is not high on (her)the priority list.

Most of my seedlings do very well, have lost most because of transplanting too early.

Getting the garden ready now to plant onions and potatoes. Now until mid-May will be planting something on a regular basis. Hope we get some RAIN!!!!!!!!

 

[Mitch Rapp]

Run a fluorescent light and put the plants under it, that is the closest I have seen to daylight. Carnivorous plants are super sensitive to light, as in they need a lot. The light bar I have is a cheap one from Lowes, less than $10 bucks I think and its 6 foot long. I hung it on chains, so I can adjust the height. As long as its not touching the plants, it's not too close. I leave it on 24/7, look for the bulbs with the highest rating, like 6300 lumens or something. I can get really detailed about my setup if people want to know more.

 

[Johnny]

We started all of our pepper seed last weekend. Was gonna wait three weeks to start the tomato seeds.

 

[jakerz]

but I'm gonna try again this year ... I stole GC's heating pad, covered it with a towel, put a couple of 1x1s on it to keep the tray from sitting directly on the heat and started some tomato plants ...

Wish me luck ... Given my track record, I'm gonna need a LOT of it ...

Have any of y'all started any plants yet??

My wife and I have had poor luck with tomato plants (heirloom) starting from seeds. We've had great results with everything else we start from seeds. We use a shop light and try to keep it within 1-2 of the plants. We've noticed that if the lamp is too high, the plants grow tall and skinny and have a hard time when transplanted outside. They are weaker. Anyhow, we haven't started anything yet. We usually wait until February. I plan on scrapping the plant boxes I have now and make something more permanent.

I originally figured a 4'x4'x10" box with a solid bottom (drilled for drainage) would be a great idea so I could move it around if I needed too. Once you put all that dirt in there, it's next to impossible to move. Chalk that one up as a fail. At least I can salvage the high quality dirt and move it to my next design. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Shadowrider]

Run a fluorescent light and put the plants under it, that is the closest I have seen to daylight. Carnivorous plants are super sensitive to light, as in they need a lot. The light bar I have is a cheap one from Lowes, less than $10 bucks I think and its 6 foot long. I hung it on chains, so I can adjust the height. As long as its not touching the plants, it's not too close. I leave it on 24/7, look for the bulbs with the highest rating, like 6300 lumens or something. I can get really detailed about my setup if people want to know more.

I'm doing this! Friggin flys were hell last year. Are the plants available at the home centers? I've never noticed them, but I wasn't looking for them either.

 

[TedKennedy]

Run a fluorescent light and put the plants under it, that is the closest I have seen to daylight. Carnivorous plants are super sensitive to light, as in they need a lot. The light bar I have is a cheap one from Lowes, less than $10 bucks I think and its 6 foot long. I hung it on chains, so I can adjust the height. As long as its not touching the plants, it's not too close. I leave it on 24/7, look for the bulbs with the highest rating, like 6300 lumens or something. I can get really detailed about my setup if people want to know more.

Please detail! I have started my own plants many times, but usually end up with really spindly, skinny plants. (after hardening and transplant, they seem to do fine, but I have to think a healthier start would be better)

 

[Mitch Rapp]

I'm doing this! Friggin flys were hell last year. Are the plants available at the home centers? I've never noticed them, but I wasn't looking for them either.

Some of them are, but a lot of them don't last. Partially due to the plants, mostly due to the care they require.

 

[Mitch Rapp]

Please detail! I have started my own plants many times, but usually end up with really spindly, skinny plants. (after hardening and transplant, they seem to do fine, but I have to think a healthier start would be better)

I'll give some better details when I get home, but basically they need to have dedicated lighting or be getting full sunlight most of the day. The sunlight is nigh impossible unless you plan to move the trays a couple times per day, so dedicated lighting is the easiest way. They are going to need plant food, the starter blocks of peat moss don't have much in the way of nutrients, and any that are there will be eaten away fast even in potting soil that comes with added nutrients, it's too small an area to hold enough food. I feed with a balanced fertilizer like SOME of the miracle grow plant foods once a week or every other day. I say "some" because you need to read the labels, some plants like a lot of nitrogen, like corn, spinach broccoli or other things where what you eat is the green leafy growth. For other plants like squash, tomatoes and plants where you are eating the fruit, you need to have a balance. The main thing on fertilizers for me is just look for the ones with fairly even numbers like this one. The first number in the "analysis" is Nitrogen 18-18-21 for this

http://www.scotts.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-tomato-plant-food/prod70358/


As opposed to this one for grass 36 - 0 - 6
http://www.scotts.com/smg/goprod/miracle-gro-lawn-food/prod70008/

Main thing I have seen, if you use the really nitrogen rich stuff you may get great looking plants, but your flowers and fruit will be lacking. If, even on things that love nitrogen, you feed a balanced food, they will still benefit from all of it.

 

[Mitch Rapp]

Oh, and for lighting I use the 4ft shop light, hung off the wall with brackets, using the supplied chains to hold it up. The chains let you adjust height to keep it just off the plants. Use the brightest bulbs they have. I had to look at the ratings, but don't have it in front of me, I think it was 6300....

The make specific "grow lights" but you won't see much if any benefit over high output regular fluorescent.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Paging, Dr. Greenthumb. BB needs your assistance.