Sadly, that’s not the case.
Building (or buying) the right shelving
To start, plan your shelving.
The important thing here is to plan for shelving with the right depth and width to accommodate those trays.
Setting up your lights
The biggest mistake I see in amateur seed starting is inadequate light.
Without enough light, seedlings stretch to find it and become leggy and weak.
You want those watts as close to the plants as possible without burning them.
In the setup described above, youll be running lights along the length of the shelves.
If youre running trays the short way, use four lights.
There are certainly other brands, I just havent personally tested them.
Theyll start very low, just over the seed trays, and will get raise as the plants grow.
Shoot for 6 to 8 inches of clearance to avoid burning.
Im sure theres an even more efficient way using pulleys, if you’re feeling crafty.
To trick seeds into sprouting inside, it’s crucial that you heat them without cooking them.
To do this, use heat mats made specifically for this purpose, plus a temperature controller.
Choose heat mats that will cover the shelves without overlapping.
Next, you need a meter that ensures the soil won’t get too hot or cold.
It’s important to consider that different seeds need different size cells.
Over time, youll figure out what you need.
Many companies produce these plastic 1020 seed trays, and youve likely encountered them at the nursery.
Generally, those are single-use plastic that disintegrate in the sun and create a lot of waste.
This way, the seedlings can wick up only the water they need.
Finally, you need a dome on the trays during the germination stage.
You’ll remove these once the tray has germinated.
Neversink sells these as well, but you might buy them inexpensively; any will do fine.
The breeze helps strengthen the stems of these plants and moves air around.Any small clip-on fan will do.
