Seed Starting Equipment
Seed Starting for a Vegetable Garden - Equipment and Getting Started
Hello there! Whether you’ve started your seeds already, need advice on where to start, or are looking to learn new ways to do things, I’m here to help on your seed growing journey. I have seen so many questions from people asking where to start, if they need grow lights, and what to do now that they’ve sprouted. There are so many common mistakes, and I’d love to be able to save you time and frustration, and to make your seed starting journey as successful and joyful as possible.
There is a lot to cover, so I have broken this down into multiple parts
Part 1 - equipment and getting started
Part 2 - how to start your seeds
Part 3 - what to do now that they’ve sprouted
Here’s what we’ll cover in part 1 of the seed starting series:
Benefits of starting seeds
Supplies you will need or that I recommend
Feel free to skip the benefits section and go straight to the equipment section (just below) if you already know you want to start seeds.
Before you begin
As we begin, what are some reasons you want to start your plants from seed? What are some of the benefits?
To save money, both on buying starts from the greenhouse, and produce at the grocery store
To grow rare and unique varieties that you can't find at the nursery
To experiment and build your skills (fun hobby!)
A fun activity to do with children
Pleasurable and therapeutic activity
Self-sufficiency and wanting to grow your own food
Want to grow organically start to finish
To share with your family and friends
Whatever your reasons are, most would agree it is a satisfying and joyful experience to grow your food from seed. It’s been a passion of mine since I was little.
If this is your first year gardening, you can most definitely get starts from someone else, like a nursery, friend, or others in your community. If you are really excited and want to jump into starting some seeds indoors, I recommend starting small and with some “easy wins”. You don’t have to start fancy with a bunch of seed-starting equipment or do a bunch of different veggies. I recommend keeping it simple, at least at first. Starting with just a few that you can be successful with is a good way to learn the basics, and then expand from there.
If I were to recommend a few crops for beginners starting indoors from seed
Tomatoes (warm season)
Peppers (warm season)
Kale or swiss chard (cool season)
I talk more about the importance of timing for cool and warm season veggies in Part 2, but to use these as a quick illustration - the kale or chard can be started the first half of March and transplanted the first half of April, and the tomatoes and peppers can be started the second half of March and transplanted near the end of May (for zone 5b/6a/mid-May date of last frost).
To direct sow, or to start indoors?
Something to keep in mind, there are so many varieties of plants that can be started directly in the garden, bypassing the need to spend the time tending them indoors, needing to harden them off, and transplanting. While some can be started indoors, most do better direct sown, for example - peas, squash, and root crops. Some people don't realize this, so just know that you can strategically skip starting some seeds indoors.
Seed Starting Equipment
Here’s a quick list of the supplies you’ll need, some of which are optional. I’ll discuss them below.
Containers to grow in and a way to keep humidity and warmth in while they germinate
Potting mix
Labels
Heat mat
Grow lights
Seeds
Fertilizer
A way to water them
A place to put them
A garden journal or place to record notes
Most of the photos are clickable, and link to the product page of an online retailer that carries the product, though most of the time they can be found in a variety of brick and mortar and online stores.
Containers, trays, and keeping in humidity
There is a lot of flexibility here and options for personal preference based on what you have access to and your budget. There are a lot of ways to get started without spending any money (see the ways to save box below). But another option if you’re starting more than a few would be to get one or more 1020 trays, inserts or pots/containers, and a humidity dome.
1020 trays are called this because they measure roughly 10" x 20". A humidity dome or cover is to keep the warmth and humidity in while the seeds sprout. These are sold together, or separately, and can be found at big box stores, nurseries, and online. The inserts or containers could be biodegradable (will need to be repurchased every year) or plastic. I am not a big fan of the biodegrabale pots. Sometimes they don't break down quickly enough.
I like the modular option of the inserts because you can move them around to different trays for plants that have different germination rates, or different growth rates. For example, it wouldn’t be ideal to start tomatoes and lettuce together in a tray that isn’t modular. They aren’t typically started at the same time, and have very different sizes. A 2” lettuce plant would need to be closer to your light source than a 6” tomato plant. Something to keep in mind when choosing your container sizes is how big do the plants you are growing get when they are the appropriate size to plant them in the garden (imagine roughly the size containers you see them in at nurseries).
If you don't have a humidity dome, you can use plastic wrap.
Want something completely different and very modular, economical, and with zero waste? Look into soil blocking. You can purchase soil blockers and make an unlimited number of soil blocks. There are lots of Youtube videos that can walk you throught the process.
1020 Trays
6-cell insert containers
Peat Pots
Inserts in a 1020 tray with humidity dome
Cups in a 1020 tray
Combo 1020 tray with dome and biodegradable inserts
Soil blocking - click photo for link to Johnny's Seeds
Will I need more than one pot size for plants?
This is a personal preference whether you want to start in the size container you intend to continue in until transplanting into the garden, and depends on whether you want to spend time up-potting. I have a discussion of this in planting methods in Part 2.
There's no need to go out and spend money on specialty seed-starting supplies, especially if you’re just starting. Reused containers you find around your house work great. Some even have built in humidity lids. If they don’t have holes, poke some on the bottom. If they don’t have a clear lid, you can use plastic wrap or some other clear plastic you find around your house.
Egg cartons for small sized plants
Disposable cups
Yogurt, sour cream, or cottage cheese containers
Clear take out containers
Container for strawberries
Salad mix clamshells
Recycled nursery containers
Growing medium
I recommend getting an organic seed starting mix or making your own. There are inexpensive and easy-to-find options out there. These can be coco coir-based or peat moss-based. The photos below are small package sizes if you don’t have a ton of veggies to start. I have personally used the Jiffy and like it. It is very fine. Sometimes I add a little perlite, but it’s not strictly necessary. You can make your own with coco coir, vermiculite or perlite, and worm castings, or skip the worm castings and plan on fertilizing shortly after they sprout.
Use caution if using something not labeled for seed starting. Check for a fine texture and use with caution or avoid it if it uses synthetic fertilizers. The reason is that if in high enough amounts, it can keep your seeds from germinating, or they could get fertilizer burn or weird growth. A benefit of using something specifically for seed starting is that it is better to have a fine mix without a lot of chunky material like wood or large pieces of perlite so that the seeds can easily sprout, and that it has good moisture retention. Do not use garden soil. If you don't have seed starting mix, you can also screen one that isn't marketed for seed starting, or remove chunks woody chunks.
What about the expanding peat pellet trays? Rant warning!
Please skip this section if you’re not considering using peat pellets.
I am not a fan of trays that come with the expanding peat pellets, but I know they are popular for beginners. If this is what you are starting with, no worries! It is fine, and you can certainly make it work. Read on to learn about potential drawbacks and hopefully this will help you avoid some struggles. I prefer to have more control and flexibility over the seed starting process and have supplies I can reuse from one year to the next.
Potential cons
The size is limiting. You will either have to only start small plants (lettuce, greens), or you will need to up-pot into larger containers for things like tomatoes, negating the benefit of having everything neatly in one tray.
This creates more work and the need to find larger containers to transplant them in, and probably an additional tray to hold them in as well.
It tricks people into thinking they can just fill it up with all of the varieties of seeds they have at the same time, regardless of whether they are cool or warm season veggies, or best direct sown. This is a common mistake, though not just with these peat pellets, that leads to unnecessary struggles and compromises your success.
For those that are aware of timing considerations, you may need to plant seeds at different times depending on what you're growing. This means you would have some plants that have sprouted, so you need to remove the humidity dome, but others that haven’t even been planted yet that will need the dome at a later point in time. There would also be the problem of some wanting to be kept warmer than others (for example, with a heat mat).
You may not want to grow in increments of 72, or however many yours comes with.
You’ll have to repurchase the peat pellets every year
In my experience, it is also more expensive per plant. Potting mix is less expensive by volume, and your mix will be able to go further.
Potential pros
Convenient to only have to buy one product (besides labels), but I feel this is only true if you are exclusively growing small starts, all of similar types (like cool season).
Take my opinion with a grain of salt if you like these. Hoping that with this discussion, you can decide if it’ll make your life easier, or just complicate things since you can’t start cool and warm season veggies in the same tray very effectively.
A place to work
Now, of course you can work with whatever you have - a shallow plastic tub, or even just on a table (cover with newspaper for easier clean up), but I wanted to throw this in there for folks that have a lot of seed starting or transplanting to do: a potting tray. I even use this tool for my house plant repotting. It gets a lot of use in my house since it's convenient and easy to work in. Completely not necessary, just wanted to mention it in case it fits your needs. A more inexpensive option are repotting mats like this one.
Labels
You can just sketch on paper when you first plant the seeds to keep track of what is planted where, but eventually you will want to label them. You can go with something you may already have, like crafting popsicle sticks, or buy plastic labels. I do highly recommend a garden marker. I have learned from experience that sharpies fade very fast in the sun, and it’s frustrating when you have a lot of plants (like tomatoes) to lose track of what they are. Frugal hack: you can cut the plastic tags lengthwise to get two out of one, or I have also cut up yogurt and sour cream containers for tags as well.
Heat mat
Optional, but helpful for warm season veggies to encourage them to sprout. It’s good for peppers and helpful for tomatoes. You could also find a sunny window that will warm the soil under your humidity dome, or a warm spot in your house. Cool season veggies don’t need the extra heat to aid in germination, and for some, can even inhibit it. Many cool season veggies and perennials need temperatures in the 60s for best germination, but room temperature is fine. I discuss germination temperatures a bit more in Part 2.
Grow lights
I would consider these important. Even if you just get an inexpensive or second hand grow lights, it’s better than putting your plants in a sunny window (caveat, as long as you have your lights at the right distance above your plants). If a sunny window is all you have and you only have a few seedlings, you can give it a go, but you'll have better results with grow lights. It needs to be a south facing window that gets at least 12 hours of sun, a minimum of 4-6 hours of that direct. I tested out a tray of tomatoes in 2020 this way and it was adequately successful.
Why are grow lights important? They provide sufficient energy to your plants so that they don’t get leggy reaching for the light source. When this happens, it weakens them and they could eventually die.
What I use: Most of the grow lights I use are shop lights with four T8 6500k (daylight) bulbs. Since the shop lights are 4' in length, I can hang them from a large wire shelving unit and fit two 1020 tray side by side and get full coverage.
Here are a couple of basic things you should look for with grow lights:
Lumens: at a minimum, 5k lumens is recommended. The lower the lumens, the closer your lights need to be to your plants.
Kelvin: 5000 to 6500 are required. A lot of LEDs don’t show the kelvin, so this is more useful for fluorescent.
Using my T8 bulbs as an example, the shop light fixture I use holds four light bulbs. They are 6500 kelvin (“daylight”) and have 2600 lumens for each bulb. Lumens are additive, so having several of them puts us way over the minimum of 5k lumens. I will show you the light fixture I use for those interested, but I wouldn’t recommend this setup for beginners, only for those wanting to start a lot of plants. T5 are another common fluorescent option that people use. They are more energy efficient than T8 (LEDs are even more efficient), but can be more expensive.
What about red/blue LED lights versus full spectrum? This is a huge topic, and one that is not my area of expertise. There are lots of YouTube videos out there that have great discussions. Here is one I found particularly useful.
Look on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace for grow lights or seed starting supplies. Ask your local facebook groups (including Buy Nothing Project groups) if anyone has lights they’re not using. Or find someone you could borrow them from. Just ask!
Timer
A timer is useful so that you don’t have to remember to turn your lights off and on. I used to use this mechanical one, but now use this smart plug outlet.
Fan
A fan is helpful to strengthen seedlings and airflow is good at discouraging fungi and mold growth. Keep it far enough away that it is just gently moving the plants. Occilating is best. You can also run your arms across seedlings a couple times a day to help strengthen them. Keep in mind if you're using a fan, your potting mix will dry out faster.
Seeds
There are so many places you can get seeds. A few of my favorites are trading with your friends and family (look for a seed swap in your area), a few Colorado-based companies that carry a wide variety of conventional and organic seeds - Botanical Interests, Lake Valley, and Bounty Beyond Belief. Also Pueblo Seed Co and Miss Penn's Mountain Seeds for a unique selection of seeds (especially tomatoes), grown in Westcliffe, CO. I also have purchased a lot from Fedco and Seed Saver's Exchange, and recommend them as well.
Seed swaps are a great way to get seeds. If there isn't an annual one in your area, you can arrange a casual swap amongst your friends or community! For those who receive SNAP benefits - did you know that seeds that can be grown for food are eligible? How cool is that?! Also, keep using your seed packets from one year to the next! With the exception of a couple of varieties that lose viability quickly (e.g. onions and spinach), most seeds you can use several years after the date on the packet. Another way to save money is to save your seeds from one year to the next.
Fertilizer
I recommend Espoma Start or fish fertilizer. I’ll talk about fertilizing in part 3.
A way to water
Of course, you can use whatever you have on hand to water with, but one of my favorite tools is an eye wash bottle. I LOVE this for watering my seeds in, when they are very small, and for houseplants in small pots. I can target where I want the water to go with minimal displacement of the soil.
A place to keep your plants
You can use any shelves or tables that you have. If you are suspending grow lights, it helps to have a shelf. The one linked is wide enough to hang my 4-foot-wide shop lights on, but this is overkill for most people's needs. If you run out of space inside to keep your seedlings and you are growing cold tolerant varieties, you may be able to use a mini greenhouse and keep the seedlings outside or in a garage. Bring them in though if the temperatures drop too much though (the 40s). This could be used indoors or outdoors. I’m currently using mine indoors.
A place to take notes
Anything will work here, but I do highly recommend keeping notes. This would include some things like sketches of what you planted and where in the tray, dates sown and dates germinated, how many you planted, and how many germinated. I suggest a garden journal or notebook. It really comes in handy to compare notes from one year to the next. If you knew your plants were a little overgrown and stressed when you got them in the ground the year before, you can check the dates you planted your seeds and make adjustments. If you’re not wanting to go old school with paper and pencil, you can take notes in a note app or in google docs. Photos are helpful for record keeping as well.
There you have it! My biggest suggestion would be to start small if you are new to starting seeds. Just the basics - something to grow the seeds in, seeds, and a grow light if you can easily get one. It will help keep you from getting overwhelmed with too many options while you’re still learning and will help increase your success with the ones you do start. If you are a seed starting veteran, I hope you’ve found something interesting here, and if you have any suggestions, let me know!
Meet me in Part 2 where we’ll talk about planting your seeds.