by Mark Levisay
It’s been two weeks since I planted my first seeds indoors under my new LED lights and I thought I’d give a quick update on the progress so far. Basically all of the seeds have germinated, though I’m still hoping to see a couple more vincas show up that haven’t poked through yet. I planted three varieties of lettuce and they were the fastest to germinate-all in 4-6 days.
A 6-pack of lettuce seedlings. The two on the left are “New Red Fire” and already show some of their red coloration.
Since they germinate quickly they are also the first to display the adult leaves. I am pleased to see that the seedlings are growing low to the soil and in a very compact manner. This indicates that my new lights are giving them plenty of light for optimal growth. In dim light the seedlings would be tall and spindly, growing toward whatever light they could find.
Starfighter leaf lettuce seedling.
Now that the lettuce have started to produce their adult leaves I’ll begin to fertilize them, since the seed starter soil doesn’t contain any fertilizer of its own. This week I’ll add a small amount of a liquid soluble fertilizer (ex. Miracle Gro) to my watering can, and water the lettuce plants with that. I won’t begin to fertilize the pepper or vinca seedlings until they start to display their adult leaves.
Two pepper seedlings.
The peppers and vinca seeds took almost two weeks to germinate, though some started to appear about ten days after planting. I usually plant two seeds in each starter cup, and as you can see in the photo, both have germinated. I’ll wait about a week, until all of the seedlings have emerged, and then thin the seedlings, leaving the strongest one in each cup.
Vinca seedlings.
Unlike the peppers, when I have two vinca seedlings in a cup, I’ll let both seedlings grow. These plants won’t grow nearly as big as the pepper plants, and my wife will either plant the resultant “twin” as it is or split them at planting time.
If you’ve planted multiple seeds in your starter cups, and a few haven’t come up, this is a good time to move some around. I use a pocket knife to dig a narrow but deep hole in the empty cup, and then “prick out” one of the multiple seedlings from another cup. Insert the seedling’s long tap root down into the hole, press the soil in around it, and water well. This way you can have at least one seedling in each cup.
Now that we’re at the mid-point of February, it’s time to start thinking about planting brassica seeds for planting out in the garden in early April. Cabbage and broccoli seeds germinate quickly, but will take 4-6 weeks to mature indoors. Then plan for a week of hardening off outside before actually planting in the garden.
March is the time to start tomatoes, basil and peppers
It’s still not time yet to plant warm season seeds like tomatoes and basil, or most peppers. Early March is a good time to plant pepper seeds, as they take almost 2 weeks to germinate and about 6 weeks to mature indoors. Basil is similar, though they germinate more quickly but take longer to mature. Tomatoes germinate in a week or less, but still require 4-5 weeks of indoor growth before hardening off. Start those seeds in mid-March, with a goal of having them hardened off and planted in the garden around the middle of May, after our average last frost date.
Any questions, e-mail me at marklevisay@gmail.com Good luck!