How To Grow Seeds Indoors

I'm just a simple gardener and certainly there are better methods out there, but this is how I made due on little space and little $$ a few years back, and my plants grew just fine.
The pics are awful because they were taken pre-blogging days and not intended to share. But you'll get the idea. I turned off the over head lights when taking the pics to better show the light distribution from the grow lights.
This method is using seedling trays with inserts. Notice my trays are not solid bottoms...that's because I never watered over head...I would dunk these into a fertilizer solution and allow the cells to float on top. As the soil imbibed and the cells began to sink ( several minutes ) I would pull the tray out and throw in another.
In our last home I grew these in the laundry room. I just made the frames from cheap lumber to hang the lights off. A couple of years before that, I started seeds in the guest bedroom in an apartment. I used inexpensive industrial wood shelving and hung the shop lights off that.
**TIP** I used one cool bulb and one warm bulb to mimic a full spectrum of light raising the light as the seedlings grew. I also had the light on a timer to simulate the longer days of spring.
Plastic trays and clear domes. The reason some are covered and others are not is because different seeds were started at different times
A close look at the trays, all you need is a little counter room to get started.
My fertilizer solution for feeding and watering was just kept in plastic bins
An old pic of my apartment days, lol...but just to show how a small space can grow hundreds of seedlings!
The lights were lowered when the seed trays were under them.
Sow and Dipity
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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  • Sow and Dipity Sow and Dipity on Feb 22, 2013
    Hi @Gayle wilson, yes I have done cutting propagation...but this can be tricky depending on the plant. Coleus is one I recommend for beginner's if you wish to give it try :)
  • Michael Swanepoel Michael Swanepoel on Mar 30, 2018

    this is obviously for the 420 readers.

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