Seed-starting Basics

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Sixteen hours of light a day is ideal, and you’ll need to use fluorescent lights to provide this much light in the winter. Perhaps you can set up lights on an enclosed porch, or in a basement or spare room. My setup is simple: two sets of double 48-inch tubes topped by metal reflector shades and hung on chains above a counter in the basement. Sometimes I keep the lights on day and night, rotating my seedling collection so each tray receives 13 hours of light daily.

Plants need darkness, too, to use absorbed nutrients for new growth. For most efficient use of the lights, keep the tubes clean and position the plants so their leaves are close to the tubes — no more than 4 inches away. To reflect more light onto the plants, prop mirrors, white glossy boards or pieces of cardboard covered with aluminum foil next to the lights. Special plant-growing lights, with wavelengths especially suited to the purpose, are very effective. I’ve also had good results using one cool-white and one warm-white tube in pairs. (See “Use the Right Light for Seed-Starting Success” for more information on using grow lights. — MOTHER)

DISEASES

The most common disease of young seedlings is damping-off, caused by a fungus that thrives in wet, poorly ventilated places. The main symptom is unmistakable: When an otherwise healthy, green-leafed young plant falls over, you’ll notice the stem at soil level looks pinched.

Prevention is easier than curing: From the start, provide good air circulation and avoid overwatering. Also, top off the soil surfaces around the seedlings with milled sphagnum moss, which contains beneficial bacteria known to inhibit certain plant diseases. If only a few seedlings in a batch are affected, you can sometimes save the rest by removing the affected seedlings, improving drainage and air circulation, and spraying the survivors with chamomile or garlic tea.

HARDENING OFF, PLANTING OUT

It’s a week or two before the safe planting-out date (see map) for your hardier seedlings — first onions, then lettuce, parsley and the cabbage family. It’s time to toughen your new plants to withstand the harsher outdoor conditions. Do this by watering less, keeping them a bit cooler and not fertilizing. Hardening off takes a week or so; it’s when you first set your plants outside but before you put them in the ground. At first, give them a half-day in a sheltered place, gradually work up to full sun and, if a frost warning is issued, cover your tender young plants at night.

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