Tips for Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors

Starting vegetable seeds indoors? Here are a few tips:

1. Don’t start your seeds too early! The plants will become too large and won’t adapt well once they are planted outside. Pepper seeds should be planted now. Tomato and Eggplant seeds should be started in mid-April. Cucumbers, squash and melons should not be started until late April (or they can be direct seeded outdoors in late May).
2. If you use a heat mat for starting seeds, the seeds will germinate faster. Heat mats are available from most seed companies.
3. Indoor seedlings need supplemental light. A sunny window will not do! At this time of year the sun is not consistently bright enough and the day length is too short. As soon as your seeds begin to germinate, put them under a fluorescent light (a shop light will do- you do not have to buy special grow lights). The light should be positioned 4 to 6 inches above the tops of the seedlings. Put the light on a timer so that it is on for 14 to 16 hours per day.
4. If possible, water your seed containers from the bottom by placing them in a tray and then adding water to the tray. After about 30 minutes pour off any remaining water. Do not let the planting containers sit in water!
5. Once the seedlings develop a set of fully mature leaves (these are the true leaves that develop after the first set of leaves that emerge from the seed) you can begin fertilizing them with a water soluble fertilizer (Miracle-Gro, fish emulsion) at HALF the recommended rate.