Indoor Seed Starting Set Up

It's that time of the year to start some seeds indoors (at least in my neck of the woods). Over the years my indoor seed starting set up has slowly evolved... and hopefully, improved. Here I would like to share my current set up.

At one point in time I built a wooden seed starting shelf. It was out of scrap wood. It was an eyesore. It did it's job, but it wasn't the best. For one thing, it took up a lot of space in storage. I also hadn't thought about the prospect of adjustable shelves (a lesson learned one year, when I accidentally planted tomato seeds too early and the seedlings had outgrown the shelf several weeks before they could be planted out). Thankfully, I've since moved on from that crude slapdash set up.

I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out, but a simple wire shelf unit did the trick. This chrome wire shelf was purchased at Lowe's... they are uncomplicated and usually fairly inexpensive (under $70 or so). They are amazingly easy to put together, requiring no tools at all. I think it takes me a leisurely ten or fifteen minutes to get it assembled. Thus, they are also simple to take apart and store easily. They have a clean appearance... which isn't something you think about until you realize that the thing is going to be taking up space in your house for months on end. The shelf heights are adjustable. There are probably all sorts of sizes out there, but the one I am currently using is 48" wide, 18" deep, and 72" high. (There are ones now that are 48" wide and 24" deep, the dimensions work even better as far as accommodating the seed trays and the shoplights). Two standard seed trays will per shelf, three if you set them in diagonally, or four if you really want to push the reach of your lighting set up.

For the lighting I use very basic shop lights that are 48" wide and hold two bulbs. I can hang three shop lights per shelf. As you can see in the picture above, there are two different colored florescent bulbs being used... I am sure there are differing opinions on this, but the idea is to mimic a full spectrum of light. In my cheapo set up, I achieve this by having one bulb from the coolest and one from the warmest range of florescent lights. I'm sure this technology is pretty crude, but it's what I've been using for many many years and it seems to work well enough.

The wire shelving comes with the advantage of being super easy in hanging the shop lights via chains. Combined with some small 'S' hooks, this makes adjusting the height of the lights fairly effortless. Adjustability is a MUST. As the seedlings gain momentum in their growth, you may be adjusting the height of the lights quite regularly.

Seed trays are pretty standard in size from what I've noticed. You can get ones where there is an insert for the tray that is one giant thing of 50 cells, but I prefer smaller cell sections like these six packs. I've tried the larger cell count before and just found it a lot more difficult to use when it came time to transplanting. In the picture above you can see that there are different sizes of six packs, and that's sort of up to you what you prefer. 

The cells are what you put the soil in and it keeps the seedlings separated from each other. The plastic tray you arrange the six packs of cells in gives you an easy to move unit that will hold any dripping water/allow you to fill the tray with water as a watering method for the plants.

I very highly recommend the use of heating mats. The ones I have are made by Hydro Farm. They are $21-25.00 and are totally worth it in my opinion. It really speeds up seed germination and some plants need a little extra warmth in general (such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant etc) in order to thrive. I leave them plugged in all the time for my tomatoes.

Do you want spindly plants? So lanky they will flop right over? Don't want a stem strong enough to support itself? Then keep your lights high... keep raising them like crazy- and feel the disappointment!

However, if you want stocky and healthy growth... keep the lights low! As low as possible to the plants. I know it seems crazy, but I cannot stress this enough. 

I keep my lights so low they are essentially touching the seedlings. I raise the lights as needed, of course. I have found that if you are too eager to raise the height of the lights, the plants will stretch themselves out too quickly. You ideally want compact, sturdy growth. If your seedling has over a one inch stem, but doesn't have any true leaves yet... you might want to think of just starting over in my opinion. Lankiness in seedlings is no good. Keep the lights as low as you can and raise them slowly in the beginning. Remember this is an artificial growing environment. These florescent lights are nothing compared to the power of the sun and you have to compensate by keeping the lights as close the those little plants as possible. For those feeling concerned about burning the plants: florescent lights do give off some heat, but I've never found it to be enough to burn my plants or dry them out significantly.

Keep the lights close to the seedlings so they do not grow spindly.

Use a timer.

Preferably something built into a power strip. You might have to get creative. Plants need a period of darkness, just as much as they need light. You do not want lights on 24/7. For artificial lights, you need about 16 hours or so a day of them being on. I think the general rule is taking the amount of daylight the plant could get outside (typically around 6-8 hours) and doubling it. 

A lot of the plants I start indoors are recommended to be started indoors 6-8 weeks before the average last frost date (traditionally Memorial day for my area). Can you imagine 6-8 weeks of tying to remember to turn your lights on and off every single day? Get a timer. Save your sanity.

Needless to say, I end up with a lot of cords all over the place. I'm not super organized about it. However, it's something worth keeping in mind if you have kids, to make sure you keep things safe for them, or put your seed starting shelf in a space where they don't have access to all this cord craziness. If using an extension cord, like I do, make sure it's a heavier type like 12 gauge (This is the one I use). It will be able to handle all the lights a little bit better and it gives me a better peace of mind.