Seed Starting 2010 Round 1 Scorecard

It has been 2 weeks since I started my seeds for the 2010 growing season (see this blog entry).The picture above shows my APS units under the Grow Light. I started the Grow Lights turned on at 10 hours per day for the first 10 days. In the last 4 days, I turned on the grow lights 24 hours a day so that I could force the last seeds to germinate. Sure enough, half of my seedlings germinated in the last couple of days.

The picture above shows a close up of my seedlings under the Grow Light. The two "tall" seedlings at the left are Charentais plants. The Charentais plants were the first seeds to germinate and they are very close to the bottom of the Grow Light. I need to transplant these two seedlings into another container otherwise the Grow Light will burn the leaves.

The picture below shows the two Charentais seedlings in a 6 inch round container. To the left of the Charentais plants is a Sun Gold Cherry Tomato seedling in a 4 inch square container.

So how did well did the seeds germinate?

Well, the Winter Melons (57% germination) and Charentais (50%) did well. The Cherry Tomatoes (8%) and Thai Chili Pepper (0%) did poorly.

The Winter Melons and Charentais were in APS-6 units (6 cells per unit), while the Cherry Tomato and the Thai Chili Pepper were in the APS-24 unit (24 cells per unit).

Last year (see this blog entry), I got a 42% germination rate from my APS-24 unit, so I must have done something wrong this year with the APS-24 unit.

The APS-24 unit is shorter than the APS-6 unit. Last year, I elevated the APS-24 unit by a few inches to bring it closer to the Grow Light. This year, I did not do this, so it is possible that the soil temperature was not warm enough to enable the seed to germinate.

I am going to try again with the APS-24 unit and elevate it like I did last year.

The table above shows what I am putting in my APS units for my 2nd attempt at seed starting. New means I put new seed in the cell and old means that there is a seedling from the 1st round already growing in the cell.

For the APS-24, all of the cells have new seeds, and all 4 cells in a row have the same seed type.

The picture above shows the APS units after I had put in the new seed and potting mix.

How much does it cost to run a Grow Light?

My Grow Light enables me to start my seeds two to three months earlier than I would otherwise.  This means that I can eat Cherry Tomatoes in May and have bigger size Winter Melons and Pumpkins.

However, the Grow Light is cheap.  In addition to a couple of hundred dollars it cost me to buy my Grow Light system (4 T5 bulbs, each 4 feet long) ,  there is also the monthly charge for electricty.  After a very short while, the monthly costs can quickly exceed the original cost of the Grow Light.

Using a device called the Kill-A-Watt , I can measure how much electricty my Grow Light uses. 

When I connected the Grow Light to the Kill-A-Watt, I found the Grow Light costs $0.0483 per hour to run.  That's less than a nickel an hour.  That may not seem like a lot, but if I were to run the Grow Light for 24 hours per day, 7 days a week, it would cost me $34.78 a month or $423 a year!!!

I only leave the Grow Light on for 12 hours a day (6:30pm to 6:30am)  and I only use it in January and February,  so my annual cost is only $34.78.  Once March comes, I can put the seeds outside and they germinate just fine.   Similarly, I can put the seedlings outside in March without any problems.

There are also cheaper ways to run the Grow Light.  I could have gone with 2 bulbs and/or with 2 foot long bulbs.  This would have cut my monthly cost down by 50% to 75%.  

Alternatively, I could forego the Grow Light and just buy Cherry Tomato plants from the local nursery and start the Winter Melon and Pumpkin seeds in March.  But I find that the local nurseries don't stock the Cherry Tomato plants that my family likes to eat and I like having huge Winter Melons and Pumpkins.  I am willing to pay $35 a year for that luxury.  Of course, if I hadn't already spent the money on the Grow Light, I might feel differently.

Seedlings Under Grow Light

This is a picture of the seedlings under the grow light.  Both of the APS-6 units have been removed and all of the seedlings are in 6 inch round containers.  

Cherry Tomato Seedling Update

The Cherry Tomato seedlings are growing.   They have tripled in size in the 6 days since I have transplanted them into the APS-6 unit (compare the top and bottom on the picture to the right).  

However, the seedlings are leggy.  See how high the leaves are from the soil mixture.  

At the rate the seedlings are growing, they will reach the bottom of the grow light in a couple of days.  So, I needed to transplant them into a different container.

I use 6 inch diameter round containers as my next stage.  These containers require me to water the seedlings on a daily basis.  The APS-6 (and APS-24) have a capillary mat and water source, so I just need to keep the water tray filled to an adequate level every few days.

 One advantage of transplanting the seedlings again is that I can bury the seedlings under more soil.  This makes the seedlings less leggy and encourages deeper roots, which will make the plants healthier in the long run.

I need to start hardening off the plants soon. Unfortunately, it has rained the entire day and the forecast is for more rain in Southern California in the next week.