How to Plant Seeds For Indoor Seed Starting | Video | joegardener® (2024)

FAQs

How many seeds to plant when starting indoors? ›

Add one seed to each pot or cell. Use the crease of the seed packet or place seeds in a creased piece of paper to help direct the seeds where you want them to go. Sometimes not every seed will germinate. To increase your chances of success, add 2-3 seeds to each pot and thin out the extras once everything has sprouted.

Mid-March is the best time to start many vegetables and annual flowers indoors for transplanting outside once the threat of frost has passed.

Planting seeds this way is called direct sowing, and it is an easy process that yields great results. Unlike indoor seed starting, direct sowing involves unpredictable elements: weather, wildlife and insects. Even so, many vegetables, annuals, herbs and perennials sprout easily from seed sown directly into garden soil.

Almost all seeds can be pre-soaked, but it is large seeds, seeds with thick coats and wrinkled seeds that will benefit most. Small seeds benefit less and are difficult to handle when wet. Examples of seeds that benefit from soaking include peas, beets, cucumber, corn, squash, pumpkin and beans.

In general, seeds will not need light until they emerge. Once your seedlings begin poking through the soil, they will start to straighten up and unfurl.

Until seeds have sprouted, keep the seed bed moist, never allowing it to dry out. Water with a fine-spray hose nozzle or watering can which will provide a fine misty spray and not wash away the soil. Water often enough (usually about once a day) so that the soil surface never dries out, but remains constantly moist.

After seeds have sprouted, watering from above with any force is likely to knock over the fragile seedlings. This is why it's best to use a mister. With a mister or spray bottle, you have to be willing to check on your baby plants at 2x a day to make sure they don't dry out.

April is a great time to start to sow your flowers indoors so they can be ready for summer blooms!

But, starting your seeds too soon is still a problem. How? Seeds sown too early will result in bigger plants which then need to be potted up into bigger containers which quickly take over your seed starting area/house and cost you more money is potting soil, organic fertilizer and pots.

Sow seeds early in the morning so the water has enough time to permeate the soil and get warm throughout the day. You can do it in the evening but make sure the seed flats stay warm overnight. Keep sown seeds away from direct sunlight and keep at a temperature of 75F-90F degrees—double check for specific seeds.

Should soil be wet when planting seeds? ›

For seeds to germinate, you need to keep the growing soil damp but not too wet. Learning how to water seedlings is pivotal for success. Many seed starters cover the container to keep soil moist until seeds germinate. Once seeds sprout, do not miss a watering.

The coarser texture of the potting soil or the garden soil may inhibit growth by not providing the correct amount of continuous moisture. However, after the tomato plants grow into healthy young plants, say in a seed starting soilless mix, you can then start transplanting your seeds into your choice of potting soils.

Planting and growing seeds indoors. Sow fresh seeds individually into each container according to package directions. If you are unsure about seeding depth, a rule of thumb is to plant a seed four times as deep as its width. Plant a seed deeply enough that three more seeds could be placed directly above it.

The natural light from a window is seldom enough for good, strong seedling growth. They will usually stretch and lean towards the light and will not produce sturdy plants. Sowing seeds indoors under fluorescent lights is the easiest way for the home gardener to control growing conditions and grow healthy transplants.

One important thing to keep in mind: Not all seeds need a heat mat. Many cold-hardy crops such as lettuce, spinach, and peas will germinate just fine at room temperature. In fact, they might not germinate at all if the soil is too warm!

The rule of thumb is to plant seeds at a depth equal to two or three times their width. It is better to plant seeds too shallow than too deep. Some seeds, such as certain Lettuces or Snapdragon, need light to germinate and should not be covered at all.

Seedlings should be watered between twice a day to every two days depending on how fast the soil dries out and how much water the seedlings absorb. There is no hard-and-fast rule about watering frequency; instead, learn how to check when seedlings need watering.