It’s the time of year when we all get antsy and propagate seeds for our outdoor garden in the middle of winter because we are trying to manifest an early Spring. There are some basic must-haves and must-knows when starting a garden early indoors. This isn’t wholly specific to garden plant propagation, the content can just as easily and effectively be applied to germinating any seed for indoor or outdoor growth.
Propagation Accessories that help tremendously basically consist of creating a miniature greenhouse for your seedlings. They typically consist of a 10”x20” tray, an insert that you can fill with soil or peat plugs that hold your seeds, and a dome that sits on top to create a miniature greenhouse. The domes typically come in 4in and 7in heights and the ones that you will see at most Hydroponic Supply stores will have vent holes that can be opened and closed. The same trays are used to grow Microgreens and the bottom trays can also hold x18 square pots for teenage and more mature plants. There are 10”x20” trays that come with holes as well, which is incredibly handy when housing teenage plants outdoors. If they get rained on the holes allow for drainage which prevents the plants from flooding.
Heat Mats are an essential garden accessory if you want to have the best success germinating seeds. They sit underneath the propagation station. The mat will heat the water in the tray to create a humid environment for your seeds, it’ll promote root growth and keep the seeds from drying out as they start to sprout. During the summer months, the ambient temperature of your house or greenhouse is usually warm enough to promote seed sprouting without the aid of the heating mats. The mats get warm and they can attach to a temperature regulator that can control the heat output. An easy trick if you think that you need less heat is to just put a piece of cardboard or a small buffer between the tray and the mat. You can also opt to take the tray off of the mat for a while each day. Once the seeds have sprouted and can handle the light without the aid of the dome or if they have a healthy root zone when you lift the insert to look at the bottoms of your plants, you can remove the heat mat from the bottom of the tray.
A hand spray bottle, though simple, is an incredibly nice tool to have when watering your seedlings. They can be delicate as new sprouts and they can sink and drown as seeds, misting your plants is one of the best watering methods when propagating. It can help prevent your soil from getting washed out and it will help keep your growing medium moist without over-watering and drowning your seeds or sprouts. It also has the added benefit of adding humidity to the domed environment. The spray bottle will also allow you the option of adding certain fertilizers and nutrients to your water as your plants mature and foliar spraying your plants to keep them healthy and thriving. Even later, once your plants are transplanted into the ground or a larger container, you will have the option of using the spray bottle to apply pesticides to your plants in their mature stages of life.
This is generally common knowledge, but the last component to a successful propagation environment is lighting.
The sun is not in the sky long enough during the winter months to have the easiest success in a windowsill or sunroom. Seeds will typically respond to indoor supplementary garden lighting that is on constantly. The lighting doesn’t have to be strong, but they do benefit from high-wattage lights. This is a common question in the shop and this is a good opportunity to address it. How much light do seeds need to germinate? Typically this is confused with the proper lighting that a clone needs to successfully create roots, which is incredibly little, 15 watts or less at close distance is plenty. Higher wattage lights will drastically diminish success rates when cloning plants. Seeds, however, thrive under high-wattage lights at close distances. They can actually become damaged and flimsy with dim lighting. When they sprout, they will begin to immediately stretch to find the light source, if your light is too far away you will see a lot of stretching of the stem with very small leaves. If you have ever germinated a seed and had it grow quickly, fall over, and even break at the base of the stem, that is the culprit. Seeds can withstand the wattage of the Sun and they prefer their lighting source, strong, warm, and close by.
There are so many different variations of the process but all of them have a lot of the same core components in common: Light, water, warmth, and love. These are (hopefully) helpful tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way after having different levels of success at different times of year. I finally was able to dial in what was missing and what was working. There are steps you can take in the beginning to better ensure seed germination using “the paper towel method” which can be found in a past article on 4 easy steps to germinating seeds or on our website Growdepotsupply.com. Manifest us some good weather and garden yourselves some self-sufficient food this summer! Happy gardening!
Olivia Sobelman has been a cannabis grower for over a decade and was part of a team that won the US Cannabis Cup Awards three times. Sobelman and her husband, Tyler, own and operate Grow Depot Hydroponics Store in Missouri. Fast becoming “The Plant Doctors,” the Sobelmans’ mission to educate and destigmatize cannabis is at the root of their business. Grow depot offers access to free consultations for patients and growers, both in-person and by phone, to diagnose and mend many issues in the garden. Visit Grow Depot for grower tutorials, past articles, and to learn more about the services they offer and their contributions to the cannabis community.
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