Sunday 3/14/2010 - 11 days after planting and 99% of my plants are up. I took a few minutes to clip off all of the extra sprouts leaving one seedling per cell. Each cell contains a special foam grow plug that wicks water from the tray. This seems to produce very healthy root systems.
I found this YouTube video showing Carrie Spoonemore on their From Seed To Spoon website. She demonstrates how to thin your seedlings that you start using a Park Seed Company Bio Dome tray.
I plant 2-3 seeds per cell and clip off any extra sprouts with a sharp pair of small sewing scissors.
I removed the plastic domes and lowered the light fixtures as some of the tomatoes were looking a little leggy. Most of the tomatoes were showing their first true leaves. When all of the seedlings have their first true leaves I will add some organic water soluble fertilizer to the trays and after a few weeks I will transplant them into 4" pots. As soon as these veggies are potted up I will reuse the Bio Dome trays and start Broccoli and Cabbage. You must use new grow plugs for each planting.
I still have 2 empty 40 cell Bio Dome trays and later today I plan to start some flower seeds. I am attempting to plan appropriate seed starting dates for different plants according to growth rates and when I can expect to set them out in the garden. Keeping seed planting records along with local weather and frost dates will help to improve my results each year. The goal is to match our methods to the local conditions in my garden. With a short season, deep frozen soil , and late spring frosts I have to take advantage of every warn sunny day that is available.
