It's that time again! That's right, it's sprout transplanting time! Somewhere back in the Kat archives is a post about how I sprout my tomato and pepper seeds on paper towels and then transplant them into planter cells. I have been starting my tomatoes and peppers this way for a long time now, mainly because I can control my germination rate in a way.
It's nice to know exactly how many tomato and pepper plants I have instead of playing the germination guessing game. Instead, I throw about thirty percent more seeds than I want to actually grow into some damp paper towels in a pie plate, loosely cover the whole pile with some plastic wrap, and chuck the whole thing on top of my fridge. Every couple of days I check to see if the seeds are still moist, and in about seven to ten days I have little sprout friends.
I then go get a seed tray, some soilless potting mix, some masking or painter's tape, a sharpie, a spray-bottle, and most important of all a pencil.
Today, I listened to the soundtrack to The Umbrella Academy while I transplanted my little soon to be food-bearing friends. Plants may or may not like music, but one thing I know for sure is that Kat's like music and I am fairly certain that if the sprouts are sentient then they totally appreciated my groovy dance moves.
Anyway...The process goes like this.
I carefully peel a sprout from the paper towel:
Then, I poke a hole in the soil with my super technical planting tool (the pencil):
Next, using the pencil, I gently poke the sprout down into the hole I made.
And finally, I give my freshly transplanted sprout a mist of water.
Now it's important to note, that for the first couple of days you want to be extra super careful to not let your little transplants dry out. I mist them a a couple of times a day, or sometimes more if the weather or room that they are in is warm. My sprouts are kept on a grow shelf I made myself from an old plastic shelf and some florescent light fixtures that I put grow light bulbs in. By the time my seedlings get too tall for the shelf, it's usually time (and safe) to move them out to the greenhouse anyway.
Now, I don't know if my paper towel sprouting method is the best way in the world to start seeds, but since I have started doing my high heat on the front in to germinate seeds (like tomatoes and peppers) this way, my life has been easier and my heating bill has been less extra. Plus, I just like the method, it makes me feel a bit like a plant surgeon or something. Okay, maybe I am just weird there, but honestly, when it's sprout transplanting time my form rejoices because that means it's spring!
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's currently not too thrilled about having vermiculite stuck in its crevices iPhone.
