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["Frank Fries" <frank.fries AT imagewireless.ca>]

> I did manage to sow my tomatoes and peppers in peat pots today.  DH
> bought some of those little peat disks that expand in water...I don't
> know if I will like these or not-first time I've used them...do any of
> y'all use/like these little pots?  To me, the big advantage might be the
> plastic lid which acts like a mini-greenhouse.  What say ye?

I have only started seed indoors for 3 years now and the peat pellets are 
all I have ever used.  I use a heated mat underneath the tray I put the 
pellets in and have had good success.  The plastic lid comes in 2 sizes, 
short and tall.  I got the tall, which allows you to leave them in the 
heated tray for a bit longer because there is room for them to get to about 
4-6 inches tall.  The plastic lid seems to help keep thing from drying out 
as quickly.

Once the roots are coming out through the sides and the bottoms of the peat 
pellets, I put them into pots.  I get a sleeve of disposable plastic beer 
glasses and use them.  They are cheap initially and  I get 2-3 years out of 
them (if you don't leave them in sunlight too long - the UV breaks them down 
quite quickly if you do).   I use the white, semi-clear ones and you can see 
the roots of the plants and how well established they are.  They are about 
the right size and once empty, fit back inside each other well so are easy 
to store.

> Anyway, I planted mostly paste tomatoes, Roma, Opalka, and Sausage, but
> I also planted one slicing variety, Mortgage Lifter, and quite a few
> tomatillos, Green Husk.

I have never tried tomatillos - I have seen them in seed catalogues.  They 
taste mostly like tomatoes ??  Or different ?


> Here's a question for those of you who sow seed indoors like me..
> Do you use a special plant fluorescent bulb or just the regular type
> fluorescent?  Being cheap, I have always just used the regular bulbs,
> but am thinking of buying the blue plant lights.  DH wants to make a
> dedicated plant stand so that I can get the plants directly under the
> light and closer to it.  No way I will buy one of those stations like
> they sell in the catalogs...yikes the price!  My brassicas are still in
> the house, in the kitchen, and they, as usual, are rather leggy even
> though they are within inches of the light.  My windows are north
> facing, so that doesn't help.  Once they get to the greenhouse-probably
> next week(I like to see true leaves before they leave the house) they
> get plenty of sun but I am trying to prevent this initial legginess and
> was wondering if blue lights might be what I need.
> You guys would laugh if you saw my contraptions...
> I have fluorescent under cabinet lighting in the kitchen..my seed trays
> are sitting on top of the bread machine, the toaster, and a big
> tupperware type container I store my hot chocolate mix in...lol...I've
> created planks up near the lights using my various assortment of cutting
> boards and I put the seed trays on that.  It works, however unsightly
> and inefficient it is.  I'm quite sure there are much better ways...I am
> just cheap.  However, now that DH is interested, maybe he will build
> something...and if he builds it, I want blue<g>.

When I bought a flourescent "shop light" (mounts on chains) there were 
"regular" tubes and then various other kinds (full spectrum, blue, plant 
lights, etc).   Some of them were quite a bit more than the regular ones, 
others were not much more.  I bought some that were supposed to be better. 
The new light didn't come with tubes, so I had to buy some anyways.  I have 
only used them for one year now and given that it is the only one I have 
used, I can't say whether they are better than the regular flourescents or 
not.  I had to go to a light because I was starting more pots every year and 
I got kicked out of some of the prime windows, including a window in the 
kitchen with a good sized counter area in front of it.

I use an old wooden kitchen table with the flourescent hung above it on 
wires so I can easily change the height.  It holds quite of few of the beer 
glass pots at a time.

Frank