We are excited to share our first green house, it's finally finished. Now comes the fun part, time to fill it with life. With that said, I thought we should start the TPG blog off with the basics. We'll start with germination! We will discuss our methods and some pointers for a successful season.
Growth Medium
When it comes to germination medium, we have to think about two factors - water retention and hygiene. Water retention not only provides the obvious but also conducts heat and allows for humidity to build. That combined with shop lights will provide excellent conditions for germination. Hygiene is very important as the seedlings are vulnerable and are very susceptible to various diseases. After much trial and error, I found this medium works the best. Most of my crops are a mix of equal parts vermiculite and peat moss. Another important tip I highly suggest is to properly sanitize the pots or growing trays. That with a basic germination set up will give you a nice head start to the grow season.
Germination Set-Up
I am currently using an assembled plastic shelf with florescent lights held together by zip ties so that I can adjust the plants at my desired distance. You want the cool lamps as close as possible for nice girth on your seedlings, this will make them hardier and prevent long flimsy seedlings. To help speed up germination I use water containing a domed seedling tray on top of warmed electric heating pads. This is helpful to get basil and most of my herbs to germ next day.