Starting your own veggie seeds
By Linda Langelo
Colorado State University
Some of us have success at this and some of us don’t. Follow a few simple requirements and you can be very successful at this. You need a few materials, soil and seed. You can use pots that you have as long as you sterilize them. You do need to be sure you get a very fine-textured, well-drained soil. Fine textured soils are lighter soils which makes them able to drain quickly and still retain enough moisture.
Before starting your seed, take a look and consider what your zone might be. We are in zone 5. You need to find out when the average last frost date happens in the spring. In order to ensure that your transplants are placed in the ground at just the right time, look at the seed you want to start to see what the requirements are you must follow. Say you want to start bell pepper seeds. You need to count back from the last freeze date eight to ten weeks. This would be the date you start your seed germination.
Using a sterile container with a sterile fine-textured soil, place that mix in the pot(s) or flat(s) and moisten the soil and let it drain before you put in your seed. Otherwise, your seed will float. Place the pepper seed on top of the soil and press firmly or place about ¼” of soil over it. Below is a list of seeds that need light to germinate and can still do well with a slight covering which doesn’t deter all the light from getting to them.
The next two critical requirements are to keep the soil evenly moist and at an even temperature between 75- and 78-degrees Fahrenheit. Keep the seeds covered with a poly cover or plastic cover of some sort. This brings me to the next point. When you read the back of your seed packets, they show days to germination. For peppers, as with any varieties of peppers, the germination time varies slightly. In the case of California Wonder 300, the days to germination varies from eight days to 25 days. Not all seed germinates at the same time. Optimally, you purchased certified, good seed and the moisture and temperatures are ideal which should only take eight days.
Lastly, once your transplant emerges from the soil remove the poly cover. Otherwise, moisture will sit on the new leaves and cause disease problems. Place the seed in a sunny window and cool location of about 50 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit. If you keep those seedlings too warm and with too little light, they will stretch. Then you have created a weakened seedling.
If you want more specifics on growing culture a new seed variety, seed companies do have horticulturists or an expert on staff to answer your questions. Questions such as what type of soil does this require in the garden or how much shade or sun does it need? Unfortunately, not every bit of cultural information is in the seed catalogues. Some seed catalogues do have growing requirements in each section for growing that type of seed.
