OK, so we’ve demonstrated and discussed our use of seeding trays at some length. Let us show you the other way that we sow some things!
When it comes to particularly large and very fast growing plants, the seeding tray is not the best bet. In these cases, we will directly sow these things into a larger container, which in this circumstance is a 3.5″ pot. Since these specific seeds grow so quickly, we’d need to transplant them nearly immediately had we used a seeding tray. This basically saves us a step!
So, what are “large and fast growing” plants? For us, it’s artichokes, cucurbits (squash, cucumber, melon, etc) and corn. (All conveniently identified as having large seed!) All of these will become considerable in size just days after germination, thus it’s best if we simply germinate them in a larger container. Aside from these very specific plants, all our seeds are germinated in our typical seeding trays.
One of the things we’ve come to over the years is minimizing the number of ways in which we do things. We gain a lot of benefits from having very consistent methods across all of our plants, from time savings to simply having less unique gear we have to store and maintain. But, sometimes the specific plants force a different technique and this is one of those cases.
You might wonder why we don’t germinate in larger pots more often. For us, it’s primarily about conserving our valuable indoor growing space early in the season. Things are going to “blow up” very soon and space under lights will be at a premium. Also, the methods we use ensure we always have a plant growing in every single growing space and that maximizes our use of that valuable space. Failed germinations simply aren’t an issue for us when we’re always up-potting viable seedlings.
We had to jump through a major hurdle when we went from raising several hundred plants to over a thousand each season. Those concepts of conserving our space, ensuring every square inch is productive and essentially the methods we demonstrate are critical for us to grow this many plants in our relatively small space.
But, sometimes plants are gonna be plants. And we do have to accommodate some of their special needs. This is one of them.
