Starting seeds for your garden is one of the most exciting things you can do. To see something so small grow into a beautiful and productive part of your garden is magical. But for a lot of new gardeners, it can seem overwhelming to start. How exactly do you do it? How do you know what materials to use? How do you know when your seedlings are ready to be planted outside?
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In this post, we're going to take a deeper dive into the different seed starting setups, in particular the trays and kits. There are so many options to pick from, so let’s take a look at what all you can use!
When starting seeds indoors, just remember that you are trying to mimic the outdoors as much as possible. You'll want the temperature to be warm and the area to have perhaps a little humidity, if possible. There also needs to be some air flow and light. While some people choose to use natural light, your seedlings are going to grow weak and leggy unless they're in a greenhouse with full overhead sunlight. Being placed on a windowsill is often not enough. Your best bet is to grab a grow light to use in whatever location your seeds will grow.
I have been starting seeds indoors for years now, so I will show you an example of how I started versus how I'm doing it now: In the beginning, I used styrofoam cups placed on a baking tray, with a clip-on grow light, in my office. Super simple and cheap, but effective! I didn’t need to start a ton of seeds because my growing space was little, so this worked well enough.
As my garden expanded, I invested in more materials in order to start more and more seeds. Now I have an extra bedroom closet I use, with a shelving unit, attached grow lights, and seed trays. This setup was more labor intensive and expensive to get going, but I can start a lot more seeds this way, and by now, I know the investment is worth it.
While my personal preference is a seed starting tray, there are other things you can use to get going. Let's look at some of the advantages and disadvantages of different materials.
Many gardeners trying to reuse what is already in their home will start seeds in eggshells, egg cartons, rolled-up newspaper pots, yogurt cups, toilet paper rolls, and more.
A lot of these materials are biodegradable, so the whole pot can be planted directly into the soil. That is definitely a benefit, as is the ability to repurpose something that would otherwise be tossed in the trash.
I have tried a few of these items and either found them to be too small or had them decay and break down before I could plant my seedlings outdoors.
These are pre-made pots, trays, and discs (also called pellets) sold widely online and in stores.
They're biodegradable, so again, you can plant the entire pot or disc.
I've had some get moldy and—like what happened when I tried to use toilet paper rolls—break down too quickly when exposed to water. I am not a fan. Plus, you have to pay for something that's not reusable.
You can poke holes in the bottom of just about any cup and use it to start your seeds. Be sure to place them on a surface or tray that can catch runoff when you water them (like my baking sheet in my original setup).
The benefit of these is that they are bigger and thus can grow your seeds all the way to transplantation without needing to pot them up (in other words, you don't have to move them to a larger pot before they go into the garden).
The negative is that they take up way more space than the cells of a typical seed starting tray.
Another option that is gaining popularity is to use soil blocking. While this option has technically been around for centuries, many home gardeners have never seen it used.
The beauty of this option is that you use the soil as both the growing medium and the container. The soil is packed enough to stay together and allow the seed to grow roots without running out of space.
You do need a few particular items to get started.
I know many gardeners who are turning to this method and quite enjoy it. You can see the items you need here and read up on how to's.
My top pick would have to be from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Everyone knows their seed starting materials are top notch, and I love supporting a company that has such a great reputation and relationship with its employees. Their trays can be a bit on the pricier side, but you know that they will last for years. They have numerous options to choose from, so here are a few you might want to try:
With any of these trays, make sure you also order trays to catch or hold water underneath if you're growing indoors, as these trays all have holes that allow for drainage or uptake of water.
Plenty of other companies have similar tray setups that are good quality. You can get a kit from Gardeners' Supply that includes a 12- or 24-cell tray and a mat, and Burpee has a similar setup that also includes a dome lid, markers, and grow pellets. Growers Supply carries similar products, but you have to order a certain number of trays, not just one.
Amazon has a really neat kit that has a 60-cell tray with a mat and dome lid, as well as a grow light—a great setup for beginners! You can also find inexpensive trays and kits at places like Home Depot, as well as your local gardening supply stores.
You can water at the top or the bottom. Many people get fungal disease, which affects seedling growth, by watering on top of the soil if it is kept too moist. This has never happened to me, but you want to be careful how much water you use. You can avoid this issue by pouring water into the bottom catch tray; the seedlings will absorb it up through the holes in the tray.
When it comes time to remove your seedlings, a butter knife is your best friend. Just insert it gently along the side of the soil and pop your seedling out.
Always be sure to wash and sterilize your tray kits before use for new seeds. The moment after I transplant my seedlings, I wash my trays out and remove any dirt or debris and let them dry out before storage. When it comes time to start new seeds, I soak my trays in a diluted bleach solution to kill off any lingering bacteria that could harm my new seed babies. You can use a 9:1 ratio of water to bleach, or 9 cups of water for every 1 cup of bleach.
I personally do not use a heating mat and do just fine; however, I see plenty of gardeners and, for sure, farmers who use them and have excellent and speedier germination. I don’t feel this is necessary to get started if your space is warm, but it can definitely help.
There is also an option to purchase a dome. I have used domes at times and not used them at times, and in my opinion, they aren’t totally necessary if you have a warm space to start your seeds. If your space is a little cooler, like less than 72 degrees, then a dome can provide extra warmth and humidity for your seeds to germinate.
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What’s inside: A look at the best seed starting trays ever from Bootstrap Farmer. They’re my favorite for gardening with kids and I’ll show you why!
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You’ve probably seen them at the big box stores like Lowes or Home Depot – they’re the trays with little inserts that you fill with soil and plant your seeds in. Jiffy and Burpee sell them and they come with tiny peat pellets instead of soil. They usually have a clear cover.
When I first started growing seedlings, one of these trays worked well. They get the seeds off to a good enough start. For a beginner, it was what I needed.
But I am notoriously thrifty and I found that by the 3rd year of using them, the trays were broken, cracked, leaking, and just not holding up anymore. They were much too flimsy for my style.
I did like the little peat pellets where you just added water and put in a seed. And my boys loved watching the little peat pots grow and expand when you added warm water. Magic!
Yet, I started a search for a more sustainable and sturdy option.
Let’s look at that “greenhouse” tray to explain. The 72 little peat discs are placed in a plastic tray of 72 plastic cells. It’s got drain holes in the bottom and is usually pretty flimsy. It sits inside a slightly sturdier tray, called a “ tray” with NO drain holes. So you can water the stuff you grow without water going all over your house. It measures 10” x 20” and is the standard used in the horticulture industry. You’ll see trays of plants at garden centers during the spring and summer – they are all in these trays.
Incidentally, garden centers and stores often recycle those trays and will give you some trays for the asking, especially if you tell them you’re “teaching kids to garden”.
Sometimes, however, garden centers sell trays of plants in trays WITH holes so they can drain when they are watering outside. So make sure you ask for what you want.
The takeaway here is that a tray is industry standard and measures 10” x 20”.
trays are not the only part of the standard. Also commonly available are the things that go in the trays. So the little pots that go in them are also standardized. This matters when you try to fit your 2.5” pots into the trays, because they line up nicely. Or when you put in your 72-cell insert, which is a lovely 6 x 12 arrangement of starter cells.
In my experience, the best seed starting trays ever, hands-down, come from Bootstrap Farmer.
I can’t speak highly enough of the quality of their products. Sturdy, colorful, and guaranteed.
Over the years, I’ve honed and tweaked how I start seeds, including improving my seed-start shelf.
At first, I started reusing those Jiffy starter kits, then moved up to whatever I could get to recycle. The problem was lack of standardized sizes. I mean, I was using things like recycled plastic containers with clear covers from large spinach plastic containers. But the soil blocks didn’t fit evenly into the containers.
So I finally broke down and bought the Bootstrap Farmer Tray with no holes. Then I was hooked.
Now, each year of gardening, I try to add something new to my collection.
I’ve tried using the trays with no holes along with a mesh insert and soil blockers. I do like soil blockers for their “buy it once and use it forever” with no plastic pots going into landfills. My little soil block makes four 2×2” blocks and so fits in a 5 x 6 pattern in the tray. I also like the fact that soil blocks use “air pruning” on the roots and so promotes a healthy root system. The mesh tray lets me bottom water.
On the negative side, while the soil blocks are so much fun to use with kid power, when it’s just me doing the blocking now that the kids are grown, my hands get tired!
So I next purchased the 72-cell air prune inserts from Bootstrap Farmer. Also a huge thumbs-up on these! They too come in colors and are the perfect size for seed-starting tomatoes IF you use the “up potting” method.
I was familiar with the up-potting method because I’ve studied John Jeavon’s biointensive gardening method and I’ve used it for a number of years. Outside, my soil is getting better each year. Inside, I “prick out” tiny seedlings into bigger pots to give them a boost of new energy and growth.
So the 72-cells work great, but I was using whatever recycled yogurt container I could find to do the up-potting. I drill holes in the bottom for drainage.
I was getting tired of the random sizes of up-pots I had, so I succumbed and bought 100 round 2.5” pots a few years ago. They were inexpensive at least. But they feel like tissue paper when you try to clean them for re-use. I don’t think they were intended for re-use!
For my birthday last year (and I can’t wait to try them) I received the 2.5” extra strength seed starter pots from Bootstrap Farmer.
You can tell I’m a total nut about their products. I also own grow bags, the 200-cell insert, 5 x 5” insert trays (which I love for my microgreens system), and dome covers from them.
I’m hoping to get some 5” cells for up-potting next year for my birthday! Hint, hint, if any of my family is reading this!
This isn’t a sponsored post, but I am an affiliate of Bootstrap Farmer. I seek out affiliate programs for products that I love and use regularly.
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