starting tomatoe seeds
 

whats a good way to start my tomatoe seeds? I'v been using paper towel kept warm with water and no nutrient I'm puting them in my hydroponics after sprouting so i dont want to use starter cups

Hi!

My first post here as I just went through this discussion.

I am no expert by any means and have just started hydroponics in the last few weeks.

I start many plants in the spring under lights and wanted to eliminate all soil in my grow area. This prompted the same question you posed.

The best option I see at this point, and the option I will use shortly is rapid rooters in a starter tray on a heat mat.

For soil transplanting......Once germinated, up-potted into coir and placed in 4 inch pots until they can be planted in soil (containers and raised beds).

For hydro transplanting.....place the rapid rooter directly in the hydro medium and go from there. They seem to hold their form and resist crumbling.

Hope that helps just a bit.

Great forum and resource!

I agree with everything you said "halfway", with one exception; the rapid rooters.

I used them several times in hydroponic systems and started using one-inch rockwool cubes instead, because the rapid rooters caused a film of fine particles in the bottom of all my reservoirs. The rockwool never has.

Pumps are expensive and even fine particulate will cause more wear on a pump than no particulate at all, over time.

THAT is some great info. I only have a few "rooters" for this test (I talked the hydro shop into selling me 6 as opposed to the 50 pack tray) and will be able to switch easily to the rockwool cubes.

Thank you much!

Another vote for rockwool. I just put the seed in. Give it a dip in water and place it in my system. So far I've had a very good success rate. No need to let it sprout and then transplant it. And definitely no transplant shock

Personally I start my seeds by placing them on a wet/damp paper towel that I placed inside a small Tupperware container with a lid. The lid is important to keep humidity in. Then once they sprout I place them in the rockwool cubes. I used to just start them in the rockwool cubes, but I was needing to through away all the cubes for those seeds that did not sprout. Mainly because of mold/fungus that would grow on them because of all the water, nutrients and light. I don't want to transfer any diseases to any new seeds if I tried to use them again, and it's more work than I'm willing to do to try to sanitize them with bleach water or H2O2.

I have no trouble sprouting them in the Tupperware containers (except for spinach that I now understand sprouts at low temperatures), and moving the sprouts to the rockwool with my fingers, a butter knife, or tweezers depending on the size of the seeds. So now I just make sure they sprout before I put them in the rockwool cubes so I don't wind up wasting them.

I have used Peat Pellets with good luck. I normally use a Bio-Dome from Park Seed.