Seed starting trays are one of the easiest ways to start vegetable, flower, and other plant seedlings indoors before the weather warms up. They come in a variety of sizes, with different features, and materials, but which ones are best?
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Are some seed starting trays better then others and why? This is what I set out to find out this years growing season, in my quest to grow more of my own vegetables at home!
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In past years, I never really used seed starting trays and always went with a collection of mixed solo cups, old flower pots , yogurt containers, egg cartons, basically whatever I could find and put soil in! While all these containers do work, and can be a great way to garden on a budget, I never really found that much success with my mix and match approach.
The main problem with this approach is that it simply makes things harder to manage. The various containers all require different amounts of water to stay moist, they take up way more space, and you have to move each seedling individually should you want to move them out, under grow lights or into a new window sill.
In short, are seed starter trays necessary for the beginner gardener? No, not exactly, but they sure do make life a whole lot easier, and dramatically improve your chances of success!
Seed starter trays make life a whole lot easier by conveniently grouping seedlings into easy to manage trays.
Most often seed starting trays are made of rigid plastic and are reusable, or are made of super thin recyclable plastic that is meant to be thrown away after using. Some are a combo of plastic drip tray with bio-degradable cells or peat pellets that can later be planted right into the garden.
There are a wide range of designs to choose from, and it can be overwhelming, especially for new gardeners.
Which you'll end up choosing depends on several factors and we'll go over some of the most common designs in this guide to help you decide what will work best for you.
Most seed starter trays come in a 10" x 20" size, but differ in the amount of 'cells' or individual plants that can be planted in the tray.
The more cells a tray has, the shorter the time frame before the seedlings out grow the tray and need to be planted out or transplanted into larger containers.
Tray sizes range from 12 cell trays - 128 cell trays! In my experience, tray sizes between 24 cells and 48 cells work best and will safely keep your plants indoors for 4 to 8 weeks before needing to be transplanted.
Root vegetables, should when possible always be planted directly in the garden and not transplanted.
If you see roots coming out of the cells or peat pellet inserts, it's time to transplant the seedlings into a larger container or into the garden.
Which style of seed starter tray you choose is ultimately up to you.
Bio-degradable cell inserts are great, and make transplanting easy as the entire 'cell' is simply transplanted directly into a larger container or into the garden, and the tray material bio-degrades. They do need to be replaced yearly though and have a tendency to develop mold easier then plastic cell trays do.
Plastic seed starter trays are mostly re-usable, especially the more rigid plastic celled trays. The seedlings can be slightly harder to remove from the trays at transplanting time though, and you may need to use a butter knife, or spoon handle to help loosens the sides of the individual cells.
Never pull on the seedling stems to try and remove the cell from the tray as you will most probably damage the plant!
Consider these accessories when starting and growing seedlings indoors. They make life a whole lot easier, and increase your chances of success! If you have to pick just one of them, I will always recommend grow lights be the first upgrade to your indoor seedlings!
In our quest to discover which seed trays work best for our vegetable garden needs, we purchased and trialed three of the most commonly available styles of seed starting trays. Biodegradable cell inserts on a plastic base tray, peat pellet inserts with a base tray, and a rigid plastic celled tray with a base for watering.
Over all we found that all three styles of seed starting trays had their own pros and cons making them great for different things. With all trays we tried, we found planting 2-3 seeds per cell and then trimming back to just one seedling after sprouting to give the best results.
The small Jiffy peat plugs where great for starting lettuces, herbs, and brassicas that can be transplanted out sooner even in cool weather. Tomatoes and cucumbers struggled in these peat plugs due to the limited growing space for the roots and required transplanting into larger pots fairly quickly.
The larger 32 peat pots where wonderful for plants that require more time to establish before being planted out. Tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, and squashes all did well in this tray for up to 8 weeks. The only downside was the need to separate and space out some of the plants once they grew so large they where shading the other seedlings.
The re-useable 72 cell tray with 2 inch plugs worked surprisingly well, even for our larger plants, such as tomatoes and peppers. The deeper cell plugs allowed the plants to stay in the trays longer then expected. Removing the plugs without damaging the roots was a bit of a challenge though and took some getting the hang of.
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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