I use an electric pad, designed for plant starting, to start my seeds...
warm weather plants need the soil to be warm to sprout...
not so much with cole crops [broccoli, cabbages etc]...
Steve; I still use 'spindly' to discribe plants seeking light...
If SPINDLY ever goes out of style to describe SPINDLY plants I'll just have to call the dictionary folks to make sure the word goes on the front cover of all dictionaries in dayglo neon bold lettering!
Welcome, I'm in Mo also and it's way too cool where I am to think about starting seeds in my greenhouse.
I'm located 30 miles west of St Louis and have all my starts inside, and it will probably be another couple of weeks before they can go outside in my unheated greenhouse and be expected to survive.
Unless you keep a heat lamp real close I suspect there won't be enough warmth for germanation.
I have a new greenhouse as well. I have seedlings of tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and some flowers and herbs. I do not have heat in the greenhouse. The next 10 days are lows are going to be 33 to 45 at night. Is it still too early to move them out in the green house? I am going to need to up pot my plants in the next few days. Thanks for all the help. Love all the advice on here. Don't post much. I am in middle TN near the KY border.
PJN, we like to see your posts when you have them for us .
Nothing better than local advice and we may have some of that. I can just offer a caution.
I have killed tomato plants by moving them from a heated greenhouse where it was never below about 60F to a unheated tunnel where it was 37. That temperature was confirmed because the plants that died in there were both around the edges and in the center of that plastic tunnel beside the thermometer. There was a fair amount of damage to quite a few plants but some didn't recover. I am sure that they could have survived that 37 morning IF they had been hardened-off a little but they were just tender things.
You need a greenhouse thermometer so you know what's going on in there.
You may be facing that nasty situation where you are running out of room indoors. You may need to do some moving in-&-out for a few days/nights. I have had plants lined up on my utility room floor where it was difficult to walk thru. The garage is often used when I'm trying to get things hardened-off during the daytime but it is too cool overnight.
Often, people are leaving their homes early in the morning, the coldest time :/! What to do with the plants??! There's an advantage a "retired person" has . . .
Can the plants be covered in your greenhouse for the next several nights until the temperature in there will stay in the high 50's for those indoor babies (see thermometer advice above )? Is it possible for you to hold off on that up-potting and running out of space and wait for a little warmer weather? Maybe you could use the weekend to slow those plants down and harden them a little by getting them out during the afternoons into a little cooler but protected place.
I think I will watch the weather and let it get a little warmer. Do have thermometer in the green house. The room they are in is cool but not that cool. May try carrying them in and out on the warmer days. Thanks