Like to Post Baby Pics

[thistlebloom]

Yes, Ridge uses lights in a much fancier method than me. But that's because he's an engineer and I'm just a redneck opportunist!

I keep a thermometer in my box and check the soil temp with a soil thermometer to make sure the heat doesn't get on the crazy side in either area.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I use a plywood box with the bottom and sides lined with foil and some old Christmas tree lights inside. I regulate the temperature by the number of bulbs screwed in.

 

[Smart Red]

Love it! Learning more and new every day.

 

[digitS']

The tomato seedlings, etc. went out for a daytime greenhouse visit, today.



They are a little leggy from having emerged just as we went through several days of clouds. Those are the peppers to the left. It's about time to go out to bring all of them in for the night. There are more tomato seeds just now popping up in the kitchen! I'll have those containers uncovered and in the South Window tomorrow.

Very, very soon - the furnace in the greenhouse will have to be turned on in the mornings. The South Window will not accommodate all the plants. The next step will be from fatigue and I won't be bringing them back in the house at night. Sure hope that the furnace will be able to fire up and do its job ...

Steve

 

[digitS']

Firing up the furnace came a little earlier than I expected. There's no longer enuf room in the South Window. Yesterday, it was possible to move the older plants out to the greenhouse under the sunshine and blue sky.

Before 8am this morning, I turned the furnace on, after its 10 month break, ran back into the house and hid under the sink . Hey, I keep the fire extinguisher under there!

It's running!. Unfortunately, it was even running after 10am, just to maintain it above 60°f.

Tomato babies just migrating to the South Window:

digitS'

 

[digitS']

I will be back in a little while to post a picture of the "last in the cookie box" from the first sowing of tomatoes. The picture is in the PC and my feet are too cold to go out and sit in the dark South Window ... where I'd have no company. I could take my blanket ...

No, there is still a box or two of tiny babies, on top the fridge - where it's warmer overnight than that window. They will be out there to enjoy the sunlight soon.

Their big brothers and sisters are all in the greenhouse. The wind died away near sundown yesterday so I trust they had a peaceful night. I'll have them up soon for hot cereal and a bowl of fruit ... oh, I guess they should be happy with just the sunlight, too ... I'll have to check their soil moisture ... you know about babies and long nights.

Steve

How I'd start seed indoors if'n I really had an enterprise that amounted to something: 20-row seedling flats

 

[digitS']

Okay, I got my wool socks on and made it out to the PC while things were in the microwave and toaster oven ...

Cute, huh? Gary O Sena with Kellogg's Breakfast behind. (Basil off on the left .)

I left these two a little longer because, KB especially, had an uneven start. You can see that Gary O has a little stretching problem from crowding by the siblings pulled out of the box first. These are right up to their elbows in potting soil this morning - out there in the dark greenhouse.

Oh look! There is light in the eastern sky ...

Steve

 

[digitS']

I've mostly been posting about tomatoes but I suppose that makes sense, given the emphasis in my greenhouse. Some more eggplant has to be moved out of a community container and into 4-packs, today.

Have I already said on here that I get in a little trouble every year having so many varieties in one container? The Apple Green eggplant seed is a little old. The first indication is that it's slower germinating than the other eggplant varieties. Sooo, I have to figure out how to get the other seedlings out while leaving Apple Green a little longer.

Many of those earlier tomato transplants are toddlers not babies now! I could move them to 3½" pots and will have to sometime this week. Oh boy, there goes any extra room!

You might think that with names like Red Jellybean and Yellow Jellybean, those two tomato varieties would have about the same disease resistance. I'm wondering if the red ones have mildew ..! They were right, side by side. I cannot remember ever having mildew in tomato seedlings. They are separated into 4-packs now and I'll have to pay close attention to them. They just seem too tiny to spray ...

Why are there always things to fret about with this growing stuff gig!? I remember a guy talking about bringing his wife and twin daughters home from the hospital after a difficult delivery. He dropped into his lazyboy and the thought immediately occurred to him, "there could be something that I should be doing for these three!" He said he got right back up and ever since, there always has been.

Steve

 

[digitS']

Here are those mix of eggplants.

Most of the ones ready to go are Rolex, an early green Asian type. The Pingtung are a nice purply-white but the seed didn't sprout quickly. The Apple Green are in front. I took the nice, robust Epic out of the box nearly a week ago! Now, I gotta leave the tiny AG alone while getting the others ...
Sometimes I do okay with the selective transplanting.

I still need a name for these tomatoes . After @baymule offered the urban dictionary definition ... I'm thinking of just following @marshallsmyth 's suggestion, abbreviating it, and calling them the witz!

Steve

 

[journey11]

Here are my babies. And Ava's in the middle. She came up with a rather eclectic mix of things, mostly flowers. There are a couple of morning glories in there that are trying to climb the light fixtures. Out they'll go as soon as it stops raining.

Can't really see it from how dark the pic is, but I used a heat mat this year. BIG difference. Set at 80*, I had germination in just a few days and it has been just under a month since these flats were seeded. The peppers and tomatoes are happy and growing fast. Those are more leeks in the little one to the left.