What Will You Need for Your Seedlings to Thrive on the Windowsill?
Suitable Conditions for Pre-Growing Seedlings
When growing seedlings from seed at home, you must ensure optimal humidity (around 50%), proper temperature (usually 15 – 20 °C, but plant requirements vary), and especially sufficient light for the germinating plants on your windowsill. Regular household conditions with dry air during the heating season are actually not very suitable for growing seedlings. If you don't have another option such as growing in a heated greenhouse or cold frame, it's worth choosing less demanding plant species with faster growth. You can then purchase the more demanding ones as ready-made seedlings from the garden center when it's time for planting.
When to Sow? You'll Find the Information on the Seed Packet
If you're unsure about the correct sowing time, check the back of the seed packet, where you'll find other valuable information as well. In case you'll be keeping the seedlings indoors behind a window until the actual planting in an outdoor bed, it's generally recommended not to rush the sowing. Overgrown seedlings have more difficulty establishing themselves, they become leggy, and the plants ultimately produce less fruit.
Need to learn more? Household conditions with dry air and limited light behind a window are not ideal for pre-growing seedlings. If you don't have access to a greenhouse or cold frame, focus on less demanding, fast-growing species and purchase more demanding plants as ready-made seedlings from garden centers.
Don't Underestimate the Choice of Sowing Substrate
Quality substrate in which small plants will immediately feel at home is also an important prerequisite for success. Choose a special substrate for sowing and propagation. Several types of sowing substrates are available in volumes from 5 to 40 liters. You can use these substrates both for sowing and for later pricking out the germinated seedlings.
Instead of substrate, peat pellets, also known as jiffy pellets, are also excellent for sowing. Before use, immerse them in water for about 5 minutes. After they swell into a cylinder shape, place them in a suitable tray or seed starter and sow the seeds into them. They are equipped with a biodegradable protective mesh. Jiffy pellets can also be used for rooting plant cuttings. You can find them in individual pieces as well as in larger packages. Compared to substrate, they are more compact and many gardeners praise them highly because plants germinate well in them and root very quickly. Pellets can also be made from coconut fiber and other natural materials. You'll find them available in various sizes.
Sowing Aids You'll Need
Pestik has everything prepared for you that you'll need. You can start with a simple sowing tray, or go straight for one of the many types of practical seed trays. Choose either a classic black plastic seed tray available in several sizes, or try a peat seed tray, which has the advantage that the individual pots decompose in the soil. You can easily separate them and plant them together with the pre-grown seedling. This way, the plant continues to grow smoothly without the stress of transplanting and root exposure.
Also pay attention to seed trays with pre-prepared growing medium, which doesn't have to be just peat jiffy pellets, but also for example rockwool cubes or nutrient-soaked composted materials. To maintain higher air humidity, you might also find useful a home mini propagator or a practical mini greenhouse with ventilation.
Pestik's Sowing and Pre-cultivation Set
If you want to have everything you need together with one click, you might be interested in the Sowing and Pre-cultivation Set specially designed for vegetables and flowering plants. You'll find everything you'll need - sowing substrate, universal substrate, perlite, seed tray, propagator, sowing dish and sprayer. All you need to do is choose seeds and you can start!