A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Food Garden Forum Vegetable Gardening seed starting question

hi. about five days ago i started LOTS of seeds (15 kinds of tomatoes plus onions, eggplant, herbs,etc). some have already germinated, others have not (though i definitely grouped them based on their estimated germination time). so, here's my question... at what point do i uncover the sundry containers? do i wait for most to germinate? or do it when more than half of the cells have germinated babies? or do i need to uncover it sooner or risk losing/hurting of those which are already up?

thanks very much in advance for sharing your expertise!

I cracked the cover a bit when the seeds began to sprout and then removed it completely when almost all of them had sprouted. Not sure if that's the correct way to do it, but it worked well for my seedlings

15 kinds of tomatoes?!?!?!?!
Do tell!!!!!

here's the tomato list (some i've grown before, some are new for me):

Arkansas Traveler
Brandywine
Burbank Red Slicing
Marianna’s Peace
Orange-Banana (paste)
Paul Robeson
Red Calabash
Roma (paste)
San Marzano (paste)
Sprite (grape)
Stupice
Sweet Chelsea (cherry)
Three Sisters
Yellow Pear (grape)
Yellow Perfection

i don't think i can wait months for them, though!! dunno how i'll cope; is there an equivalent to methadone for fresh,homegrown tomatoes?!

WOW!!! That sure is a lotta Maters!

The longer you leave the lid on the more you court damp off disease in the seedlings. If you are willing to spritz the soil to keep it moist on those that haven't sprouted yet I'd say take the lids off. But it becomes a battle to keep the soil moist for the slower growers.

tkhooper...

thanks. although i've no idea what "damp off disease" is, it sure sounds lousy!

i'll try a compromise for a day or two (propping the cover open a bit for ventilation) and then take it off altogether and focus on spraying the ungerminated ones.

Damp off disease is a mold that will kill the tiny seedlings.
I use a spray that prevents this from happening. You can buy it at any hardware store.

Dee another question that there is lots of ways and what works for a person is the way to go for him. The way I do it is either one or two days after the first seedlings emerge I remove any cover completely and put them under the lights. If I feel they still need bottom heat I put a heat mat under them. They get some heat from the lights and my room isn't real cold. peppers will need more heat than tomatoes also. Has worked well for me. Averaging around 90% germination so far on peppers and tomatoes. These are seeds from at least 16 different sources and varying ages. So it works well for me. I see others put their trays under the lights with domes on. I have never done it that way so can't comment on that. Best of luck however you do it. Jay