Starting Seeds Indoors Does NOT Need to be Expensive

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So you’ve decided to start your patio garden with seeds indoors and you have questions:

Is it expensive?
Do I need to use seed starting mix?
Do I need to use a seed starting tray?
Do I need a plant grow light?

I have got your answers!

Is it expensive?

The answer is it CAN be but does not in any way HAVE to be.

To start seeds indoors you need 3 things:

Substrate (medium)
Containers
Light

Optionally, you can add a heat mat for a faster germination rate, but your seeds should germinate without one given enough time.

Each of these items can range from free to expensive.

Do I need to use a seed starting mix?

The short answer is no.

The most common substrates to start seeds in are: coco coir, seed starting mix, potting mix and normal dirt.

I advise against straight coco coir unless you are starting a hydroponic system and just need the seeds to germinate. It has no nutrients and it is not super airy but it does retain moisture very well.

Dirt from the ground outside is the cheapest option, but it will be denser and it often won’t retain moisture well. This means that you can definitely use it to start seeds, but your new seedlings may struggle a little bit more than seedlings raised in another growing medium. It may be harder for the seedlings to grow roots in denser soil. It may be difficult for you to correctly water the seedlings if the wild soil retains too much or too little moisture. BUT, this is still a valid growing medium, and if you’re on a super strict budget, you shouldn’t let buying substrate be the barrier that stops you from trying to garden this year.

Seed starting mix is the most common substrate to start seeds in. Thus it’s name. It is usually a blend of coco coir or peat moss, perlite and vermiculite. The perlite and vermiculite make the substrate more airy than straight coco coir and the entire mix is very fine which enables strong root development. If you are making your own seed starting mix you can add in worm castings or a very small amount of very fine compost for nutrients. Many gardeners will occasionally fertilize their seedlings with diluted liquid fertilizers instead of adding worm castings or compost to their seed starting mix.

I use regular old potting mix to start my seeds. This is less common than seed starting mix because potting mixes tend to be chunky, they may have weed seeds in them, and they have more nutrients than a newly germinated seedling needs. That being said, I have had great success using potting mix. I feel I always get strong seedlings with healthy roots despite the chunks in the medium. The extra nutrients in the potting mix make it so that I do not need to fertilize my seedlings. Finally, because I use the same potting mix in my container garden there is less risk of transplant shock when I move my seedlings outdoors. I sterilize my potting mix to kill off any weed seeds by baking my mix in the oven. Using potting mix is cheaper than seed starting mix because supposedly you already have it on hand and you will be using it for more than just starting seeds.

Do I need to use a seed starting tray?

No! In fact, if you are starting a small patio garden I recommend against it.

Seed starting trays are basically a group of small pots all attached together. They are great if you are growing large numbers of the same type of plant from seed. For example, if you want to start 16 tomato plants, a 16 cell seed starting tray is a great option.

Usually, patio gardeners are not looking to grow 16 of the same variety of vegetable. That means that each cell in the tray will have different seeds. This is a challenge because different seeds have different needs. They require different amounts of time to germinate, the seedlings grow at different rates and need the light at different heights, and different seedlings require different amounts of moisture. Because of the uniformity of a seed tray, it can be difficult to meet the needs of all of your seeds.

I recommend that patio gardeners start their seeds in individual containers. These containers can be anything from nursery pots to yogurt containers to paper towel rolls. Currently, I’m using a lot of mushroom containers. A piece of tupperware or plastic wrap can be placed on the top of each container to create a humidity dome until the seedlings germinate and then the individual containers can be moved closer to ,or farther from, the light as they grow.

Do I need a plant grow light?

If you are starting seeds in the middle of summer, the sunshine in a sunny south (if you’re in the northern hemisphere) facing window should be more than enough. BUT, if you are starting seeds before your last frost date you will need supplemental lighting.

You do not need specialty grow lights.

Special grow lights are great for adult plants because they put special emphasis on the wavelengths of light plants need to grow. They are often recommended for seed starting because they more closely mimic the sun and do not need to be on 12+ hours a day. However, specialized grow lights are not required for seed starting. A less expensive fluorescent shop light will do the trick as long as it is high output and has the full light spectrum.

My Opa used fluorescent shop lights when he started hundreds of seeds each year for decades. I’ve followed in his, very successful, footsteps and I use a 5500 lumen 4 ft LED shop light with a color temperature of 4000 kelvin. It works great.

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you are starting seeds with dirt from the ground in a recycled yogurt container placed in your sunny window in June, starting your seeds is free! But if you start your seeds indoors before your last frost date you will need to buy at least a shop light to begin your seed starting journey.

I start my seeds in potting mix, in seed starting trays and individual containers, underneath an LED shop light, with a small heat mat I recycled from when I owned reptiles. I like to use a boot tray underneath the seed trays for easy transport and bottom watering. All in all, my set-up cost about $45 but I bought each piece a different year, so in reality it cost me $15 a year for 3 years, which is very doable for a penny-pinching renter.

Special note: if it is your first year growing a patio garden and you want to try a variety of different plants I truthfully do not recommend starting from seed at all. You can often find seedlings at your local nursery for only a dollar more than a quality seed pack and you won’t need to buy any of the seed starting supplies. Buying started plants is a great way to test out gardening to see if you like it.

Additional Resources:

Online Resources:

University of Florida – What’s the Difference Between Substrates?
University of Illinois – Seed Starting
University of Maryland – Grow Lights for Starting Seeds Indoors
University of New Hamshire – Growing Seedlings Under Lights
NIH – Hydroponics: current trends in sustainable crop production

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