Ive decided to do my own seedlings this year.I usually buy my plants from a local market but wanted more variety this year. How many extras do you start for seed failure. My plan is is to do 2-4 extra. If I plan to plant 8, I would start 10 seedlings. Is that acceptable. Thanks for any help.
by Dinosteele0813
8 Comments
I end up giving away a lot, because I start a lot of seeds, just in case.
I’m hoping to limit that this year, as I’ll be starting in my greenhouse and will have both power and water available. Not sure that makes sense, but the ability to have heat, light and water within reach should give me the space to identify and restart failed seeds quickly.
When I started seeds inside, I’d always start more than I needed and would run out of space. Last year was my last indoor seed starting year and I was able to rein things in a bit by using seed spirals. I could quickly determine how many of each variety I was seeing good germination for and which ones needed a second batch.
I plan out my garden and determine how many of each plant I want and where. This year I’m planning for 3 extra for tomato and pepper varieties. Sometimes starts don’t thrive so having a couple of extra helps defend against that.
Most seed packets have a germination rate on it, so you can math that out pretty quickly.
Depends on the type of seed. I usually go double or triple since I give a lot of plants away.
Lettuce and herbs usually are more like 10x since the seeds are small and its hard to be precise.
You can cull excess (if you are strong of heart), so unless you have very little of the seed you should be generous your first year.
I strongly reccomend using a seed starting mix (coir/vermiculite), a humidity dome, and lights. Also, read up on how early to start your seed for your area.
Honestly, it really depends on the seed. They’re usually sold by weight so you’ll get a lot more carrot or lettuce seeds in a pack than peas or beans.
My seed starting cells are usually 12 cells each. So I tend to either think in groups of 3 or groups of 4 when starting seeds indoors. That often means I’ll start 6 of each variety of tomato one row of 3, two in each cell. I only ever intend to keep 1-2 of each tomato variety so I guess I’m planting 4-5 extra. But lettuce or carrots, I’ll just direct sow by sprinkling and cut back the extras later. It also depends how old the seeds are. Germination falls off a little each year so if they’re 3-5 year old seeds, I tend to plant double what I need just to be safe.
Seedlings are only costing me the containers they’re in (often reused takeout cups cause I’m cheap) and the dirt they’re growing in and the time it takes to grow them. I don’t even need space, really. I take them outside during the day and bring them in at night.
I plant out my garden and then I keep all my extra seedlings for 2 more weeks as substitutes in case anything dies from transplant shock or sunburn, etc. Once it looks like everything has survived being planted out, I give away all my extra seedlings. Friends and family get first pick and then hubby leaves the rest in the break room at work and they’re always gone by the end of the day.
So at this point, I never think of the extras as extras. They’re just gifts for people who may not have a means to buy seedlings or start their own. Anyone can put one of the tomatoes in a pot even if they don’t have a proper garden. So it’s never too many. The problem is making sure you start with enough. I would rather have 5 extras than lose the only one I planted.
I base it a little more on my setup which does 4 trays currently. Most seeds are cheap. I do 2 seeds per cup even though I get very high germination for tomatoes though some other veggies are lower. I then clip the weak one later. I’ll give away if I grow too many.
The problem is when you don’t know what you want or want to experiment, it’s hard to justify buying the better value packets.
People are also willing to share.
Also, an OK seed company will mark your pack as “low germination” if there’s an issue. So you know to plant extra in case of failure. A GREAT company will overpack the packet, as well so you can plant extra without feeling ripped off.
You can also hedge your luck by pre-opening and pre-soaking certain seeds. Melons and Cucurbits, it’s helpful to snip just the very edge of the fat end then soak overnight before planting. It really helps the moisture get to the part that actually needs to get out.
Hibiscus is another where it really helps to take something and break a bit of the outer shell off. It’s a delicate process. Some people use sandpaper but I found I did better just snipping them gently with some shears.
Carrots do well watered in nice and wet then covered with a wood board or cardboard for the first week or so…. it always helps to research if there are any tricks to help germination with whatever you’re planting. I wasted like 3 years failing at hibiscus before I figured out cracking them open. lol.
Here is what I consider a really good tutorial on starting onions from the owner of MIGardener Seeds, Luke Marion. He actually grew up working on one of the largest onion farms in Michigan – so I think he’s earned his stripes to give advice. Germination rates in onion seed aren’t as good as other plants so I always plant a few extra.
After starting my own seeds for many years, I’m seeing some recommendations here on the thread that I would question.
[https://youtu.be/l3WtWxWClvg?si=yz_y-qOBp47onAkn](https://youtu.be/l3WtWxWClvg?si=yz_y-qOBp47onAkn)
I direct seed into the garden many of the vegetables I grow. Carrots, lettuce, arugula, endive, escarole, beans, peas, spinach, okra, beets, radish, corn all are direct seeded in my garden, but I’m in Texas with a long growing season and not Michigan like the OP. Shorter growing season areas might have do more seeding for transplanting to fit in some of these vegetables into the growing season. Most standard packets of unpelleted lettuce seed have 300-500 seeds per package. I generally seed lettuce pretty liberally and thin later. With direct seeding out into the garden beds, there’s more chance of attrition from pests so being liberal with the seeding helps to prevent gaps later.
For vegetables that I seed in containers or trays to transplant later, I might generally triple up so if I want one tomato plant, I use three seeds. One cucumber, three seeds. One broccoli, three seeds. If the seed is especially old, I might do an extra seed or two. If the seed is especially expensive, maybe I’m more careful. I try to avoid using very expensive seed. Some hybrid seed for particular vegetables is very expensive and I am very careful with those seeds, but it’s rare when I plant the latest and greatest high dollar hybrid seeds.
Many of the seed packs I get I don’t use it all before it gets too old to germinate or the seed is very inexpensive. Some types of vegetable seed only realistically lasts a year or two without special measures to store it and others might be good for five years. In my little garden, I probably have more cases where I can’t use all the seed in a package before the seed expires.
Some of my vegetables, I save seed. Arugula, basil, tomatoes, okra, I save seeds, but these are non hybrid varieties.
With good quality seed, for tomatoes… if I want 10 plants, I’ll start 15, choose the strongest and give away extras. For onions, I just buy a pack of seed (check that you are getting the right variety for your latitude) and sprinkle it directly into a prepared bed, cover and let nature do its thing. So it depends. But make sure you’re starting with good seed.