What are those tiny seedlings? Part I

Wondering what those plants are that have sprouted in the garden?

The picture above shows spinach as it has just sprouted. The little seedling to the right of the left hand spinach looks a lot like a beet, but it's the seed leaves of a related plant called variously lamb's quarters or pig weed (chenopodium album) which is my first harvest after the volunteer mustard.  The little plant with the round lobes below the spinach is ragweed (and there's another tinier seedling with yellow-green round leaves, which is also a weed)  It looks a little bit like a lettuce seedling right now.  One of the ways to tell the difference is to look around and see if the seedling appears in the path, in other plots and the path.  Then you can assume it's probably a weed.

These are the seed leaves of radishes, but this is also what any of the coles (cabbage family. think coleslaw) would look like.  So if you've planted broccoli from seed, or kale, or bok choi, cauliflower, brussels sprouts or mustards, this is also what the seed leaves would look like.  The seed leaves are also called cotyledons, and they generally do not look like the "true leaves" that come next and grow and nourish the plant.  These two seed leaves were part of the seed itself, ready to unfurl when it sprouted. This is easiest to see in a bean, which easily splits apart into the two cotyledons.

Under Lights

The lights needed for growing vegetable starts are simple and inexpensive.  To start my tomato, pepper, and cole plants I use 3 sets of 4 foot flourescent shop lights side by side.  Under those lights I've started 100 each of tomatoes and peppers, and three dozen broccoli/cabbage plants.  I admit that by the middle of April I'm usually taking the plants outside for part or all of the day, and sometimes in early May when it's colder and rainier than I had planned on it being (meaning I didn't plan!) I've had to platoon them, growing half under lights during the night and putting them in a totally dark room during the day, and then the other half under the lights all day, and in the dark room at night.  As long as they spend time in total darkness they won't get leggy, even if they have to spend a couple of days there continuously.

The real key is to have the lights be no more than 3-4 inches above the seedlings.  To accomplish this I raise the lights gradually as the plants grow.  Here comes the part where you should not do what I do:  I rest the ends of the fixtures on books (an old set of encyclopedias), and this means that with some of the brands of fixtures the bulbs themselves rest on the books.  This can't be a good thing.  They never get hot, but I'm still not sure it's safe (informed opinions about this would be welcome in comments), and it would be better to have an arrangement where the lights could be lowered and raised by chains, as the fixture always comes with holes for an S hook to hold the chain.  Some brands of fixtures are designed such that the metal shade extends below the lights, and these are the ones to look for if you're going out to buy them.

The light stands that are sold by gardening centers do generally have a way to lower the lights by chains, but they are very expensive.  At best, you could build a modest arrangement to do this yourself.  Make sure you can put at least two units side by side, as I find that there's not enough light to satisfy plants off to the side.  If you're planning on putting flats under the lights you'll definitely need two-or three sets side by side.   As a temporary arrangement planks or 2x4's straddling workhorses, with hooks that would let you attach the fixtures' chains, might possibly be safer than my arrangement.  No matter what you do, make sure that neither children nor pets can upset the lights.

Fortunately I have a 6 foot table in a back room that I can dedicate to this project, so I'm not getting down on the floor to water little seedlings.  I drape the table with 6 mil plastic, and I'm all set to go.

This picture shows the dilemma I face with just these 3 sets of lights.  I have tiny seedlings 3 inches under the lights, and tomatoes that are growing right up into the lights.  It's time to transplant the tomatoes, and I'll need to raise the flat of tiny seedlings so they're closer to the lights.  The tomatoes are a little leggy.  That's mostly because there have been days I've never turned on the lights at all (sigh), and also because I should have bought new bulbs this season, and didn't.  Even though the lights still turn on, they lose brightness over time, and should be replaced every year.  But the tomatoes will be fine when transplanted, and the camera angle is also exaggerating how tall they are.  They tiny seedlings look okay, as you can see. (And yes, the tomatoes are a little yellower than they should be. need fertilizer)

Planting tiny seeds

I'm about to start a lot of herbs and flowers with tiny seeds - seeds that are much too small to handle either by hand or with tweezers.  I still want to plant only a controlled number per cell, though, so I want to plant them individually.  The trick is to use a dampened toothpick.  Dip the end of the toothpick in water, touch it to a seed, and then touch it to the potting soil.  Most of the time it will transfer to the potting soil, but occasionally you'll have to wipe it off the toothpick.  Clearly, these are much too small to start in paper towels, too.  They need to be planted directly in germinating mix or potting soil.  They don't need to be covered with more soil!  Very few seeds do.  But you will need to see that the surface of the soil doesn't dry out, either by covering with plastic until some seeds start to germinate, or by misting lightly periodically.

The picture shows one arm of a tweezer with the tip of a toothpick resting on it, with one snapdragon seed on the end of the toothpick.  I've shown one cabbage seed with the snapdragon seeds for comparison

Update:  This is what some of the tiniest seeds look like 3 weeks after planting:

My Car, the Greenhouse

It's 42 today and sunny.  Feels like spring.  Too cold for the seeds I want to sprout, but they would benefit from full sun as soon as they start up, so I'll perch them on the back window ledge in my car.  I'll have to open the window to keep them from getting too warm.  I do this frequently when I need more space under the lights, and just to give the seedlings a better quality of light. If they've only been under indoor flourescents they can burn quite easily, so only a couple hours the first time, or until you know they're fine.  They don't always show a sunburn until the next day, when they'll be white if they've gotten too much sun.

Started Seeds Today March 3rd

(Updates below)
My first seed starting day.  I didn't have time this morning to get germinating mix into the 98-cell tray I start most things in, so I started only those early things I could start in paper towels.  I start in paper towels for several reasons:

1) I can "start" my seeds without having to get everything into soil.
2) I can keep some of the seeds that take a long time to start (like peppers) warm and sterile for much of the time they are germinating (in the case of peppers, about 3 weeks).
3)  I don't have to start extra seeds in each cell and face the dreaded thinning process. 
4) It goads me to start the process.  It takes so little time to start seeds this way, but I know I have to be ready to plant them in soil when the time comes, or I'll lose them.

So I check the seeds every day and see if any have germinated, and plant them just as soon as a root starts to show.  If I forget to do this, I'll easily lose some seeds, since the roots grow long and tangled and into the paper towel, and it's a mess.  No savings, then.  In reality, I don't start checking peppers for about 10 days; I start checking as early as I could possibly find germinated seeds.

I cut paper towels, label with a black sharpie, put a few seeds on the paper towel and fold it up, dip it in water, and store in a plastic bag or plastic container.

Today I started:
Most of my onions (I really didn't need to start in paper towels.  I'll be planting several in a cell, anyway).

Hollyhocks

Asparagus

Rhubarb

A few each of some plants I will start more of later.  The tomatoes will give me just a few plants that will be very early, and I won't be as tempted to start all my tomatoes too early.  Tomatoes and peppers started today will be as big as the nice big plants from Claussens in 4 inch pots.  But they will take a tremendous amount of room by then, and it's a real juggling job if it's cold in May and they have to stay under lights later than I intended:

Solist Chinese Cabbage

Early Green Cabbage

Veronica Romanesco broccoli

Beaverlodge plum tomato

glacier tomato

New Girl tomato

Sun Gold Tomato

Ace Pepper

Jalapeno M Pepper

Mariachi Pepper

Carmen Pepper

March 6 update - Onions, coles, and hollyhocks had sprouted.  Here's what the onions seeds looked like - most are sprouted more than I would have liked.  Should have checked them yesterday.  So I planted them  in 1in cells.

March 7 update- The Soloist Chinese Cabbage is up today.  I'll plant more later, but this gives me just a couple to be really early.