I mostly use black seed flats with plastic 6-packs (recycled from when I used to buy more flower transplants) in them. Since I no longer buy much in the way of transplants, I am switching over more and more to just using paper cups or plastic cups (with holes poked in the bottom to facilitate drainage) as my recycled 6-pack containers are getting old and disintegrating.

When starting in cups, I tend to start with the tiny bathroom cups. If I am starting something like tomatoes or peppers that benefit from having a larger root system, I'll pot up to larger cups as they grow.

If I am starting something that doesn't like to be transplanted, I cut the bottoms off the tiny paper cups with scissors. Then I line up the cups in the black flats and fill them with a seed-starting mix and plant. When it is time to transplant, I can either plant the whole thing, cup and all, or pop the plant out of the cup and into the ground. When I pull up those plants later on, the paper cup comes up with the roots and it all goes onto the compost pile together.

I use sterile soil-less seed-starting mixes for most vegetable and herb seeds and for any hard-to-germinate or picky flower seeds, and use a high-quality soil-less container mix for everything else, including wintersown flowers.

I don't like peat pellets much although I used them some in the past. They tend to hold too much moisture when they are inside on the plant shelves, and once the plants are outside hardening off, they dry out too quickly. I like peat pots even less because they tend to wick mositure away from the plants once they are in the ground and sometimes the young plants have a difficult time working their way through the bottom of the plantable peat pots. You can, however, get around that by using a knife to slash a big X in the bottom of each plantable peat pot so the roots can escape through the X.

You can use just about anything that will hold soil and yet also drain well as trays or pots for seed-starting. As I pot up into bigger cups, I tend to put those larger cups and their heavier plants in aluminum lasagna pans (the really large ones that are heavy-duty) purchased somewhere like Wal-Mart because they are sturdier than the black plastic flats.

I don't spend a lot of money for the fancy seed-starting setups sold in catalogs and at some nurseries because it just isn't necessary.

Dawn

Agreeing with Dawn, I use whatever I have around the house, converting everything from small sour cream containers, to styrofoam cups, to water bottles that I cut around the top 1/3 and leave about an inch still attached so I can use for a lid that is ventilated (leave the cap off) so on cold days I can flip it over the bottom part for added warmth and humidity. Small to-go containers, toilet paper rolls (stuff with soil, add seed and stand up 3 or more of them in a butter dish. These can be planted directly in the ground. Use a paper towel roll and cut into thirds for 3 pots.

There are little kits for making paper pots out there, but you may be able to find instructions on various websites for making them. They can also be planted directly in the ground.

Pots that are biodegradable are not only environmentally friendly, but you avoid transplanting seedlings that dislike having their roots disturbed.

Once you have the idea in your head about creating pots from almost anything you can imagine, you'll find yourself becoming obsessed with it! Aha! This looks like a good container! Small ice cream containers, dip, salsa, margarine or butter, cottage cheese, pringles cans cut down, small paper bags, and the list is virtually endless.

Susan

The last several years I have used newspaper pots. There are instructions for how to make them in my blog on one of the gardening pages. Last fall I bought some seed-starting disks and so far I'm liking them. The seed seems to germinate really fast in them. I realize the plants won't be able to grow in there very long before I have to transplant them into something else. I've been saving styrofoam soft-drink cups and I bought a big bag of the smaller size (probably 12 oz). I think the coffee-cup size are too small to transplant into but I have used them to plant seed into, with a sandwich over the top to preserve the moisture. I think Dawn's idea about slashing the bottoms of the peat disks at transplant time is a good idea. Mine have a kind of a "film" covering to hold the peat together. I might even just take an exacto knife and open that up on the sides to alleviate the drying-out problem. This is my first year for using the disks so time will tell. I sure like how cheap and easy they are, though. I have had trouble finding just the right mix for seed germination, in the past.

Here is a link that might be useful: How to make paper cups (scroll down)

I usually use the 1020 trays or plug trays for what I start inside. For winter sowing this year I will use 16 ounce cups filled up half way for the tomatoes. Then as they grow fill the cup up and transplant from there. When using the trays I usually only pot up once. Some feel you need to pot up to change the tap root. From my experience and that of other growers that isn't necessary. I have had great results with tomatoes sown directly in the ground. With 4-5 hundred plants or more I try to limit the potting up as much as possible. I transplanted plants 4-6 inches tall directly to the garden last year with great results. Like mentioned you can use anything that you desire. The reason I like the trays is I can plant several in one tray and takes less room up on my germination shelves. I do disinfect them good every year before reusing them. Jay

I use the cell packs, too, for a lot of things. I also use cups, yogurt containers, baby food containers (the plastic ones), toilet paper and paper towel rolls, etc, etc. There's not much I won't use. LOL I've also done the newspaper pots but have never bothered with the peat stuff myself.

Diane

I just wanted to point out that you can use a diluted solution of Chamomile tea to prevent damping off of your tiny seedlings. It works! You may already know this, but I just need to remind myself of these tricks sometimes. Me poor wee brain and all....

Susan

Ilene, How long does it take them to eat the sandwich????

lol

I saw these, at the Master Gardeners Booth at the Home and Garden Show.

{{gwi:1079820}}

I mainly use kitty litter pans, purchased at Walmart. They're the right depth for my plants, and size for my planter, etc. They generally last a couple of years too.

George

LOL, I left out a word! Should've read "sandwich BAG". Too funny! But y'all knew what I meant.

Ilene,
Anyone that wears AT Crocs and a Bee costume I don't try to second guess what they say or their actions. LOL. Jay

LOL! I had to search for that missed word, but it was worth it! I do things like that all the time, :).

thanx for all the input, now i have reinforcement for my naturally ocurring hoarding instincts..........will be creative on reusing containers and try the cups too.My main fustration with using the flats I bought to use first was I do just a few seeds of many kinds as my garden is small.Without thinking it through I had so many different heights in one flat that I could not keep the right distance from the lights.So tried the peat pellets but not so happy with them.So think the cups and misc containers sound better.

leava - You can still use the flats because you will need something solid to keep the containers in for watering. Most trays aren't strong enough to pick up when loaded down with containers, but they do keep things dry.

My peppers always seem to grow at different rates so I shift things around so that tall and short ones are not side by side, or short ones are in the middle and tall on outside, etc. If your lights are on chains you can make one end lower than the other.

I like for my tomatoes to grow with lots of light but not a lot of heat, so I try to grow mine in a cooler room once they have germinated. I also find that the shelf ABOVE the light provides the right amount of heat for germination. I have flats with dome covers that I put on the shelf above, only until germination has occured. As soon as I see the first sprout I move all of that type to the shelf below and under a light that is very low over the plant.

On things that are in larger pots, I also use kitty litter pans from the dollar store like George does. It makes things easier to move outside on nice days since I can carry several containers at one time inside the pan.

For wintersowing which is all done outside, I like gallon milk jugs, and I don't mind having to pull the plants apart or prick them out for transplanting because I have all of the mess outside.

For my light shelf planting, I make soil blocks. I have two different sizes of soil block makers and if something doesn't germinate I just throw the block back in and reuse the soil. With new seeds I get a very high rate of germination tho.

Since I plant a few tomatoes of a lot of different kinds, I use very small blocks and put as many blocks as I need onto a small piece of aluminum foil. I leave enough foil on the ends that I can pick up the whole group of blocks and move them out of the flat and to the light self once they germinate without disturbing the other blocks. I have a marker on the foil with them. When I am ready to pot them up, I make the remainder of the markers (one for each pot). I pot up after the tomato plant has it's first two real leaves. I partially fill the pot, pick up the soil block with my fingers, place it in the pot and fill in around it with soil, and mark it. Mid February is probably about the right time for me to start tomatoes. I usually plant pepper seeds at the same time, but I hold them a little longer in pots before putting them in the garden so I can make sure the cold weather is really over.

In spite of careful planning, I still have to cover tomatoes some nights. I usually use nursery flower pots for covering them. It takes two per plant so I can stack them so the holes don't match up.

After I have moved them outside, but they are not yet in the garden, I try to keep the tender ones on a small wagon that I can push into a building if cold weather threatens. Sometimes it gets cold enough that I have to move them back inside where there is heat, and sometimes just pushing them inside a shed that keeps off frost and wind is enough.

It sounds complicated, but it isn't. It does require quiet a lot of time and effort tho. Many people seem to think you are just throwing a seed in a pot and don't realize the work and cost involved to get them ready for the garden. Of course, there is also the risk involved, because if you make the wrong decision one night and they freeze, then all is lost.