Saw my neighbor's raised bed garden after 8 weeks and changed my mind about starting from seed

I was dead set on buying transplants this spring because last year I had a 70% failure rate with seed trays. Then Mark showed me his setup with a simple heat mat and dome from a restaurant supply store, and the roots on his tomatoes looked way better than any of my store-bought starts. Anyone else switch back to seeds because of what a friend was doing?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_seth4d ago

Used to be a transplant only guy. Saw the light though after helping a buddy with his seedling setup. He had this janky heat pad and some cheap domes, made a huge difference. Roots were way more developed than anything I bought at the nursery. Now I'm all in on seeds for tomatoes and peppers, just need to get the heat right.

fisher.reese4d ago

Read something similar about root development with heat mats versus nursery starts, sounds like the extra bottom warmth really toughens up the root system. Makes me wonder if the pros are using some trick we don't know about.