Our preferred pots and trays, potting mixes, grow lights and more. While the retail nursery is not currently in operation, we are still producing nursery stock every year to fill our own gardens and stock plantings. I also cultivate an intensive-style vegetable garden, and the supplies I share below work excellently for that as well.
If you have a lot of plants needed to fill your landscaping, it is often the most economical to grow your own from seed. Seed is very inexpensive, even for native plants – I purchase seeds from several companies here in the Midwest, and have had very good results. You can usually purchase a packet of seeds for around $3.00, and this usually includes around one hundred seeds – You can fill up an area quickly with plants for minimal investment!
I’ll try to include some links to the seed companies I use in our website links at some point.
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Pots and Trays
Over the years, I have used just about every single available container type for growing plants and sprouting seedlings. I found that the best thing I could do was to standardize as much as possible – Now, I only use about 4 different pot styles and 1 seedling tray that have worked well for us. I use these pots for starting both native plants as well as annuals and vegetable starts – There are some differences in the needs of these types of plants, but in the main I have found that these same pots work well across the board.
My Preferred Seedling Trays – Garland Plastics Narrow Seed Trays from Greenhouse Megastore
By far, the most success I’ve had with seedling trays are the Garland Plastics Narrow Seed Trays – I have tried 1020 trays, and always find that they dry out too quickly for my liking. I also don’t usually need to start that many seeds of one species.
These trays are a good width for the plant shelves and grow bulb fixtures I use. I find with 1020 trays I can only get 2 of them on one shelf, but with the narrow seed trays I get the equivalent of three 1020 trays, making the most of my limited grow light space.
The thing I like the most about these seed trays is how versatile they are – The capabilities are just about endless for these trays. These are my favorite for winter sowing seeds, I’ll try to link to an article on this at some point. You can either purchase the seed trays with holes which go into these trays, or use pots and inserts. I also can use cell packs in the trays – My standard is the 72-cell 6-pack inserts which I’ll list further down this article. I can manage these packs well, and the seedlings grow quickly enough to up-pot to a larger pot within a few months.
Narrow Seed Tray
This is the base of my personal “seedling system” – These black injection-molded trays are high quality and durable, and very reasonably priced for the quality. I’ve been using these going on nearly 10 years now.
Narrow Seed Tray With Holes
I use these trays mainly for winter sowing, but they are also great for growing lettuce and greens in under the grow lights! They are also good for bulk starting small-seeded plants that you plan on pricking out to transplant into larger pots.
Humidity Domes for Narrow Seed Tray
These are the most expensive component of the system, but ironically the part that’s the most fragile. I have to replace these every few years, but it definitely makes a difference to have these. I usually take the domes off once the seedlings have a few true leaves.
To get the humidity dome on snugly, you may have to clip the corners of the cell packs – I’ll include a detail below for what I am referring to.
View Narrow Seed Tray Humidity Domes at Greenhouse Megastore
An Economical Propagation Solution: Cell Packs
Using my Narrow Garden Trays as a base, I have found that common, run-of-the-mill cell packs work great for starting seedlings. I find that the smaller tray is easier to move around than a large 1020 tray, and easier to keep watered as well. The durable plastic tray holds water a lot more reliably, in contrast to typical 1020 solid trays that inevitably crack and leak, something you don’t want around your light fixtures.
I have found that for cell packs, the 6-pack cells, 72 cells per 1020 tray, work the best. Four packs fit into the narrow garden trays for a total of 24 cells, and that’s often as much as you need of any one thing to get started.
6-Cell Packs
These are my preferred size cell pack, I use them for starting most of my vegetable starts, garden annuals, and of course, native plant seedlings. For some native plants, I sprout them in a full flat and prick them out, transplanting into these cell packs.
You can purchase these 6-cell packs on Amazon for a reasonable price – Enough packs to fill 9 of the narrow seed trays can be purchased for less than $10.
Planting Pots – Our Favorite Standard Sizes
Individual planting pots come in all shapes and sizes, but I’ve really narrowed it down to 3 different size that I use across the board. These pots are readily available, and easy to use in the system I’ve come up with for ourselves.
4 Inch Round Pot
These pots are a little flimsy, but I find they work great for vegetable starts (Especially tomatoes!) and fibrous-rooted native plants such as phlox, echinacea, pycnanthemum etc.
I have found that these work well in the narrow garden trays, although you can also fit them reasonably well in standard 1020 mesh bottom carry trays. For less than 10 cents per pot, you can hardly beat the price.
2.5 Inch Square Pot
This is the industry standard pot size for young perennial liners, and I find they work well for slower growing native plants started from seed, as well as divisions. These are in between a “plug” and a quart pot, and are very economical for planting large areas. These pots tend to be a little more expensive than the round pots, but they are longer lasting and better at directing downward root growth.
4 Inch Tall Quart Pot
These pots are the industry standard “Quart” pot, and I find they work very well for larger-growing, husky rooted perennials such as switchgrass and native sunflowers. The pots have ribs on the side which further direct root growth downward, reducing root binding. They work well for shrubs and tree seedlings, though I prefer the Root Pouch fabric pots for those.
Potting Mix
It’s always a debate whether to call it “Potting Soil” or “Potting Mix.” I lean towards the latter, as a good potting mix really shouldn’t have any true soil in it. Indeed, “Soilless Growing Media” is the preferred industry term, being used for any combination of peat, coir, composted bark, perlite, vermiculite, etc.
I usually prefer a lighter, peat-based mix for plug flats and seedlings, transitioning to a coarser bark-based mix as the pot size increases. Peat retains water very well, an advantage for small plug flats that dry out quickly; this can cause problems with excess moisture in larger pots however.
Premier Pro Mix BX Soilless Growing Media
This mix is by far the best mix we’ve used. Though it is expensive online, you may be able to beg a bag or two from a nursery near you – You usually have to purchase these in full pallet quantities!
Pro-Mix is the growing media that our family has used on our produce farm to grow vegetable seedlings, and I have used it for annuals and even native perennials to good effect. The mix is inoculated with beneficial micorrhizal fungi and bacteria.
Sunshine Mix #4
Menards used to sell a retail version of Pro-Mix, but unfortunately they don’t carry it any longer, at least not in our area. However, they do sell sunshine mix, which is also inoculated with micorrhizal fungi. While it is great for the larger 2 to 4 inch pots, I find it a little coarse for plug flats without sifting first.
There are some big, well-known retail brands that make potting mixes, but I have never found them to be very good, at least compared to the professional, high-quality mixes I’ve used on GreenTec Nursery and on our family produce farm.
A little bonus tip – I find that having a set of quality soil sifters on hand is very useful. This set from Amazon is more intended for gold panning and is fairly pricey, but I have had this set for years and it has been one of my most used tools. I specially like the smallest size for sifting peat moss and pine bark for growing rhododendrons from seed, as well as the 1/4 inch mesh for filling smaller plug flats.
Grow Lights & Bulbs
I’ve always liked to get a jump on the season for both vegetables and slower-growing perennials that take longer to grow to maturity. I also have found that LED frames are great for starting plants from cuttings since the light is cooler than traditional fluorescent bulbs. We’ve used several different styles, some good and some not-so-good. My advice would be to really do your research, I’m afraid I can’t do this topic justice in this section but I have listed the fixtures we’ve found the best over the years.
***CAUTION – When setting up grow light frames, be very careful about overloading circuits. Newer LED fixtures use a lot less light than the high output 54 watt fluorescents I am using, but they still can overload a circuit if you aren’t careful, risking a fire. Make sure you are using a GFCI circuit breaker on your light setup, doubly so if you’re using a heater as well.***
4ft LED Grow Light Bars
I have alternated between these and fluorescent tube fixtures, and though I personally prefer the fluorescents, there are definitely advantages to the newer LED bulbs. LED’s don’t give off as much warmth, so you may find you need an additional heat mat for seeds that need warmth to sprout.
LED grow lights can be more expensive than older fluorescents, although they are on par for high-output T5 fixtures. What you pay for in cost, though, you make up for in life span and energy efficiency, so you actually end up paying less in the long run.
These light bars are newer versions of the ones I’m using – Mine have a purple cast to them that makes them a little hard on the eyes, the new ones have a full-spectrum hue that is closer to natural daylight. I’m hoping to start replacing my old fixtures with these this year, but I will definitely have to budget for them.
These lights are in kind of a modular arrangement, meaning you can link them together into any configuration you need. I usually figure on 4 bars for an 18 inch shelving unit and 6 for a 24 inch shelf – If you are using 24 inch shelves, you can fit four 1020 trays in the row, maximizing shelf usage and efficiency.
T5 High Output Light Fixture
These are my main light fixtures, in addition to some Hydrofarm 4-bulb T5 fixtures which don’t seem to be available any longer. Fluorescents are slowly being phased out in favor of LEDs, which are more energy-efficient and less environmentally hazardous than fluorescents.
I have been using my fixtures for 7 years now, and a lot of my bulbs are starting to go bad, which isn’t unexpected for fluorescents. I run the lights for about 14 hours per day from February through May.
While these T5 fixtures are still for sale, they may not be a good option in the long run – Even though I have preferred fluorescent light, I’ll probably be experimenting with more LED’s going forward.
Vivosun High-Output T5 Fluorescent Fixture – Link to Amazon Listing
Seedling Shelf Racks – Grow Light Frames
For all the options of pots, potting mixes, lights, and other seedling supplies, there is one thing that has been very easy for me to decide what to use. For grow light frames for raising seedlings, I have always used 5-shelf wire racks – It is easy to hang light fixtures from wire racks, as there are plenty of spots to suspend S-hooks and chains.
Things to look out for in wire shelves are size and finish. I always get the 48 x 18 (or 20) shelves, at least 72 inches tall to give space to raise the lights as seedlings develop. You also want to make sure the finish is durable and waterproof since you’re going to be maintaining a relatively humid environment for your seedlings – I always go for the black powder coat finish over a more fragile and easily damaged chrome finish.
A bonus tip, these shelving units are not just for grow light frames. I have several of these dedicated for supplies storage, they are great for storing your seed starting and gardening supplies!
48 x 20 x 72in H Wire Shelf Unit
I’ve included a link to an Amazon listing, but you can probably find these shelving units reasonably priced at your local “big box” store. These types of items usually are a little more expensive to purchase online because weight and size adds extra shipping costs.