Best pots for starting seeds

OldPork

Well-Known Member
I have always used solo cups for starting my seeds, however I always seem to have a stretching problem.
Can anyone suggest a seed starter container that keeps the stretch to a minimum?
 

Richard Drysift

Well-Known Member
Give them lots of light and airflow in the beginning of their life to induce a short fat stem. Crappy lighting causes stems to grow long which screws up the whole plant structure even before they really start vegging. The key to better yields later on is to start the plant off with tight nodal branching from the get go; any stretching toward the light seriously diminishes the number of potential bud sites. Moving crappy lights closer helps to a point but can also result in singed leaves. I suggest vegging under a T5, T8, or 400w; proper lighting really does make a huge difference in your end yield.
Ok so I thought this thread was about the best seed starter containers. I would like to share my exp to help fellow growers reduce and recycle stuff they might already have on hand. Of all the cups I've tried using to pop seeds over the years I found Activia yogurt cups to be the best for my situation. They are thin and easy to poke holes in for drainage. They have little white tabs that are perfect to write the strain on with a sharpie. Solo cups work great too don't get me wrong but you can fit a whole lot more of these smaller yogurt cups on a seed heater mat than you can with solos. I pop a lot of seeds btw and then transfer them to solos for sexing once they get to about the 5th node. Transplants are so easy with these activia cups because you just snip the square top tab in a few spots and pull down to split the cup. The plastic is so thin they rip right in half so you can put a finger under the root ball and slide the whole thing out in one piece. Sometimes you can just push up from the bottom and the root ball pops right out. Best thing is they cost nothing except for the yogurt which we buy every week anyway. I get a nearly 100% germination rate when I pop seeds in a yogurt cup straight into recycled soil covered loosely with a ziplock bag over the top on a seed mat. The bag comes off and they get moved in to a tray as soon as they sprout. They can be watered either directly with a spray mister or by filling the tray underneath them passively.
 

sunny747

Well-Known Member
Stretch sounds like a light or heat issue, but I did so Jorge Cervantez do a video on the shape of the pot. He cites that straight wall sides are best... So yes, the yogurt cups may be more ideal..
 

vostok

Well-Known Member
I have always used solo cups for starting my seeds, however I always seem to have a stretching problem.
Can anyone suggest a seed starter container that keeps the stretch to a minimum?
I'm still piddling about in my 4 inch starter pots for the last few years they hold about a pint 600-650ml

and re re used 100's of times it took ages for me to find the ones I like

and about the same as a solo cup too

tho I agree with Richards post above...I like to advise using the right color lighting

cool white makes short shitty plants as warm white makes tall stretchy plants

so for geming and vegging... IMO gio for a mix of 50/50

good luck
 
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