Starting Seedlings in a Jiffy Professional Greenhouse

This year I decided to grow my plants from seedlings vs. buying an array of already grown flowers or young veggie plants. I went to the store and purchased a Jiffy Professional Greenhouse that can house up to 72 plants. It comes with a base tray, 72 compressed peat pellets (36mm), and a clear dome. I first purchased 1 tray and was skeptical about growing plants from seeds. Within a week I had greenery sprouting up all over the tray. I now have 5 trays and wish I had more room to grow!

The instructions are very simple to use and there is little to no mess, so easy to use I sowed the seeds in the kitchen. Jiffy has 2 different types of peat pellets, one pellet is encased in a white netting and the second is encased in a clear netting. I have had better luck with the white netting and I am not sure why, but this is the one I recommend. The directions are on the back of the package and very easy to use.

I prepared my pellets by using a 4 cup liquid measuring cup with warm water and pouring it over the pellets until I had measured out 10 1/2 cups of warm water. I then waited about 10 minutes for all the water to be absorbed, peeled back the netting and made small holes in the peat with my pinky finger. From there I planted my seeds into the hole and covered up the seeds with the peat from the pellet. ***Please note: When sowing seeds it is important to look at how long it takes the seeds to germinate. You want to plant the seeds with the like germination time in the same greenhouse. Otherwise if you plant a seed that will sprout in 10 days with a different kind of seed that sprouts in 21 days, the seed that takes longer to grow will most likely not sprout. (Or at least not in my experience.)****

Now if you are planting a bunch of the same plants then you don't have to worry about labeling which plant is which. If you are like me and went crazy buying seeds then you need to "map" out your greenhouse. This specific greenhouse has 6 rows across(the long way) and 12 rows down (the short way) I took a piece of scrap paper and drew out a 6X12 grid. From there I labeled the rows with the different types of greenery I planted. This is easiest to do as you are planting the seeds that way you don't forget! (I did forget to do this step and I have some mystery plants only to be discovered their true identity once they are fully grown.) Also you need to keep in mind if you have more then 1 greenhouse tray you need to be able to identify them as well I numbered my greenhouse trays with those circular yard sale stickers and put that number on the corresponding greenhouse map. SO....if i am looking at the map the number is in the upper right hand corner and the sticker is on the bottom tray on the right hand corner, that way there is no confusion to which way the map goes.

Once your seeds are covered with peat, you've numbered your greenhouses, and mapped them out as well, it is time to cover them with the clear plastic lid. You will notice once the lid is on that the moisture and heat (from the warm water) starts to cloud up the lid....THAT IS GOOD! The seeds need the moisture to germinate. Now it is time to place your green house out of direct sunlight in a relatively warm place. I kept mine in the unfinished part of the basement off of the cement floor.

Check back on your seedlings! You don't want the peat to dry out and you don't want to over water either! Once you see sprouting of green I have found that if you wait till about 90% of the plants have sprouted before you vented the top of the green house you will yield more plants.

Good Luck!