Upgrade for the Seedlings
Josh spent several hours moving the seedlings I planted on March 14 from the six-celled flats to larger pots (peat) this evening. Since I put more than one seed in each cell they were really crowded.
Peppers
We really needed to move them earlier, at least a week ago. The tomatoes are looking especially bad; these peppers are OK but also stunted. We left all the plants in the dark for the night to let them recoup a bit and establish their roots before using light to grow (light = leaves).
The starts really do well under these plastic humidity domes that we found at Worm’s Way. Without them, especially in the winter when the heat is on, they seem to dry out pretty fast. Just be careful not to over-water plants that are under these.
Under the Dome
I had a lot of trouble using the plastic tops that came with my seedling flats. Mine would grow fungus and damp off after just a day or two.
The domes we purchased have little vents on them to control the moisture. I just watered them a lot and kept the vents closed. Now i am just using the domes over peat pots. This will help some of the moisture evaporate while ensuring that they have an adequate amount of moisture to keep them happy. With the plastic trays and dome on top, the water has no where to go, so it just sits on the plants waterlogging them. The peat pots help to evaporate some of that moisture (the dome sits on top of the peat pots.