It is now late March and getting almost warm enough here in my neck of the woods to start setting some seeds in seed trays. I think it’s still too early to sow seeds directly in the soil, but I believe it’s warm enough to start in seeds trays.
That’s what I will be demonstrating in this article. There are many different types of seed trays available for use. You can purchase store-bought trays, peat pot trays, or if you want to be extra frugal, you can make your own.
Burpee Seed Starting Tray
I decided to try a very interesting seed tray I found the other day. It is the Burpee Ultimate Seed Starting System
Burpee Seed Starting Tray Features
To start off with the seed tray contains 72 planting containers for starting your favorites seeds. That’s quite a bit of plants – should be more than enough for the average vegetable gardener. I will give a brief description of each part of this tray and its function.
The Water Tray
The Water Tray
The first part of the tray I want to focus on is the water tray. The water tray is the very bottom of the seed tray and holds the water for keeping your seeds at optimum watering levels. The water tray holds quite a bite of water; it took right at a gallon to fill it.
The Growing Tray Support
Growing Tray Support
The next item of the Burpee Seed Starting Tray is the growing tray support piece. This support holds the growing tray up over the water in the water tray. It looks like a little table. This piece sits down inside the watering tray.
The Watering Mat
The Watering Mat
Now we are getting to the good stuff. The watering mat is where the magic and simplicity of the Burpee Seed Starting Tray come into play.
The watering mat is a black mat that is highly absorbent. It is slick and smooth on the top side, yet very rough and fuzzy on the bottom side.
The function of the watering mat is the heart of the Burpee Seed Starting Tray. This mat soaks up the water from the water tray to the peat pods that your seeds are placed in. I will discuss this process in more detail later.
The Growing Tray
Growing Tray With Included Growing Cubes
If the watering mat is the heart of the Burpee Seed Starting Tray, then the growing tray is the brain. This is where your seeds grow into the pride and joy of your vegetable garden. This is where the real work happens.
As mentioned previously, the growing tray has 72 containers for your seeds. These containers all feature a Burpee exclusive Growing Cube. The growing cube is a peat pod that expands after becoming wet. Your seeds are then placed inside the softened growing cubes to germinate, and viola! – you are on your way to a great vegetable garden.
The Clear Greenhouse Dome
The Clear Greenhouse Dome
The Clear Greenhouse Dome is basically a lid for the growing tray. This is a fantastic feature of the Burpee Seed Starting Tray. The clear greenhouse dome will allow your seeds to germinate faster and get better seedling results. The greenhouse dome helps to promote a superior environment for the germination of your seeds. As the name implies, this feature acts in the same manner as a greenhouse.
It is not a very good picture, but with it being clear it was hard to photograph.
Plant Markers
Included Plant Markers
Last but not least, the Burpee Seed Starting Tray comes with 12 really nice plant markers. These plant markers are a must have for identifying where you planted what. After you cover the seeds with the peat pod, you might not remember which row you planted which seed after a week or two. These plant markers are a valuable if you are planting the same type of vegetables but different cultivars (for example, I plant two different kinds of cucumbers – Straight 8 and Marketmore 76).
Setting Up The Burpee Seed Starting Tray
The first thing to do when setting up the Burpee Seed Starting Tray is to determine the location. Where you put the seed tray needs to be sturdy – the tray holds a lot of water and will be heavy.
Which brings me to my next point; make sure the location you choose to put the seed tray is where you will keep it before filling with water. After it is full of water the tray will be very difficult to move. Make sure the location is in a sunny place and away from animals or children that could knock it over.
Once you have found just the right spot, take a few minutes to decide how many plants you want to start in the tray and how you want to arrange your seed tray. Perhaps you want to start six different plants – you could then start two rows of each plant in the tray (if you look at the rows going short ways). You could start different plants – one per row (long ways). There are many combinations you can choose with this seed tray.
Getting It All Ready
Once you have determined your seed arrangements, place the water tray in your location. Make sure that it is sitting level. If it is not level you could end up with water pouring out of one end.
The second step is to place the growing tray support inside the water tray. Make sure you have the flat side of the growing tray support up. The seed starting tray should now look like the picture below.
Water Tray With Support Tray Installed
The next step is to place the watering mat on top of the growing tray support. Make sure you put the watering mat with the black, shiny side up, and that it is centered on the support tray.
Tuck the ends of the watering mat down into the water tray. The watering mat should be touching the bottom of the water tray for maximum performance. It is vital your seeds get the water they need to germinate.
After tucking the water mat, you need to thoroughly soak the watering mat with water. Pour a about three glasses of water evenly over the watering mat to give it a good soak. Let the water drain down into the water tray.
The next step would be to set the growing tray. Check to make sure each planting container has a growing cube inside it.
Side view Of The Growing Cube
Now it is time to make sure each growing cube is positioned correctly inside each container. The growing cube should be flat side down for the best results.
There is a hole at the bottom of each growing tray container; this is to allow the watering mat to feed the growing cube a steady supply of water for your seeds and seedlings. Very ingenious system!
Holes In Growing Tray Supply Water To Your Seeds
Stacking Up
Once you have the growing cubes situated correctly, place the growing tray onto the watering mat. At this times, you may want to scoot the support tray and growing tray assembly all the way over to one side in the water tray. It does not matter which way you move the growing tray and support assembly. Moving these to one side makes future watering easier.
Position of Growing Tray Assembly
You will notice in my picture that the planting containers on the end are hanging off the watering mat a bit. This should be corrected by moving the growing tray over so the hole in the bottom is in good contact with the watering mat. If not, the seeds planted on that row may not get the water it needs in order to germinate or survive.
Make The Growing Cubes Come Alive
After adjusting the seed starting tray assembly to your satisfaction, it is time to activate the growing cubes. This is accomplished by pouring hot water over each growing cube.
Pour Hot Water Over Growing Cubes To Activate
After a couple minutes you will see the growing cubes come alive as they expand. After you have completed this step, the growing tray should like something like this:
Growing Pods After Adding Hot Water
Now smooth out the expanded growing cubes so that each growing container is level with the growing container. There may be some cases where one growing cube does not expand as much as others; that’s OK. You can take the excess from one and fill the depleted growing container.
Growing Cubes After Leveling
Planting The Seeds
You are ready to start planting your seeds in the planting containers. The initial step is grabbing your seed packets.
My Seed Packets
This is the methods I used for planting the seeds:
1. First, I choose which seed I want to plant in the first row of the growing container. I use my finger to poke a hole into the moist peat to the specified planting depth on the back of the seed packet. After this is completed, I place two or three seeds in each hole, as in the picture below.
Seeds Placed In Each Growing Container
2. I then use my finger to lightly cover the seeds with the peat mixture. Try to avoid mashing or pressing down while doing this. Repeat this step for each vegetable seed type in the row/s.
Cover Seeds With Peat
I like to do one vegetable at a time ( all the cucumbers, then all the squash, then the okra, etc., for example). This reduces the chances of mixing things up. You want to keep your seed tray organized so you will not have any problems when setting them out in the garden.
3. Create your plant marker after finishing each individual vegetable type. Once again, this is to ensure no confusion. Use a Sharpie marker, or other type of permanent marker to write down the name of the vegetable on the plant marker, and insert the marker in the corresponding rows. Use can organize the markers any way you like, and use as many as you need to accomplish your goals.
Make Sure To Use The Included Plant Markers
For example, in the picture above I created a plant marker titled “S-neck Squash” for my two rows of straightneck squash.
Continue this for each vegetable you are planting until you are finished.
Put A Lid On It
We are almost finished setting up our Burpee Seed Starting tray. There are just a couple more very important steps left.
Place the Clear Greenhouse Dome on top of the growing containers. Make sure the plant makers are all the way down in their respective planting containers so they do not interfere with the greenhouse dome.
Place The Greenhouse Dome On Top
If you are keeping your seed starting tray outdoors, there is one final step. You need to take some garden twine or yarn and tie the lid lightly down to the growing tray. If you don’t the wind will blow it off before you can blink.
Tie The Greenhouse Dome To Prevent It From Blowing Off
When I said lightly, I meant very lightly. You still want to be able to pick the greenhouse dome up an inch or two after it’s tied. You want air to be able to get into the assembly. Just tie it enough to keep it from blowing off.
Starting Vegetable Seeds In A Tray…Done!
That’s it! Burpee has done a great job providing gardeners with a very simple, hassle-free, yet clever way of starting our seeds. Sure, it is a bit expensive, but you can use this seed starting tray over and over again. I believe it could be used at least three to four growing seasons – maybe more. You could also use this seed starting tray for flowers.
In my opinion, this system is very hard to beat and well worth the money. Using the Burpee Seed Starting Tray is a great way to kick off the growing season.
If you are interest in purchasing this seed starting tray, you can get it at amazon.com. You could also visit your local Lowe’s, Home Depot, or garden nursery. You could also order it directly from Burpee if you like. I recommend visiting that link if you are interested in more information about the Burpee Seed Starting Tray.
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