Starting seeds indoors
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I picked up five little Balloon Flower plants on 1/2 price sale at Home Depot. Very pretty- and hardy to -20 degrees! Now I want more but they won’t be available again until Spring and the regular price was $8/each!
I can get a package of seeds for about $6 and the recommendation is to start them indoors about 2 months before the last frost. I’ve never done that before.
How difficult is it to do? What sort of setup should I use?
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Just a sunny spot and one of those trays with multiple starter slots.
https://www.indoorvegetablegrower.com/growing-balloon-flowers-from-seed/
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They are very pretty! I just saw a bunch of them in someone's front yard and pointed them out to my walking buddy.
I think I had a plant or two many years ago, but there wasn't enough sun for them in my yard so they didn't thrive.
Looks like you can grow them from cuttings or from seeds. I didn't know that they have a tap root that doesn't like to be disturbed, so divisions aren't a good idea.
https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-grow-balloon-flowers-4125528
I save the trays and containers from the veggie plants that I buy and start my seeds in those. I have the screen room , so that gives me kind of a greenhouse to start seeds or to harden off seeds I may have started under lights in the basement.
There are inexpensive little greenhouses that you can buy that allow you to harden off plants you might start in a sunny window. Something like this:
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I really don’t have a suitable sunny window and I’m thinking about growing them in the basement. I see self-watering kits that might be good If I forget to go downstairs and water them.
There seem to be about 20 different kinds of grow lights -any preferences? Do I put them on a timer for something like 12 hours on, 12 hours off?
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I never invested in real grow lights and simply used my fluorescent, and later LED, shop lights to grow orchids in the basement. Those did OK, but the orchids are all long gone because I got tired of taking care of them.
Shop lights that don't have bulbs with the proper spectrum don't work very well; the seedlings are usually pretty spindly. When I've looked at what a decent setup would cost, I haven't wanted to spend that much money. I just buy the veggie seedlings I need from a nursery or direct sow seeds into the garden.
