Best Seed Starting Products

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Best Seed Starting Products

There are a few different products I use to start my seeds indoors to get an early start on spring planting. We hope that these products help you as much as they have helped us! Please browse our site to find more in-depth information about how we use some of these products.

Homemade Seed Starting Mix

My homemade seed starting mix is pretty easy to make. I mix the material below together as follows:

When you mix up these ingredients you should definitely moisten the entire mixture to a consistency of a wrung-out sponge.

The worm castings are not required but it does give some nutrients to your mix. Seeds provide all the nutrients your plants need to get started, but once the first set of true leaves start to show, you will need some type of fertilizer in your mix. This is why I like to add worm castings because they are all-natural.

If you feel the need to buy fertilizer, please make sure it is organic! Below are a few good options I would recommend. Keep in mind that young plants do not need the full recommended amounts that may be published on the product. You can reduce/dilute the amounts by at least 50% for young plants.

Seed Starting Mix Products

If you don’t feel like making your own seed starting mix there is nothing wrong with buying your own. I have done in this in the past and have great success! Below are a few options you might want to consider.

Seed Pellets and Trays

I have tried a lot of different products as you might have noticed. I love to experiment! Another cool option for starting your seeds is using peat pellets or peat pots!

Peat Pellets (Amazon Link)

Peat pellets are made of organic materials. You place the peat pellets in water and they magically grow to a cylinder with a little hole in the middle ready for your seed! The nice thing about these is that when you are ready to plant outside, you can plant the entire pellet right in the ground.

Peat Pots (Amazon Link)

Peat pots are similar to the pellets except you have to provide the seed starter mix to fill them up. These are also something you can plant right in the ground when your plants are ready.

6 Cell Plastic Pots (Amazon Link)

If you don’t want biodegradable pots, I also sometimes use these plastic pots. They are nice in some cases because I can reuse them each year!

3 inch Plastic Pots (Amazon Link)

These 3 inch plastic pots are a great value and good for transplanting into larger pots from the small cell packs. Or you can start your seeds for your larger rooted plants right into these 3 inch pots and avoid the transplanting process altogether before putting into your garden.

Another perk for these pots is they look presentable if you are interested in selling your starter plants. I have definitely went the free route in the past and various plastic cups I could find around the house. While this is perfectly fine, some people may prefer a more uniform and presentable appearance.

Seed Flat Trays, No Holes (Amazon Link)

You may need some trays to hold all of your pots. It’s nice to have trays like these because the best way to water your seedlings is to bottom water, meaning you fill up your tray with an inch or so of water and let your plants absorb that water until wet and then you can dump out the remaining water from the tray.

We have a pack of these trays and they are great because of how sturdy they are! They can handle a full tray of watered plants and still can be carried around without bending!

Indoor Grow Lights

Another important part of seed starting indoors is having the proper lighting. If you have a lot of sunlight in your area and have a nice south facing window, you may not need any grow lights. I do not have this luxury at my house. I start all my seeds in my basement using grow lights. I have two different setups.

My first setup that I’ve been using for about 10 years now is a seed starter grow light (Amazon Link) with a seed starter heat mat (Amazon Link). Most seeds will have the best chance to germinate at around 70 degrees. So depending on your home and room temperature you may or may not need a heat mat. Keep in mind that once your seeds do sprout, the heat map should be turned off or removed. For the grow light I like to keep it as close to the leaves as possible and adjust it while my plants grow.


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