Seed Starting Over

Well, I killed my seedlings.  I set up a 4 Tube light by hanging it from those 3M hooks.  The weight of the light was just past the nominal capacity of the hooks, so of course one of the hooks failed, sending the light crashing down on the little babies.  I was traveling, so this could have happened any time between Monday morning and Thursday evening.  The Kale and Radicchio were burnt to a crisp.  It's possible they just dried out.  I was really hoping I could go without watering them for 4 days without totally killing them; I expected they would be wilted and sad, but that they'd perk up if I watered them as soon as I got back.  Being first crushed by the light fixture, then pressed up against the bulbs, they cooked down to kale chips.

So that solves my problem of starting them too early.  I popped all these things out of their cells and shook all the medium off to reuse it.  They had crazy root development.  They would have been root bound after another week, for sure.

I think I started these January 10th, so they definitely needed to be transplanted 3 weeks later (this being January 31st).  I of course started another 6 pack of Kale and one of Radicchio today.  I've also rigged up another completely ridiculous mechanism of holding up the light, we'll see how that holds up.  But at least I will be here for the next 2 weeks.  The Kale and Radicchio will be up soon, and if they grow like the first attempt, they would need to be transplanted pretty soon.  Hm, soon I'll need to find some bigger containers to transplant them into when they're ready.  I would transplant them outside around March 15th, a perfect 6 weeks from seed starting time.

I'll also probably start things like Lettuce and Spinach.  Maybe those should be started 3 weeks from now, when I move the Kale and Radicchio up to bigger containers.  (That's February 21st.)  Lettuce and Spinach (and maybe Arugula) are going to get going faster, so if I start them then, after they're 3 weeks old (March 15th), I could probably transplant them the same time I do the Kale and Radicchio.