Ken, the next time I go to a farm supply store, I'm going to see if I can get milled sphagnum moss. I do not like using peat moss. If it ever dries out, it gets hard as a brick and has to be dunked in a bucket of water to rehydrate the plant. That's never good for plants.

You guys have so much to share! I love it, thank you so much. I think I'll try that fan idea and I'll be reading that article on hydrogen peroxide.

I try to grow my flowers from seed as much as possible. I built an indoor lighting contraption for about $35. from a plan I found (pic below). I use the natural flour bulbs. I also use a timer, on for 16 hours a day and keep the lights 2-4 inches away from the seedlings. When I sow, I mix 1 cup of water, 1 tablespoon 3% hydrogen peroxide and 9 cups of Jiffy seedling mix. That fills 1 flat of two-inch square pots. After I'm done sowing I bottom-water the flats one quart of water at a time until the pots have wicked up water to the top of the soil. I use 1 tablespoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide per quart of water to prevent damping off.

Whenever the mix appears dry and the flat feels light, I bottom-water the flats with room temperature water and HP to prevent damping off. I try to keep the mix moist, but never soggy. So far that has always worked to prevent damping off. I water the flats only one quart of water at a time until the pots have wicked up water to the top of the soil. Then if I have to, I drain the excess water. I also mist the seedlings with the 3% HP and water mixture as another defense.

Two things about building your own grow lights out of PVC and other hardware are: #1, don't tell the sales guy what you're making. I got many, "Oh yeah, suuuuurrrrrre, your just growing flowers, uh huh, suuuuuurrrrrrre." types of comments. Arizona was going through a ballot measure, at the time, to legalize something else you may grow indoors under lights, and #2, watch out if you have visitors. Once when my in-laws were visiting, my father-in-law went to the hardware store, bought some long pieces of PVC pipe and turned my grow light stand into a clothes rack for their visit. Hmpff! And about the jumping cholla...I once got a spine clear through a pinky toe, sticking out on both sides. The ends of the spines have barbs. We had to cut off a barbed end and yank it through with a pair of pliers. Despite the many assurances that it wouldn't hurt, I would like to respectfully state for the record that it hurt. A lot. I do not recommend growing, buying, getting nearish to, or touching this cactus for this reason.

I wish I could star your initial post (instead of just 'watch' it) so that I could pull it up easier later and read it more thoroughly when I have more time (and less of a headache).

Have you considered submitting this as an ideas article?

Thanks DnD - I hadn't thought of that.

I grow my seeds under domes with flour tubes, heh hehe, and learned the peroxide trick fast. My first setup that I used for 20 years was a shop light fixture with two flour light tubes, propped with boxes or stacks of books on either side on the floor. Then as seedlings grew I added more books to raise lights. Now I use the same shop light fixtures but suspended on chains on shelves. And any old seed starting mix.

Judy

Call me nit-picky, but why does everyone keep typing flour lights when referring to fluorescent lights ??

Weedwhacker said:Call me nit-picky, but why does everyone keep typing flour lights when referring to fluorescent lights ??

It was my fault as I started it above. I just wanted to save some space and INDICATED that I would abbreviate flourescent as Flour.

DUH!!

well, that would be fine, except it's actually FLUOR not flour

sorry, just can't stop with the proofreading after doing medical transcription for 18 years...

Oh My. [kicks self in fanny]

After reading your post, I went back up and made the appropriate edit. I do feel so stoopid.

I feel so much better now, David
(thank you)

I think we all noticed the flour nickname was incorrect but it was fun. I think in honor of David I'm going to say flour lights in my head whenever I refer to fluorescent lights. As someone who used to write for a living I enjoy tweaking words... in our family we sometimes call water 'Wawa' because that's what how our daughter first pronounced it. We also truncate snow to 'no on honor of daughter who initially could not pronounce the 'sn' consonant combination.... even though I'm in zone 8/7 and I know it wont happen, the temps have dropped so quickly overnight that it feels like its going to 'no. Brrr I don't want to get up for work and shower.....

I have seen flour sacks but never tubes. Judy, if you had not mentioned "shop light" with the flour tubes, I would still be scratching my head. I thought perhaps SC used tubes instead of sacks but didn't know how that related to seed starting.

Ken, you are too funny. Here in SC, we know that we are special, maybe even a little backwards, but not that badly. Just a little slow to catch up at times, but not that slow.

Hey, welcome to the community of "backwards". Isn't the common phrase used by the northern/western elite, "Backwards Mississippi"?

Ok, I typed flour because that's what I saw in my head after reading. If being backwards is a side-effect of visiting ATG, okay that's me with. SCButtercup, you reminded me of times when our kids were little. First came Maria, then Dianna, then Joshua. When Josh was two he ran around the house looking for his sisters, yelling, "Diiiiiiiiiiii Riiiiiaaaaaaaa". That made his sisters bust out laughing, and he would look at them like they were crazy. That memory still makes me smile.