Here are ALL the indoor seed starting tools I have, most of them always-used, a couple not. Nothing special, and FINGERS I’ve found are handiest for most of the work at this scale. In any case, a few details (and there’s more on #1-5 in Seed starting tools, part 1): 1. The Seedmaster, a gadget for trickling out small seed as you rotate the wheel (the yellow
pieces are click-in filters for different seed sizes); 2. assorted white plastic plant labels; 3. a dibbler or dibber or whatever, for poking little holes in soil; 4. a fine-point black waterproof marker (I like Sharpies) for labeling; 5. the mini-transplanter is essentially a tiny, stainless steel shoehorn for easy liberation of plugs from their cells; 6. a moisture meter, simply stick it in the soil; 7. plant snips for thinning seedlings; 8. Mini-Sim seeder: fill and shake out; 9. suction seeder with three tip sizes: squeeze the bulb, put the tip on a seed, release to hold, squeeze again to drop… ($25…what was I thinking?!); 10. digital timer for keeping track of repetitive tasks like bottom-watering trays one by one; 11. plant light meter, reads in footcandles, with settings for indoor and out; 12. digital indoor/outdoor min/max thermometer/hygrometer, mainly for keeping track of temperature; 13. magnifying glass with light, for examining seedlings (and GREEN MOSS) up close; 14. soil scoop for filling plug sheets and pots with seedling mix; 15. spray bottle with good quality spray head (more water per pull; I’ve used a wand mister like I have in the greenhouse, but the hose kept getting in the way, I may try one again for the seedling room this year); 16. small fibrepak flats, convenient for holding tools and seed packets on the potting table (left lying, the packets can so easily get wet…); 17. small bulldog clips, useful for all kinds of things, like organizing groups of seed packets. And the winners are…all of them, EXCEPT for: #9, which I found to be useless for my purposes; #8 which is great, but mostly for heavier hand seeding in the field, like for flowers; and #6, 11 & 13, which are more educational toys than essential tools, but still cool! (Wow, that was a lot of blogwork for pretty obvious stuff, but there you go! :)
- Seed starting tools
- Seed starting tools II
- Return to the trays
- Seed starting station
- The watering tray
- Bare root seed starting
- Bare root Brussels sprouts
- Editing onions, counting peppers
- Seeding as we go…
- Early spring rounds
- Plug sheet action
- True leaves
- Seedling treatment
- Grow racks in action
- Jostling tomatoes
- Seedlings continue to grow…
- Getting busy
- Grow racks at night
- 1440 onions
- To the greenhouse
- Seedlings away!
- More seedlings to the greenhouse
- Greenhouse filling up
- Early lettuce heats up
This blog is my favorite, no question. About that bulb seeder, I was considering this for those dust like herb seeds. There are plenty of flower seeds that are also impossibly small. What don’t you like about the way it works?
Keep posting those photos.
Julie
Can you get the Seedmaster or the Mini-Sim seeder at most gardening centres? I’ve found seeding pretty tricky in the past and I would love a tool to help me.
Julie: For really tiny seed, this may be the perfect tool for you! I did a quick test, picked up a single summer thyme seed with the medium size of the three tips. That’s a pretty tiny seed… No problem picking it up, but you’d have to get used to controlling how much you squeeze, or you can blow away the seed. For me, I don’t do much at all with really tiny seed,and I can’t see having to move ’em one by one, so this gizmo hasn’t come in handy so far. Have you tried those little seed spoons, long, thin plastic sticks with a different sized tiny cup at each end. They might be easier and quicker. I had a set, dunno where they went. Here, I found a link. The bulb thing I got from Veseys.
Gillian: Both of those I ordered. I forget where, but between Veseys, William Dam and Lee Valley, you’ll find ’em. I can’t recall seeing them in stores, but a big garden department or garden center ought to have gadgets you can try out.
I thought I had already asked this question on your blog (maybe it was somewhere else). I wondering what the name of the number 5 tool is- I can never remember it! I know it is a mini-transplanting tool, but it has a name. And can you provide a link to where I can get one?
Tessa: As far as I know, and in the catalog, #5 is called a mini-transplanter. I get mine from William Dam here in Ontario.
Thanks Mike, I guess it was a different site I saw this on. There is different name for them, but I can’t remember it. The picture you have of the tool looks so much different than the mini-transplanter in the William Dam catalog. In any case, thanks for responding and letting me know where to get one. :)
I finally found it! It’s called a Widger!
Great collection ! I found that depending on seed size one can use salt shaker (spice) look in spice contaners and find different sizes ?
Hi! Where did you purchase Tool #5? I love it!
It’s linked higher up in the comments: William Dam. And, as I learned from the comments, it’s called a…Widger.
Um, yes. These are all pretty basic items that you should be able to find quite easily just about anywhere!