On 9/23 I started two new groups, each tray containing 12 varieties. I decided to go with trays that had plastic instead of jiffy peat because I found that when transferring the roots were stuck and pushing through the wall of the jiffy peat started cubes and I was thinking plastic would prevent this. I also wasn't too keen on all the mold popping up with the jiffy stuff. Here's a little overview layout of varieties for the groups:
varieties are listed left to right for tray layout (SSC is sustainable seed co and NW is northwest seed)
Group 6: Pennbel 69 (SSC), Japan 8 (SSC), Big Gem (SSC), Gold Leaf Orinoco (SSC), Izmir Ozbas (SSC), Shirey (SSC), Prilep (NW), Comstock Spanish (NW), Yellow Twist Bud (NW), Cuban Criollo 98 (NW), Habano 2000 (NW), Havana 142 (NW)
Group 7 (All NW): Virginia Gold, Ohio Dutch, Little Dutch, Cherry Red 401, Burley 21, Black Sea Samsun, Wisconsin 901, Pennsylvania Red, Connecticut Broadleaf, Helena, Stag Horn, Southern Beauty
Now I tried something new with Group 6 and 7 in the starting soil way. When looking down on the tray the top 3 cells of each column are Miracle Grow Seed Starting Potting Soil and the bottom 3 cells of each column are Sunshine Natural and Organic. I dumped the soil in a bucket and added water and mixed until I had a damp consistency and then put it in the cells from there. I had these on a heat mat which was controlled by a thermostat programmed at 80. The days sometimes got warmer due to room temp and the nights stayed usually at 77 or 75 room temp. They were covered with the clear plastic cover.
Group 6 -
9/28 - 5 days old
Group 7 -
9/28 - 5 days old