Some people use 12/12 on/off for light, some people use 16/8. The type of light will determine how close you need to put the lights, if they are fluorescent tubes you want them really close (within a few inches), the LED style are more powerful and should be farther away. You move them as the plants grow. IMO unless your house (or wherever the seedlings are) is really cold, once they germinate you can take them off the heat mat, because you don’t want to cook the baby plants. Also, I have found it is much better to bottom water small seedlings, as it doesn’t disturb the tiny plants.
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I put a long chain on my fluorescent light so I can move it up as they grow. It’s in my uninsulated garage and still cold in there so I think I should use the heat mat for a while yet?
Hm, maybe? I’d keep an eye on them to make sure they look ok! Or maybe put some kind of very small spacers so that the trays aren’t sitting directly on the mat once all the seeds germinate? (Like very small, maybe 1/2"? The point is not to cook the roots once the seedlings get a bit bigger.)
ETA: I think they are ok when they are very small still though, and wait until all the seeds germinate (I think).
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I can do that, thanks!
ETA my car said my garage is 40 degrees now.
Light won’t hurt the ones that haven’t germinated, you just didn’t have to bother with it until some did.
Listen to @CalBal about the heat mats - I live in a warm enough climate I’ve never used one (also I start seeds in my kitchen, so it’s climate controlled).
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We didn’t prep fruit tree sites in the fall like the instructions say to. Any tips for “less than a week before planting preparation”? This is my moms so it’s New England
(@CalBal help me)
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Ummmmmm I have not prepped any planting sites in advance…?
I dig a hole twice as big as the root ball (for potted) or wider than the roots (for bare root) and deeper, and filled and allowed the hole to drain of water, and partially fill the hole back in so that the root flare is at the right height, then fill almost all the way back up with soil, then use Tree-Pep on it (it’s a stark bros tree food you dissolve in water), then fill the rest of the way with soil, top dress with a little compost. 
I’ve been told that it is better to use native soil in the planting hole with trees so that the roots don’t restrict themselves to a small area of “enriched” soil.
At any rate, everything seems to have done ok using this method, including the very first tree which was last year’s peach… I’ve top dressed with compost this year as well, and mulch with shredded leaves and/or grass clippings, and have used liquid tree food 1x so far as well.
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Liquid tree food…. I will investigate/buy. Thank you!
It’s this stuff (I guess it’s actually called Tre-Pep). I guess it’s actually for any plants, but I got it from stark bros for the trees and shrubs. It’s granular and you with water. It has a lot of micronutrients in it as well as the high NPK.
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Help. I’m too sad about killing baby plants to thin my tomato seedlings and they are sad about it.
Should I suck it up and thin them?
Or buy a bag of potting mix, divide them up and give away the extra?
For reference, there are 35 or so plants squished there and I have space for maybe 6, though I’ll probably grow another 4 in pots… they are mostly weird novelty varieties 
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Tomatoes are actually very resilient to splitting up seedlings if you are gentle! Much more than many other types of seedlings. So you could separate them, put the extras in their own pots (plastic party cups with a hole punched in the bottom works fine) and then give them away, if you have the bandwidth and willing to buy the potting soil. People would probably be very appreciative to get established starts in weird varieties!
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Ohhh yes! Pots was my limitation but I think I have some paper cups (plastic lined) which would suffice until the recipients were ready to plant out. Thank you for the idea.
Tomato seedling give away at my house on the weekend 
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Also if any are a bit saggy stemmed, plant them deep! Tomatoes will grow new roots from buried stems. Tomatoes are the little engine that could! (Until, you know, the first frost hits (here).)
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Just bought a Full Sun Pollinator garden kit from a local arts group. Native plants!! Here is what it contains. I’m getting excited. We’ll pick it up in early June, which is great because it gives us May to clear out the weedy bed it’s all going into.
- Blue False Indigo
- Leadplant
- Showy Goldenrod
- Common Milkweed (I tried to grow this from seed last year, no luck)
- Aromatic Aster
- Rough Blazingstar
- Prairie Dropseed
All perennials, so if we stay in this apartment at least 2 more years, which is the current plan, we will get to enjoy them in the future, too! Usually I try not to spend money on a rental like this, but the excitement I felt watching the bleeding hearts we planted last year come back established and healthy–it’s going to be worth it.
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Times like now, I wish we had scratch and sniff internet. 
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There’s a few areas of jasmine nearby and they definitely help encourage me to go on walks.
The tomato plants at my house (started from seed) are just thinking about putting their true leaves out but we also started them late.
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Credit where credit is due, the tomato seedlings came from @midcitybeth and they are extremely healthy!
I did park yoga the other night and there was just TONS of jasmine nearby perfuming the air. It was amazing. Bonus, I don’t seem to be too allergic to it.
I honestly don’t think I am going to seed-start here, at least this year. I don’t know where I would even put a grow light due to the lack of catproof locations in this house. Do I even NEED a grow light here since the sun’s stronger? I assume so, since the seedlings would still get leggy? I ditched mine before moving.
There are plenty of sources of cheap/free plants here though. I am finding that farmer’s market and fancy garden center starts are cheaper than big box, which is NOT true in Chicago.
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