You Are A Market Farmer
You are growing quite a bit this year. Whether this is going to be your first year at market or you are a seasoned pro, using the right cell trays for your crops can help you step up your game. Ensure that you have healthy transplants ready to go out as early as possible in the Spring and keep your succession planting schedule on track.
Using the right size cell plug from the start will save you countless hours of up potting chores or having to deal with root-bound seedlings that waited too long to be transplanted. The size of trays that you need will vary depending on the crops you are growing the most of.
HERE ARE SOME PRODUCT SUGGESTIONS
Below we have listed out some of our top choices for you along with the rationale behind these choices. All of the cell trays listed below come in 10 and 30 pack sizes. This way we can offer you the flexibility to have
- Starting smaller seeded crops that have tolerance for some frost in our 128-cell trays is ideal to get the most out of your seed starting space in the early Spring. The compact cell size allows you to fit a lot of starts in a 1020 tray. These are best for crops that can be transplanted out within a few weeks of planting. Think lettuce, brassicas, leeks and small seeded flowers.
- 72-cell seed starting trays are the standard for many growers. They are a great balance between fitting a lot of plants in a compact space for seed starting while still having a little wiggle room in transplanting dates. The added soil volume of a 1½” square by 2¼” deep cell can give your plants an extra 2-3 weeks before becoming root bound compared to 128 or 200 cell trays. With unsettled spring weather, late frosts and heavy rains, being able to wait a few more days to transplant can be the difference between a crop that thrives and one that struggles along.
- Our 30 pack of 50-cell trays is a great overall cell tray for the small market farmer. The largest cell size of any of our single construction trays at 1 ¾ inch square and 2 ½ inch deep cell size. This tray allows you plenty of space per plant. The large cell size gives you a lot of extra space to let you seedlings get nice and strong while still allowing you to start 200 plants in a 4’x2’ space.
- For all of our larger cell trays we recommend using a 1020 deep heavy-duty tray for bottom watering and easy, one-handed carrying. We also have these popular trays in colors, you can find blue, green and pink 1020 deep trays here.
Ready for some inspiration to get you growing? Check out our Four Seasons of Market Farming YouTube Series, where we get to follow along with the Kansas Garden Guy on his journey from backyard gardener to full time market farming.
On our YouTube channel we also have some fantastic videos with Paris Natural Farms in Texas that show a lot of their process over the last few years converting their homestead into a profitable business.