This year has flown by so far and I, like many other gardeners, have fallen behind on my seed starting. It’s easy to do with so many other spring gardening tasks on my ever-growing list. If you still haven’t started seeds for your garden yet, don’t worry! It’s not too late.
I discovered a new set start that speeds up the whole process. THE SS-Pro Smart Seed Starter Kit from LetPot helps seeds germinate faster than planting them the old fashioned way either indoors or out in the garden – even with slow germination perennial flower seeds.
Of course, there are some downsides to this high-tech gardening gadget. But this seed germination station it’s still a great way to jumpstart your spring garden – especially if you’re a slow starter. I will share my favorite parts of using this product, the struggles I faced, and what I would do differently next time for better results.
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LETPOT
LetPot SS-Pro Smart Seed Starter Kit
Stop waiting weeks for seeds to germinate
If you feel like initial seeds indoors it’s an endless waiting game, you’re not alone. Some slow germinating seeds can take weeks to germinate. This is especially true with many perennial flowers, such as lavender and wildboth of which I wanted to try starting from seed this year.
I picked two other slow growers, California poppy and columbineto try the SS-Pro Smart Seed Starter Kit and was impressed by how quickly everything germinated. The flower seeds I chose to start usually take 2-4 weeks to germinate. I figured I’d wait at least a couple of weeks before seeing any signs of life in me LetPot Seed Starterbut the first sprouts appeared after only a week.
(Image: Laura Walters / Future)
SS-Pro Smart Seed Starter Kit comes with a 40 cell seed starter tray, water tank, vented humidity dome and soilless starter pods. It also has one heated base which you can set to your desired temperature – I set mine to 71°F (22°C).
Comes with 24W full spectrum Light increases the LED panel with adjustable height base that also attaches to the base. This way you can turn the light on as your plants grow.
The combination of the easy to use humidity dome, the water tank that keeps the seed starter pods constantly moist and the heated base is what really helps the seeds sprout quickly.
(Image: Laura Walters / Future)
Watch out for mold and algae
One of its disadvantages LetPot SS-Pro Smart Seed Starter Kit is a concern with starting traditional indoor seeds. My initial seedless pods have started to form algae and white fuzzy mold on them after only a few weeks of growth.
This is one common seed starting problem because the ideal environment for seed germination, i.e. warm and moist, is also the ideal environment for mold and algae to grow. Finally, depreciation – a common fungal disease in seedlings – killed some of my sprouts before they were big enough to transplant.
It is important to allow good air flow to avoid fungal problems like this. Once your seeds have germinated, remove the moisture canopy to allow more air movement and keep mold at bay.
This was not enough for my seedlings unfortunately. However, most of them are fine and almost ready to be transplanted into larger pots and then eventually moved outdoors into the garden.
(Image: Laura Walters / Future)
I wonder if I use a traditional one seed starter mix, such as Miracle-Gro’sit can help prevent algae and mold next time. I’ve had some issues with damping off in the past when using similar seedless starter pods like the ones provided with this kit. It also said in the instruction booklet to use soil in the seed starting tray, but the kit came with soilless pods so I opted to use those instead.
The other reason I will use seed starting mix it’s because many of my seedling roots had a hard time growing into the undamaged seed starter pods. The roots started to come out of the tray looking for somewhere to grow because they were strong enough to penetrate the pod.
Eventually, most of them were able to grow on the colorless medium. But I think it set them back on forming strong root systems for several weeks.
(Image: Laura Walters / Future)
Watch your light
Another issue I had with the SS-Pro Smart Seed Starter Kit it was the LED grow light. After about a month, it started to fade or turn blue. There are three different sets of lights in the LED light panel: blue, red and white, which provide a full spectrum of light to help plants grow stronger.
However, something started to go wrong with the light and only the blue lights would come on or the whole light panel would turn itself off even though the control panel said it was on. I was able to fix this by either turning off the entire device and then turning it back on, or by pressing down on the light panel.
(Image: Laura Walters / Future)
I’m not sure if it’s a problem with the wires connected to the light panel or the internal electronics in the device, but it’s not great to walk in and find my seedlings sitting in the dark. They won’t grow very well that way.
Overall, the LetPot SS-Pro Smart Seed Starter Kit it helped my seeds germinate much faster than expected – several weeks faster than some seed packets he said! But it has some pretty significant flaws.
Maybe I just got a kit with faulty wiring, but the LED not staying on consistently is a pretty big problem to overcome with a seed starting kit like this. As for the mold and algae, I plan to test if using a regular seed starting mix will solve that problem.
