Sowing indoors: useful and practical tools and accessories

The essential equipment for your sowing

Plastic or Biodegradable Pots

Small pots… Small pots… Always small pots! You will need a considerable number of pots or containers for your sowing. Available in various diameters, they can be made from different materials: terracotta remains the heaviest and most brittle material, which is why plastic pots or containers are often preferred. However, even though plastic pots are frequently reused, they are not very eco-friendly. Fortunately, more environmentally friendly solutions exist, such as biodegradable or biocompostable pots made from wood fibres.

Find our selection of pots and containers for your sowing in our online nursery, as well as our solutions for biocompostable and biodegradable pots.

Some examples: plastic containers, biocompostable pots, and biodegradable pots

Seed Trays and Seedling Flats

Seed trays and seedling flats allow you to sow in rows or in “squares” for flowers or vegetable plants. Later, you can transplant the young plants that have developed into pots or directly into the ground. There are trays with compartments that allow you to remove a clump with the germinated plant for easier transplanting.

Find our seed trays, flats, and alveolate sowing sheets in our online nursery.

Example of sowing in a reusable sowing tray

Heating or Non-Heating Mini Greenhouses

The trays or flats can be topped with a transparent plastic lid equipped with small vents. The transparent lid creates a warm and humid medium ideal for the germination of the most sensitive seeds. These mini greenhouses can be placed indoors near a window and a radiator. However, some are also equipped with a heating system beneath the tray, which allows for perfect temperature regulation within the mini greenhouse.

Heated mini greenhouse, ideal for the most temperature-sensitive sowings

Discover our advice sheet: Mini greenhouse: what is it for? How to use it? as well as our selection of mini greenhouses available for online ordering.

Seed Press

Whether made of plastic, wood, or metal, small or large, seed presses are used to create a small cubic or cylindrical clump of potting soil to place a small seed. Later, you can place your small clumps in trays or flats designed for this purpose. All that remains is to transplant your young seedlings once they are a bit older.

→ Learn more in our advice sheet: How to sow using a seed press

“Seed-Special” Potting Soil or Soil Sieve

“Seed-special” potting soil is a very light potting mix ideal for your sowing or for taking cuttings. Seed potting soils are designed to ensure both good drainage and moisture retention, promoting germination and allowing the very fragile roots of young seedlings to develop. If you do not wish to invest in seed potting soils, you can use a soil sieve. Simply pass conventional potting soil through the sieve’s mesh. This way, only the finest fragments can pass through: your own seed potting soil is ready!

Professional quality seed potting soil and steel sieve, rust-resistant

We offer a range of professional quality “seed-special” potting soils in our online store.

Also discover the Fertiss clump, presented by Olivier in a video!

Vermiculite

Vermiculite is a material derived from natural volcanic minerals. It appears as small, very light beige fragments. Vermiculite helps to lighten and improve the drainage of the substrate in which plants are grown. It promotes germination and rooting while retaining water to gradually supply it to the roots. Vermiculite can be used mixed with potting soil or applied on the surface to maintain moisture and lightly cover the seeds.

Vermiculite, perfect for lightening a substrate[/caption>

Vermiculite is rarely sold in garden centres. Fortunately, we have thought of you and we offer vermiculite in our online store.

Find out about the different materials commonly used in gardening, their properties, and uses in our advice sheet: “Peat, sand, perlite, vermiculite, clay balls, and pumice… what are they for?“.

Spray Bottle and Watering Can

You will need to constantly monitor the moisture level of your young seedlings. To water your crops in trays or pots, it is best to opt for light but regular watering: either a small watering can with a spout that allows only a fine spray, or even better, a spray bottle.

Labels

Don’t forget to label your sowings! Nothing looks more like a young seedling than its neighbour, which has nothing to do with the first. Available in plastic, metal, or preferably wood, they come in all shapes and colours.

[caption id="attachment_75856" align="aligncenter" width="856"] Various types of labels: slate, wood, etc.

Discover our wide range of labels in all shapes, colours, and materials.

The equipment for your sowing plus accessories: but still practical...

Seed Sower and Syringe for Small Seeds

The seed sower is not essential. In fact, it often gets lost and is found five years later at the bottom of an old potting soil bag… However, it can be useful for very fine seeds or when you have many sowings to do. With a seed sower, you can “sow thinly,” distributing the seeds one by one, which will avoid the need for thinning later. You just need to adjust the diameter of the opening according to the size of the seeds, and they will be placed precisely in the pot or in a furrow dug in the ground. The seed sower is perfect for sowing carrots, radishes, parsley, salads… If you’re the resourceful type, you can also use an old syringe (without the needle!) to drop very small seeds one by one.

Seed Sower, handy for small seeds

Repotting Tray

The repotting tray is very useful for working efficiently, in other words: sowing and repotting without getting potting soil everywhere. You can place on your tray: your seeds, pots, trays, tools, and… the potting soil you need for your sowings, repotting, and other propagation by cuttings.

Sowing Table

THE ultimate equipment to look like a sowing pro! It is a table with a shelf underneath, which can serve both as:

• a work table for carrying out your sowing or repotting tasks;
• a support for the trays, pots, and containers holding your sowings.