Indoor sowing: useful and practical tools and accessories

Essential Equipment for Sowing

Plastic or biodegradable pots

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

Take a look at our selection of pots and seed trays for sowing in our online nursery. Also discover our range of compostable and biodegradable pots.

A few examples: plastic pots, compostable pots and biodegradable pots

Seed trays and sowing trays

Seed trays and sowing trays allow you to sow flowers or vegetable plants in rows or in a “square”. Later, you can prick out the young plants that have developed in the pot or directly into the ground. Some trays have compartments, allowing you to remove a rootball containing the germinated plant for easier transplanting.

Take a look at our seed trays, racks and alveolate sowing sheets in our online nursery.

An example of sowing in a reusable seed tray

Heated or unheated mini-greenhouses

Trays or seed trays can be covered with a transparent plastic lid fitted with small vents. The transparent lid creates a warm, humid medium that is ideal for germinating the most sensitive seeds. These mini-greenhouses can be placed indoors near a window and radiator. But some are also fitted with a heating system beneath the tray, which allows the temperature inside the mini-greenhouse to be regulated perfectly.

Heated mini-greenhouse, ideal for sowing seeds that are most sensitive to temperature

Discover our advice sheet: Mini-greenhouse: what is it for? How do you use it? as well as our selection of mini-greenhouses to order online.

Soil blocker

Whether made from plastic, wood or metal, and whether small or large, soil blockers are used to create a small cubic or cylindrical potting compost rootball in which to place a small seed. Later, you can place your small rootballs in seed trays or racks designed for this purpose. All that remains is to prick out your young seedlings once they are a little older.

→ Find out more in our advice sheet: How to sow using a soil blocker

“Special sowing” potting compost or compost sieve

“Special sowing” potting compost is a very light potting compost that is ideal for sowing or taking cuttings. Sowing composts are designed to provide both good drainage and good moisture retention, encouraging germination and allowing the very delicate roots of young seedlings to develop. If you do not want to invest in sowing compost, you can use a compost sieve. Simply pass conventional potting compost through the sieve. Only the finest particles will pass through, leaving you with your own sowing compost!

High-quality professional sowing compost and steel sieve, resistant to rust

We offer a range of high-quality professional “special sowing” composts in our online shop.

Discover the Fertiss rootball too, presented to you by Olivier in this video!

Vermiculite

Vermiculite is a material derived from natural volcanic minerals. It comes in the form of very light, small beige fragments. Vermiculite lightens and improves the drainage of the growing medium in which plants are grown. It encourages germination and rooting while retaining water and releasing it gradually to the roots. Vermiculite is used mixed with potting compost, or can be placed on the surface to maintain moisture and lightly cover the seeds.

Vermiculite, perfect for lightening a growing medium

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

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

Mister and watering can

You will need to keep a constant eye on the moisture level of your young seedlings. To water your seedlings in trays or pots, it is best to choose light but regular watering: either a small watering can with a rose that releases only a fine spray, or better still, a mister.

Labels

Do not forget to label your sowings! Nothing looks more like a young seedling than its neighbour, even though it may be completely different from it. They are available in all shapes and colours, made from plastic, metal or, better still, wood.

Several types of labels: slate, wood, etc

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

More optional equipment for sowing, but practical nonetheless…

Seed sower and syringe for small seeds

A seed sower is not essential. In fact, you generally lose it and find it again five years later at the bottom of an old bag of potting compost… However, it can still be useful for very fine seeds or when you have a large number of seeds to sow. With a seed sower, you can “sow thinly”, distributing the seeds one by one, which will save you having to thin them out later. Simply 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 made in the open ground. A seed sower is ideal for sowing carrots, radishes, parsley, lettuce… If you enjoy repurposing things, you can also use an old syringe (without the needle!) to place very small seeds one by one.

Seed sower, handy for small seeds

Potting-up tray

A potting-up tray is very useful for working efficiently, in other words, sowing and potting up without getting potting compost everywhere. You can place your seeds, pots, seed trays, equipment and… the potting compost you need for sowing, potting up and other propagation by cuttings on the tray.

Sowing table

The ultimate piece of equipment for looking like a sowing professional! This table has a shelf underneath and can be used both:

• as a work table for sowing or potting up;
• as a stand for trays, seed trays and pots containing your seedlings.