Indoor sowing: useful and practical tools and accessories

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 seedling pots for 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 seedling pots are often preferred. But, even if plastic pots are often reused, they are not very ecological. Fortunately, more environmentally friendly solutions exist, such as biodegradable or biocompostable pots made from wood fibres.

Find our selection of pots and seedling pots for sowing in our online nursery. Also see our biocompostable and biodegradable pot solutions.

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

Seed trays and sowing racks

Seed trays and sowing racks allow sowing flowers or vegetable plants in rows or in ‘blocks’. Later, you can transplant the young plants that developed in pots or directly into the ground. Some trays have compartments that allow a plug containing the germinated plant to be removed for easier transplanting.

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

Example of sowing in a reusable seed tray

Mini-greenhouses, heated or unheated

Trays or seed flats can be topped with a clear plastic lid fitted with small vents. The clear lid creates a warm, humid environment ideal for germinating the most sensitive seeds. Mini-greenhouses can be placed indoors near a window and a radiator. But some are also fitted with a heating system beneath the tray, which allows precise regulation of temperature inside the mini-greenhouse.

Heated mini-propagator, 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 to order online.

Seed press

Whether plastic, wood or metal, small or large, seed presses are used to create a small cubic or cylindrical plug of compost in which to place a small seed. These small plugs can then be placed in trays or racks designed for that purpose. You will then only need to transplant your young seedlings once they are a little older.

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

Seed compost or compost sieve

Seed compost is a very light compost ideal for sowing or for taking cuttings. Seed composts are designed to provide both good drainage and good moisture retention, favouring germination and allowing development of the very fragile roots of young seedlings. If you do not want to invest in seed composts, you can use a compost sieve. Simply pass ordinary compost through the sieve mesh. Only the finest particles pass through: your own seed compost is ready!

Professional-quality seed compost and rust-resistant steel sieve

We offer a range of professional-quality ‘seed composts’ in our online shop.

Also discover the Fertiss plug, Olivier presents it in a video!

Vermiculite

Vermiculite is a material derived from natural volcanic minerals. It appears as very light beige flakes. Vermiculite lightens and improves the drainage of the substrate in which plants are grown. It favours germination and rooting, while retaining water to release it gradually to the roots. Vermiculite is used mixed with compost or can be spread on the surface to maintain moisture and to lightly cover seeds.

Vermiculite, perfect for lightening a substrate

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

Find 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 crops in trays or pots, it is best to opt for light but regular watering: either a small watering can with a rose that produces only a fine spray, or better still a spray bottle.

Labels

Don’t forget to label your sowings! Nothing looks more like a young seedling than its neighbour, which is actually completely different. Made of plastic, metal or, better still, wood, labels come in all shapes and colours.

Several types of labels: slate, wood, etc

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

Equipment for your sowing and accessories: practical all the same...

Seed sower and syringe for small seeds

Seed sower is not essential. In fact, you usually lose it and find it again five years later at the bottom of an old bag of potting compost… However, it can be useful for very fine seeds or when you have many sowings to carry out. With a seed sower, you can “sow thinly”, distributing seeds one by one, which will avoid later thinning. Simply adjust the diameter of the opening to the size of the seeds; they will then be placed precisely in the pot or in a furrow dug in open ground. The seed sower is ideal for sowing carrots, radishes, parsley, lettuces… If you are the upcycling 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

Potting tray

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

Sowing table

Ultimate piece of equipment to make you look like a sowing pro! It is a table with a shelf underneath and can serve both as:

• a worktable for carrying out your sowing or repotting tasks;
• a support for trays, seed trays and pots holding your sowings.