I think I've possibly been slightly over eager & have already started my tomato seeds off on a warm windowsill. I do have a greenhouse but it's unheated & freezing!
They will be okay, Kelsbels, providing they get a lot of light and decent warmth. A windowsill won't provide enough of either unless you get constant bright direct sunlight throughout the day. Do you have a desk lamp or similar? I use a desk lamp with the light source set an inch or two above the seedlings providing bright light and warmth. As the seedlings develop I raise the light source, keeping it a constant inch or two above the seedlings. I leave the light on for 12-16 hours at a stretch. They need a period of darkness too.
Try using cooking foil .Silver (brightest side to reflect natural light)
It has kept my chili peppers sown two weeks ago today, really stocky, only half inch high with seed leaves just fully open.. The seed containers are coir pellets.
About half the height of those shown by Kelsbels picture.above
They are on a table facing south and covered each night by drawing the curtain over them .
Will be doing the same with tomatoe seeds next week.
Suggestion for Kelsbels, partition off part of your greenhouse, double skin it with bubble wrap and install a small parafin stove, this way you can bring your crops on a lot earlier. My current g.h./poly tunnel is 15x5 metres far too big to heat so I have a section screened off with a seed bed where all my cuttings,seeds etc., spend the winter months.
A piece of advice for conservatory growers (like me) - don't use a paraffin heater in the conservatory (even if it is well sealed from the house so CO is not an issue), everything ends up covered in soot, windows, blinds, walls, carpet, everything. I still haven't finished cleaning mine from trying to keep my late sown tomatoes going into the autumn, such a messy job!
Last year I tried potting a couple of side shoots, they rooted just fine, the trouble is I had no-where warm and light to keep them through the winter so put them in the lounge (dark through the day when I'm not in and only artificial light in the evenings) - the larger one finally wilted over the weekend (smaller one went a couple of weeks ago) which I thought was pretty good going, over 2 months only getting daylight at weekends, and some of those weekends I was away for....
I would suggest investing in an inverter parafin heater, they are more expensive but there's no fumes [apart from start-up and switch off] no condensation or soot, ours is here in the conservatory, it goes on when we get up and goes off when we go to bed. If I'm not gardening I sit in here reading without any side effects. The best deals for them is from Italy, with a 25 euro delivery charge they're still cheaper.
I have a unheated conservatory, I leave the door open all day while im at work, shut it when I come in and reopen as I go to bed. so far the minimum temp inside at night is 11 degrees, and we've had four inches of snow and -9 outside overnight! and it's a lot less hassle than a heater
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I think I've possibly been slightly over eager & have already started my tomato seeds off on a warm windowsill. I do have a greenhouse but it's unheated & freezing!
They will be okay, Kelsbels, providing they get a lot of light and decent warmth. A windowsill won't provide enough of either unless you get constant bright direct sunlight throughout the day. Do you have a desk lamp or similar? I use a desk lamp with the light source set an inch or two above the seedlings providing bright light and warmth. As the seedlings develop I raise the light source, keeping it a constant inch or two above the seedlings. I leave the light on for 12-16 hours at a stretch. They need a period of darkness too.
Try using cooking foil .Silver (brightest side to reflect natural light)
It has kept my chili peppers sown two weeks ago today, really stocky, only half inch high with seed leaves just fully open.. The seed containers are coir pellets.
About half the height of those shown by Kelsbels picture.above
They are on a table facing south and covered each night by drawing the curtain over them .
Will be doing the same with tomatoe seeds next week.
Suggestion for Kelsbels, partition off part of your greenhouse, double skin it with bubble wrap and install a small parafin stove, this way you can bring your crops on a lot earlier. My current g.h./poly tunnel is 15x5 metres far too big to heat so I have a section screened off with a seed bed where all my cuttings,seeds etc., spend the winter months.
A piece of advice for conservatory growers (like me) - don't use a paraffin heater in the conservatory (even if it is well sealed from the house so CO is not an issue), everything ends up covered in soot, windows, blinds, walls, carpet, everything. I still haven't finished cleaning mine from trying to keep my late sown tomatoes going into the autumn, such a messy job!
Last year I tried potting a couple of side shoots, they rooted just fine, the trouble is I had no-where warm and light to keep them through the winter so put them in the lounge (dark through the day when I'm not in and only artificial light in the evenings) - the larger one finally wilted over the weekend (smaller one went a couple of weeks ago) which I thought was pretty good going, over 2 months only getting daylight at weekends, and some of those weekends I was away for....
I would suggest investing in an inverter parafin heater, they are more expensive but there's no fumes [apart from start-up and switch off] no condensation or soot, ours is here in the conservatory, it goes on when we get up and goes off when we go to bed. If I'm not gardening I sit in here reading without any side effects. The best deals for them is from Italy, with a 25 euro delivery charge they're still cheaper.
I have a unheated conservatory, I leave the door open all day while im at work, shut it when I come in and reopen as I go to bed. so far the minimum temp inside at night is 11 degrees, and we've had four inches of snow and -9 outside overnight!
and it's a lot less hassle than a heater