 Hi there and welcome to the channel. So starting ornamental grasses from seed indoors isn't something that you see a lot of being done But it's something that I've been doing for the last two or three years. I get them well established starting them about 12 weeks before my last frost date just using solo cups and They make a great feature in my pots with my flowers I like to put them, you know here and there kind of use them as an annual as opposed to a perennial So in this video, I just want to show you a few of the different varieties that I'm going to be trying out. So let's get started So the first thing we need to do is get our containers ready here for the seeds and as I said I'm gonna be using the solo cups So what I've done is I've just cut some slits in the bottom here of each of the cups so that we have Some good drainage and kind of room for those roots to to pop out once these plants really get going My plan is to start them in these cups and leave them in these cups right up until the time that they Need to go outside and start hardening off I don't want to have to worry about potting them up from from a little seedling tray into a bigger container So that's why I'm just gonna go right to the solo cup You could use, you know, like these four inch or three inch size nursery pots if you have them as well But I find these work great So rather than using a seed starting mix because these are gonna be in These containers right up until the time they they go outside I thought I would be better to use a potting mix. It's got a little bit of fertilizer in it so that once the Once they germinate and start shooting down their roots are gonna be looking for some some nourishment So I think it's best to have a kind of a premium organic potting mix in here to keep them going I'm gonna fill each of these about halfway and then just press it down Really good so that there is no air pockets in here. You don't want any air pockets at the bottom Once these roots start growing tap them down a bit Okay, so I have my solo cups filled about three quarters the way up with the potting soil and What I'm gonna do next is just pour some water into this tray. I Probably will be bottom watering them so they will be sitting in these trees For the most part. So I like to let the soil wick up a good amount of water right off the bat Get it nice and moist So then from there I like to switch to a seed starting mix and I don't know This is just something that I think is a good way of doing it But because the seeds are tiny and you know, it's hard for them to to germinate and press through this More heavier type soil. I thought using the seed starting mix on the top. It's a lot lighter It's a lot easier for seeds to germinate in So I'll be filling up the solo cups then with this seed starting mix And the difference is it's just sphagnum moss and vermiculite or perlite There is no fertilizer in this seed starting mix So little seedlings have enough of their own nutrients and everything they need to germinate within their seed pods So that's why you don't have to have, you know, a fertilized potting mix in your seed starting blend here Okay, so we're just going to let this wick up and while we're waiting for that I'm going to show you what kind of grasses I plan to start up here So I have two kinds that I picked up at a seed exchange here in Saskatchewan So these are native prairie grasses for my zone here I live in zone three Saskatchewan. This is the little blue stem and the blue Grammographs and I'll put up pictures of each of these so that you can see what they look like in their best form I planted these last year and I put them into like I said different pots and Barrels with other flowers to kind of make a nice centerpiece when they get their plumes out and really get growing They're really pretty They have a nice blue tinge to them as well and I even I think I think it was the blue Grammographs I actually just left it in my pots over the winter on my deck Just as kind of a nice feature he can because the grasses look even nice in the winter time in the pot So so I'm hoping that I can get a nice batch of these going again this year and use them in my flower pots And if I have extras maybe try putting them into a flower bed to see if they will survive the winter I have a lot of issues with perennials Not surviving in my yard. Um, we just have a very Low spot that seems to the ground seems to get very cold and a lot of perennials that should survive here in zone three Don't often make it through the winter. So I'm kind of an annual girl I go with that every year try it and Seems to work good for me. This is another Grass that I picked up just at my local gardening center. This is a prairie drop seed And it's is supposed to be hardy to zones for zones three to Two nine and it's also deer resistant Which is great to have in my yard because we get a lot of deer and it's also, you know, good for attracting Um birds and um other pollinators to your garden A couple things that I'm going to add today that um, don't fall into the grasses category But they're kind of an exotic thing that I've been trying to master and that is growing eucalyptus So I picked these up also at my local garden center From a company called Gaia. I will put the link to their seed Store in the description box. They have some amazing different Seeds everything is organic and open pollinated heirloom type seeds They have so many varieties of tomatoes. I had to control myself. I picked up a few But um, I'm tempted to order more online. But anyways, uh, check it out. It's a company in Ontario Canada So they have two different varieties of this eucalyptus here I'm going to try the baby blue and the silver dollar So I will see if I can get them going um and put them outside also this summer on my patio And they also make a good house plant as well. So we'll see how it goes So it's probably going to take a while for that wicking to happen. I'm going to also Moisten the tops here of the soil I want to do it before I put the grass seeds in there because I don't want to just place them too much So the grass seeds need light right away to germinate. So I'm just going to put them on the surface of the soil here And we'll just cover them lightly with a little bit of the seed starting mixer Maybe some very fine vermiculite if I can find some So as I mentioned earlier, we are about 12 to 11 weeks before last frost date So there's a lot of things that I want to get going besides the grasses right now And that is some different varieties of onions that I start from seed And I have a bunch of other flowers such as petunias, pansies, colias And all of those I hope to be starting here in the next few days So stay tuned for more videos on how I get those going as well So I'm just going to sprinkle a light layer of A few seeds on the top So you can see I have quite a few of them. I'll try not to put too many maybe You know about four or five on the surface And I have to remember to mark these and make sure I Know which ones are planted here So I guess I'm kind of putting a little bit more than four or five I'm just doing a sprinkling if I have to thin out Some of them after they germinate. We'll just see what kind of success we have first It's hard to tell whether you have seeds or just little pieces of Broken stems and stuff, but again, I'll just Be extra generous and spread them around I may also like I said in the spring In some of my flower beds is just try to work some of these seeds into the soil Which is what they recommend doing in the early spring when it's still cool And maybe we'll have some luck there as well So the prairie drop seeds have quite a different looking seed. It's actually looks like little Pebbles if you can see that there as opposed to like the grass seed from these others So we'll see how that goes And you know, maybe if I'm feeling A little bit energetic if these uh, I had good germination and maybe want to try Pulling out some of the little seedlings and starting some more. I will maybe give it a try I always end up with way too many plants. So it's I always try to start small and Try to keep it that way, but it usually Kind of multiplies over the spring when you get growing things and everything's doing well And you don't want to kill anything or thin out. So you just keep up potting more and more so and looking here in the packet there is Maybe 10 seeds in there Not too many So I'm going to just try half of them So maybe I can try some more in another container So these seeds look pretty similar the silver dollar eucalyptus Maybe a little bit bigger. I might have a few bit a few more in here, but I'm just gonna just use a few of them I would love to get some of these going and give them to friends. I think they make a nice unique plant For people to have on their patio for the summer things that they don't normally have growing So I'm hoping that I can get a few of these going successfully And I did find some vermiculite here. So it does recommend for these to just sprinkle a light layer on top and Just miss them or bottom water so that you don't just place these seeds So we will do that on all of them here So that's pretty much how I am going to be planting up my grass seeds here and We're ready to put them under the lights. Okay. So I have them set up under my grow lights Here and I'm also using a seedling heat mat, but that is totally optional I'm just using it because I don't need it anywhere else right now And it might just help with that germination a little bit It takes about 10 to 14 days to see germination in these grass seeds. So it takes a little while And I highly recommend using one of these timer bars that I got here. So I have my lights Uh plugged in on the timer side so they will shut off for eight hours and and stay on for 16 hours And then the seedling heat mat is on the side that stays on and that heat mat will be going 24 hours a day So these are just led lights that I purchased. I believe at Lowes. They're not special grow lights by any means They're very economical. They work great And I just adjust them with some chain here and some little s hooks and I've moved them down so that There is about, you know, two or three inches of space I've also covered it up with one of these humidity domes Again, that is optional if you want to try to keep that moisture in it does work well I'm not using this anywhere else right now. So I'll just set it on top of the seeds like this And that'll just help keep that moisture in there a little extra longer And I will be checking this daily to make sure that it doesn't dry out because when you have a heat Mat underneath it can dry it out a little bit faster I will try to just bottom water and maybe just lightly miss the top so that I don't displace those seeds for now So I hope you enjoyed this video on how I start my ornamental grass seeds indoors Please hit the like button leave me a comment Don't forget to subscribe and I will keep you updated on how the germination is going for these and Keep watching for more seed starting videos coming to the channel. Thanks for watching