Bootstrap Farmer Seed Starting Cell Trays

Anyone who has ever started seeds at home is familiar with the flimsy seed starting cell trays that come in the kits that are sold en masse in the department stores and garden centers. Said trays are also thrown away en masse a couple of seasons later when they have broken down from UV light and/or despite the gardener’s best faith efforts to remove the seedling from the cell as gently as possible.

These trays made with food-safe recycled plastic are going to impress you if you’re used to the thin ones you’ve probably been using. You can tell just by looking at them that their rigidity is going to hold up to a tray full of soil starting mix and mature seedlings.

Seed starting time is the time of year when I have the least patience for gear that doesn’t hold up. Seed that doesn’t germinate, grow lights that flicker, and digging tools that break all mean delay and extra work. Remove all the variables you can and buy seed starting cell trays that you know won’t flex and break when you move them.

If you know you’re going to stick with gardening for the foreseeable future, buy a 5-pack of these Bootstrap Farmer 72-cell seed starting trays as well as the base trays that go with them. This small investment will be plenty for the majority of hobbyists.

While market gardeners and commercial growers often use smaller cells when growing at scale, a 72-cell tray provides for a larger margin of error when it comes to watering and allowing adequate rootball development. Even with the variety and quantity of crops I grow for personal use and the farmers market, I have never seriously considered going away from the standard 72-cell configuration.