Self-Watering Seed Starting System – 72 Cell

This seed tray made starting our garden a breeze! My grandson loved watching the seeds grow, and the self-watering feature kept everything simple and low-maintenance. Great results—we’ll use it every year!

Seems to be good quality from a legacy American company. I started my Marigolds in Houston Texas in January and got them put in the garden in February. The plastic is thick enough that it can be used over and over again and not thrown away. Would purchase again

It was very easy to set up, and I had near all my seeds sprout. Watering part works well, too. The only issue for me was that the plastic is black, and there's not enough coir/soil to reach the top to be level with the top of a tray. As my seeds sprouted, many of them failed to thrive because the sun/light wasn't reaching the sprouts. It took me awhile to figure out what was happening. The tray was sitting on a kitchen windowsill, surrounded by 4 windows with at least 12 hrs of light, and about 4-6hrs of direct sun. There was enough sun/light coming in. But the seeds that were lower due to given coir level didn't get enough sun thru black plastic, and failed. Once I turned an overhead light on, it helped, and I was able to save some. The ones that made it past the tray's plastic to more light, were fine. So I would either get extra coir to make sure the soil level is to the top of a tray, and the sprouts get enough light. Or verify that there is a direct overhead light/sun getting inside the tray pockets. Or use the coir that comes with it, distribute it so it's level to the top, and not use all the pockets because you won't have enough to fill them all. Or get clear plastic trays. Overall the kit was useful for me being a beginner, but it came with the learning curve, and about half of lost sprouts.

I had great success with this. I scattered a package of black eyed susan seeds on the right side, and purple coneflower seeds on the left. Then I realized that black eyed susan are supposed to be cold-stratified, so I removed all of the seeds I could see, put them in the fridge, and put yarrow seeds in the cells instead. Much to my surprise, 50+ black eyed susan seeds sprouted even without the cold stratification! The purple coneflower were slower, but I ended up with ~10 of those and ~13 yarrow. The only con I encountered was that it is quite difficult to get the seedlings out of the cells when transplanting. They don’t “pop” out as described, and the starting mix crumbles everywhere. My finger often got stuck in the little holes trying to remove seedlings which hurt.

I’ve had this seed tray a few years ago and all the cells stayed moist as they should. This time they are obviously not all staying wet for some reason. I informed the company and they said just to water from the top (not ideal) and which is why I bought this particular seed starting tray. I had seeds in all the cells but only those shown have taken.

love this! Makes it super easy to start your seeds!

When used properly, it works perfectly. Just make sure the media pellets are turned into a vertical position when you hydrate them, or they “grow” to the sides and have to be manually turned to work properly without distorting the watering system. Since water is virtually incompressible, the sideways-watered pellets didn’t expand correctly. Make sure the pellets are oriented like a soup can and not like a hot dog. I made the mistake of watering the pellets with some of them oriented sideways, and it took quite a bit of time and effort to correct my error. Even so, I used this with a seed-starting heat mat and a grow light, and it worked very well to give my seedlings a head start

I wouldn't buy this again for the following reasons: 1 - VERY labor intensive to set up. With other seed starters, pop in the plugs, add water and seeds and done. With this one, need to set the pellets flat in each cell, but when you add water, they can flip, then when the water hits them, they get wedged sideways and you have to dig them out and rotate them. Then after all of them have been soaked, you need to take the wooden stirrer and break up EACH individual cell to loosen the fibers before you can seed them. 2 - VERY hard to move. I put my seedlings outside to harden them off and bring them in at night when it's cold. The water in the reservoir sloshes very easily. Instant mess. 3 - VERY hard to plant. With other seed starting systems, the seed goes into a plug which comes out as a whole when planting. With this system, the fibers all come apart when planting so you end up with a bare root a lot of the time. Worst investment I ever made in my gardening history of 50 years!

I am so happy with this tray! It has made things so easy for me. There was one batch of seeds I wanted to get started when things were all still frozen up where I live. So not having to get my own soil and fill the cells was so handy. The "wicking" pad has kept all the cells moist and all my seeds have sprouted and are doing well. The other reviews that say their seeds didn't sprout....come on, you can't blame this product on that. Either you've got bunk seeds or you did something wrong. And as for the people having trouble getting the soil pellets to expand, if you follow the directions they work perfectly! Just keep adding more very warm water and "assist" apart as needed. I wouldn't use this for the rest of my seeds, as I don't mind doing the work myself when the weather warms up. But for when you need the convenience of something like this, it is entirely helpful! I highly recommend this tray. It is easy to use, sturdy, and effective.

An excelent product.

Nice size, easy to use. Read the instructions on how to properly assemble and place the mat and it works very well. The dome is meant to rest on top, not snap into place, but if you’re not expecting it or don’t bother with instructions, you might be annoyed. The only issue I’ve had is that because the trays are so large (36 cells in each) transplanting was very tricky. Easily remedied by snipping into smaller sections of cells. Durable enough to reuse for at least a couple of seasons. Really love the mat feature, keeps things moist for days.