Growing Thyme seeds - emerging from the soil

Within 3 days I am already seeing alot of germination, the little seeds have sprouted and have these tiny little leaves. First was the Common Thyme, and then the Wild and Creeping Thyme followed in sprouting the next day. So many of them have come up, I cannot count them all. There must be a hundred or more between all the trays that have already sprouted.

I was quite surprised to see them come up this quickly, as my searches online for germination time of Thyme seeds says 14-28 days. I cannot explain why they germinated so early but glad none the less.

Some more 1020 trays came in the mail and I started two more trays, though I am out of window space so I set up a grow room to get the seeds started. Pouring some of the indoor potting soil into the tray I prepared it for the seeds.

These two trays I will lay the seeds differently, In my last three I covered the seeds in a 1/8 to 1/4 inch of soil. Though I found out you can also surface sow them. Meaning I can place the seed on the surface and just water.

With my two trays set up by an old fluorescent lamp I think it will do well, I plan on adding some other lights below shortly.

A timer is set up to turn the lights on and off. I go for a 16/8 cycle to give them a natural light cycle.

These tray lids are smaller than the previous ones I got. So I will need to keep a close eye on the seedling height and transplant before they touch the top.

I am growing another kind of Thyme in these two 1020 trays. A Lemon Thyme variety (Thymus citriodorus). As its name suggests it smells and maybe tastes like lemon and can be used in cooking. I hear it has an orange like flavor, guess I will need to find out and harvest some one day.

The 1020 trays by the windows seem to be happy, I wonder how soon I will need to transplant them. I am guessing a week or two.

Its important to keep the chamber humid otherwise these plants may dry out. And with them by the window it gives them a warm environment due to its greenhouse effect.

I am glad to see each of the trays germinating. First with the common thyme, and then the wild and creeping variety followed.

Something I want to get better at is seed placement. I want to find a way to lay the seeds in a more precise manner. As right now I am rolling them off my thumb sprinkling them into the tray.

So for now I will need to keep a good balance of moisture in the seed trays, but not too much where they get water logged. I go by the feeling of the weight of the tray, not the best way but it works. I also stick my finger in the corner of the try to check for standing water. These trays have no holes at the bottom so I need to make sure to give the seeds and soil just enough water it can handle.

Glad to see the seeds I placed a fine layer of soil over has germinated, and in an amazingly short amount of time. Next we will see if the seeds that were surface sowed do just as well. Will do another update post on this as it develops. We are a long way from them being in the ground, but the first steps have been achieved.

A link to my previous post on this project: