VIVOSUN Seed Starter Trays, 72 Cell with Base Trays and Domes (6 Pack) Review

Our Verdict

Utah State's watering instruction for seed trays is specific — keep the mix evenly moist but not waterlogged, using bottom watering or a spray bottle — and both methods exist because a watering can moves small seed out of position and packs the surface of a fine starting mix into a crust. Bottom watering needs a particular construction to work: cells with drain holes, sitting inside a solid tray you can pour into. That is what this is, and it is worth checking on any tray you buy, because a one-piece tray with holes in the bottom cannot do it and a solid tray without an insert drowns. The second reason it suits our guidance is the heat-mat compatibility to 120°F, which matches the mat we recommend for hitting USU's germination temperatures. Three honest notes. Six separate 12-cell inserts is more pieces to handle than one 1020 flat, and they do not tile a standard 10 × 20 mat footprint neatly, so a full mat runs a mixed load. The plastic is thin at this price — reusable is accurate, but reusable for a few seasons rather than a decade. And the domes are the part most likely to cause a problem: they belong on until emergence and off immediately after, because UNH's instruction for the post-germination location is light, AIRY and cooler, and a dome left on defeats all three at once. The vent helps; taking it off helps more.