In my gardening journey, I have tried several different setups for growing my own seedlings, and gradually purchased or built some equipment to have success.  Here are some of the things I use.  I plant a lot of warm-season vegetables and flowers, but most of this will apply to seed starting in general.

IMPORTANT:  If you need to know when to start your seeds, I have a page here that gives info about Northwest Arkansas. There are also many calculators online -- just be sure to use the correct last frost date for your area.  See here for an example.

Seed starting mix:  If you look on the internet, you will find A LOT of opinions about what soil media to start your seeds in.  They all have their pro's and con's.  I have used the expandable Jiffy peat pellets (such fun with grandkids!), made my own mix (peat, vermiculite, perlite) and purchased ready-made.  What seems to make a difference is (1) is it sterile? and (2) does it have nutrition or not?  A sterile mix prevents fungus gnats and other pathogens (and yes, the bad guys are even found in bagged mixes). And having a bit of nutrition in the mix (very small amount) allows me to wait a couple weeks after germination before I need to fertilize.  Currently I am using Burpee Organic Seed Starting Mix, and it seems to be doing well for me.

Lights:  I started out with a sunny south window, but soon figured out that seedlings need a lot more light!  So I purchased a wire rolling rack, and added florescent shop lights.  Nowadays, everything is LED, so I switched over to new LED lights on my germination table.

• Note that you DON'T need to buy special grow lights for starting seeds!  If you are only growing starter plants that will later go outside, you don't need expensive grow lights.   Full-spectrum lights would be needed if you planned to grow all the way to flowering and fruiting, (like if you wanted to grow tomatoes completely indoors).  Otherwise, a regular LED shop light will work just fine!  Higher brightness (lumens) is plenty (mine are 5000), and color temperature (kelvin)  in the blue range (5,000 - 7,000K) will promote vegetative growth.   Click here for some really good information about grow lights!

But here's what to know about brightness:  The amount of light your plants get  has a direct connection to distance from your seedlings.  The closer you have it, the more light (photons) your plants will get.  With my old florescent bulbs, I hung them 2-3 inches above the seedlings because the lights were not very bright. But I found that my new, brighter LED lights were burning the seedling leaves, so I raised them to about 12 inches.  You will need to experiment with your specific lights -- if your seedlings quickly become tall and weak (we call that 'leggy'), they are most likely not getting enough light.  And seedlings only need 14-16 hours of light a day, so a cheap timer can also help with turning them on and off.

Warmth:  Most seeds need warmth to germinate, generally when the soil temperature is between 68° and 86°F.  I prefer to start my seeds on a table inside my house where it is consistently warm.  I do use a heat mat to germinate some seeds, especially peppers and sometimes tomatoes.  I have my lights suspended over the table on a simple PVC frame so I can raise the lights as the plants get taller.  I also sometimes cover the whole frame with a cheap mylar blanket to reflect the light and keep them warm.  Once they are a few weeks old and growing well, I move them to the garage rack with lights where it stays between 50-55 degrees.  Eventually they will go outside to harden-off and hang out in my greenhouse until the right planting time.

Containers:  A container for starting seeds can be anything -- I used various-sized plastic cups with holes poked in the bottom for several years.  They need to be big enough to not dry out too quickly (that's a problem with the egg carton method), but not too large either.   Since I don't generally grow more than 12 of one variety, I like to start mine in these smaller cells, then move them  up to a bit larger container once they get a few inches tall.  I tried starting my seeds directly in 4' pots, but they took up too much space, and some never germinated, so it seems better to start small.   

Be sure any container you use can drain well so they are not waterlogged.  Bottom watering can also help with this.

Note that there are a host of seed-starting supply videos online that show other handy items to have -- trays, humidity domes, and the like.  

Fertilizer:   The first leaves to emerge are cotyledon leaves which sustain the seed through germination.  Timing is key for fertilization:

• If you are using a seed starting mix with no nutrition (no fertilizer, worm castings, compost or other nutrition), you will need to start to fertilize when the first true leaves appear.  

• If your seed starting mix contains some nutrition, you don't have to start fertilizing until a bit later, like when first true leaves are bigger or there are two sets of true leaves. 

The main thing to know is that fertilizer (even organic) can burn the plant roots if it is too strong, so it is best to err on the weak side especially when plants are small.

I use very diluted Fox Farms Grow Big  (1/2 strength) weekly when I water for the first few weeks, then gradually increase the fertilizer strength as the plants get bigger.  Be sure to follow the directions on the package.

Watering:  Always moisten the seed starting mix before putting it into the container.  Keep the top moist with a spray bottle of water until they germinate (don't let them dry out!).  Once they are germinated and up a bit, I bottom water.

Hard Lesson:  The first few years I just about watered my seedlings to death.  Then they got fungus gnats, which was a mess.  This video was a great help!   

Sowing:  Sow seed to the depth given on the package.   And be sure to label your containers carefully -- it's very easy to get them mixed up!

So that's how I do it.  But there is A LOT more information out there on seed starting!  I personally love YouTube videos -- I follow these channels because their information is interesting and reliable:

• Roots and Refuge Farm

• The Rusted Garden Homestead

Enjoy!