So I have some questions about starting seeds, I have grown a few times but this seamed to be the most appropriate place to post as I am not one to grow indoors, and the plants ultimately will be outdoors throughout the majority of the grow. I'll give as much info as possible to help get the best info back! I'll be growing Mango (I'm sure along with a few others), I have 2 seeds that were found in some nugs I had a few months back and it was pretty good stuff. Anyway I normally just plant right into the ground and go from there with no issues really but I have heard there are benefits from starting early indoors and transitioning young plants outside once the weather is good enough (I am in northeast US). First I would like to know what are the pros and (if any) cons to utilizing this method. Next, my thoughts where to simply use some Jiffy starter pellets and maybe even of those greenhouse starter kits. Is it better to just use a small pot or solo cup with soil will the starter kit give me benefit? Also I would obviously need some lighting of some sort (Again totally new to indoor growing even though it's just starting I don't know a whole lot about the lights and stuff) I happen to work at Lowe's part time and they have a little 2' t5 cfl grow light that's 6500k I believe. will this be sufficient and how many could I start under this and how long would it last before it wont keep up? Can I use one of those tin clamp lights with like an LED bulb/LED flood light and save the money on running a cfl and keep the heat down? I dont plan on going crazy with a grow tent cuz and equipment cuz I wont use it all year or even most of 1 grow lol. Sorry for all the questions that are all over. AT MOST I will have 10 plants but I only have 2 currently. Last thing real quick, if i plan to get them outside as soon as I can, when should I start the seeds? Thanks in advance everyone! Happy growing and happy toking Link to light I mentioned: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Ferry-Morse-Grow-Light/1000213341
Straight to soil after sprouting should be fine. You need maybe a little bigger than the solo cup. Maybe half or full gallon pot that you'll replant outside later. I'd start the seeds about 4 to 6 weeks before the last freeze outside is expected. The benefit IMO would be that you are in control of everything about it when indoors versus outdoors; heat, light, water, etc. That T5 should work fine for the seeds and into the few weeks you'll have them inside. Longer and you should invest in a decent grow light. Otherwise, definitely check the page LoneGardener provided.
So update, I found this old grow light we had laying around that we used as an under cabinet light lol, its a 17w actual/75w equivalent output 7800k t8. Would this suffice for what I'm looking to do or is it better to just buy a new light to use for that first month?