I use chopped up bits of emergency blanket (aka solar blanket, etc) to trap light into the growing areas - $2 at Target, and I still haven't run out of the first blanket. They tend to shelve them with camping gear, or possibly in an automotive dept. (road emergency supplies, like flares). On my minis, I have like 5" wide strips as visors around the lights. I can enjoy looking at the plants more than without the draping, because it keeps the light on the plants and out of my eyes. Also the minis are side-by-side, and the drapes reflect light into the middle sweet spot where I grow non-AG plants.

Oh, I meant Target was just where I bought it. Anyplace of that ilk - Walmart, Kmart, Target - a department store that includes camping gear or automotive supplies should have it.

The plants will love the extra light. The CFL's you talked about will do fine, however, they come in different colour temperatures i.e. 6500K, 2700K, 4200K to name but a few.

You need to buy ones rated at around 6500K, commonly called 'Daylight or Full Spectrum'. This will give the correct colour range to your plants, they need a certain light to grow properly.

The higher wattage the more growth.  It would be good to get some sort of reflector also, no point in wasting all that light - force it back down onto the plants.

There is more information here from previous posts.

Transfer to soil before their roots develop much past the edges of the pod sponge. Because the roots won't like the transition to soil, if they've developed in water.

I rarely start plants in an AG for planting in soil, though. I'm starting some big outdoor plants that way now (full-size tomatoes, eggplants, etc.) for assorted reasons. But it seems to me they start almost as fast in Park Starts (see thread here). Sure is handy - can start up to 18 plants in one little stryofoam block, then pop their little sponges out and directly plug into potting mix, or into an AG3 pod basket, either one. Especially good for ornamentals, which can take a painfully long time to look like much.

Alas, the product doesn't seem to be on Park Seed's website any more. You could call and ask... Last year, I think I got 3 of the little styrofoam blocks, with their sponges pre-inserted (54 plants), for $8 or something. Plus shipping...

FWIW, Jessi, I just potted up this tomato yesterday, after starting it in my Pro100 AG. It was only 9 days old, but its roots were getting long in the water. (Even a couple days speeding this one up mattered, since it's a backup plant for one I started 3 weeks ago and want to plant outside the first week in April, for an experiment.)

Developmentally, I don't think it's more than a day or two ahead of the one I started directly in soil. It depends on what kind of seed, whether the AG germinates them a lot faster. They all grow faster in the AG, after they have their true leaves. But if they're going to soil, best not to stay in water too long.

This is a full-size indeterminate Early Girl tomato vine. Not for the AG...

Aha! You found a way to get at the Park Starts blocks!  Well done!

Yes, you can start seeds directly in potting mix. With varying success.

I get a lot of use out of my Park Starts block. The sponge inserts can transfer directly into AG3 / AG6 pod baskets, so I can use it to start seeds for soil or growrocks or AG - and yes, that is often useful.

For example, remember that starter nutrient tab? That you got one of? Cool, so now it's 4 weeks later, and you need to replace one of 3 pods... But your other two pods need full-strength nutes. If you plug in seeds into that 3rd pod hole, that plant will often fail to thrive - nute-poisoning. I just had that problem with my lettuce gardens, and tried several different things because I was running out of Park Starts sponges. None of them worked.

Yes, you can plant all different seeds. You can also pop out N of the sponges and save them for another time (put aluminum foil over unused holes to cut down on algae growth.)

They aren't necessary. But I find the Park Starts useful, and a whole lot cheaper than buying Aerogarden sponges. Your mileage may vary.

Oh, cool - good to know the starter nutes are 1/2 the regular!

But note that is not what you do starting seeds in soil. More like 1/8th strength. Maybe less...

The Park Starts blocks come with Park's seed-starting nutes and directions - is that what you meant? Or you can buy Miracle Gro at any gardening center (Walmart, Home Depot, etc.) for use with whatever you put in potting mix. (If there's fertilizer already in it, it might overdose lettuce seeds...) You can get better results out of better nutes and other refinements (like, even Miracle Gro comes in different versions...you can buy all-organic fertilizers and potting mixes if that's important to you... etc.)

I wouldn't recommend using AG's nutrients on soil-planted plants. They don't recommend it either.

That plan will work.