seed startin' on the cheap

I meant to put this under "Germination" heading. My bad.

Looks great!!!
Are those the containers that you buy sliced meat (Turkey, ham, etc.)? I used those recently and have had good luck (Dioon Edule) with them. Seem REALLY air tight.
The ONLY other thing I might do is maybe put tin foil on the part of the top that doesn't have anything, that way the heat doesn't escape and it will send more heat to the side with seeds on it, if you follow what I am saying.
Other than that, looks pretty darn cool.

Those are not the containers for meat, although I do use those too. the containers in the picture are regular disposable containers you buy at the store. I don't dipose of them though. I ususally have the left side covered with seed starting containers (larger rubber made conatiners with lids). I took them off so you all could see the brilliant construction method I used.

What kind of temps are you getting in the growing medium to start these seeds? I'd imagine the older/larger type bulbs would throw even more heat. Nessecity is the mother of invention.

Cheers, Barrie.

the temp of the medium is 80-85F (27-30C) . Very consistent temps. I use the smaller mini-lights because they are not quite as hot and I have this thing inside in my basement and I feel more comfortable using these smaller lights. Quite honestly my intentions were to add another strand of mini-lights to get the soil temps up to 85F, but I did not need to. 1 strand did the trick, plus the lights are safe to run 24-7.

Thanks for posting this, I can use the money I was saving for a heat mat to buy more seeds 😆

Knnn,
Save your money. Heat mats are great for providing heat, but the soil or growing medium dries out closest to the heat mat first. If you don't notice this, it can be very detrimental to seedling growth as the tap root desends to the bottom of the container.

Cheers, Barrie.

Barrie,
Noticed that effect with a small propagator I've been using, switched to perlite which helps a little but still can't leave anything in it for too long.

Also have built some rigs out of used crock pots being run through a variac, etc. Usually results in waking up in the morning with the smell of cooked spagnhum moss in the air 😆

Seems its always the simplest things which work the best...

Steve

Oppalm ~ Thanks for the idea, put something similar together using an old aquarium.

I have to say you guys are very creative. This stuff looks great

...and the biggest problem, where to put the seedlings once they're potted up? Too cool yet in many instances with overnight temps to have them put out.

Cheers, Barrie.

Since my GH is full,

I mostly just put them in the dining room 😆

How do you get away with that!
There is no way my wife is letting me put palms in my dining room.
The greenhouse looks great

With the promise that everthing would be moved out of the house this Spring 😆
Going to start on my GH addition in the next couple weeks.....

Steve