Heated window sill propagator

alanobrien

if you put one of these on a south facing window and it doesnt have a thermostat be prepared for your seedlings to fry later in the season. Props are excellent, i have several but they need to be used with care and ideally controlled to the temperature range of the seed you intend to germinate.

maryb

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Normally after the first couple have germinated I would remove it. The other ones have probably already germinated under the compost anyway, just haven't broken the surface yet.

Yes you can reuse the compost if you so wish. But I don't, it's hardly any anyway, not worth mucking about with.

Thank you that's really useful to know -it's one of those things they never say in gardening books .

How much compost do you use for seedlings? Again the gardening books suggest pretty well filling a seed tray and then levelling it off but that seems a huge amount for seedlings you are going to transplant anyway

budgetboo

I either use the "propogators" the seeds came in from the pound shop OR I'm trialling those degradeable cardboardy pots this year. At £1 for 30 I figured they were a nice deal as you don't have to keep disturbing the roots to plant things on.

I put the pots in a seed tray and then cover the whole tray in cling film. They then either go on my North facing window sill or in the airing cupboard, depending on the warmth the packet says they need to germinate. Doing it this way seems to work out more economical on the compost I've found too.

I did this last year with plastic pots, but this year I wanted to keep my plastic pots to sell a few seedlings on at Easter. I've had the same 2 seed trays for about 5 years, and the poundshop kit propogators get washed in boiling water and reused each year too. I only buy one or two varieties of seeds via the kit form each year as the germination rate seems higher from packet seeds.

I a bag of miracle gro seed & potting compost and to look at it doesn't seem any different in texture to my 99p Aldi compost. The Wilkninsons own brand stuff by comparison is full of bits, so not nearly as good for seeds, my son spent an hour breaking up for me to use in pots, and we've rejected it for the purpose it was bought for - the seed germination stage. Next year I'm sticking with Aldi.

The heated propagator is going on my Xmas list as it sees a nice to have rather than a necessity.

Davesnave

maryb wrote: »

How much compost do you use for seedlings? Again the gardening books suggest pretty well filling a seed tray and then levelling it off but that seems a huge amount for seedlings you are going to transplant anyway

Yes, it's far too much. I use 9cm pots for just about everything. The exception would be for something that doesn't transplant well, where I'd use some kind of cell pot, loo roll inner, etc.

But seed trays.....I don't have any.

maryb

Thanks everyone. All my seeds are now through except for the leeks and being able to move them out of the propagator sooner rather than later is really helping as I've got a lot I want to sow. I want to try growing my own flowers for hanging baskets as well as veg as we've got a rather bleak back garden which is all paved. (Big garden at the front, though so not too deprived of green) So it needs some petunias and things to brighten it up