Currently a sheet of polycarbonate is being used held in place on pieces of wood to raise it above the seedlings. This has the effect of creating a mini greenhouse within the main greenhouse greatly reducing the amount of energy required to maintain the seedlings within a small temperature range. To date the energy requirement has been reduced to such an extent that no energy is required during the day to maintain the seedlings at a stable temperature. Gaps have been left around the polycarbonate to allow air ventilation which will help to prevent rotting and infections from developing. Click here for more information on this project.
The plans to modify the heated sand beds has begun with a temporary system implemented using 6 x 60cell trays containing Begonia Tom Foolery seedlings. A more permanent modular system is being developed.
Currently a sheet of polycarbonate is being used held in place on pieces of wood to raise it above the seedlings. This has the effect of creating a mini greenhouse within the main greenhouse greatly reducing the amount of energy required to maintain the seedlings within a small temperature range. To date the energy requirement has been reduced to such an extent that no energy is required during the day to maintain the seedlings at a stable temperature. Gaps have been left around the polycarbonate to allow air ventilation which will help to prevent rotting and infections from developing. Click here for more information on this project.
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Because of the very high yield of the Begonia Tom Foolery seeds i had to set up a temporary Propagator in the house to handle the high volumes of seedlings. The propagator used 4 watering trays lined with metal film bubble insulation. A heating cable was laid on top of the bubble insulation to reflect the heat onto the underside of the seed trays. Each of the trays was left on the propagator for one week to allow the thinned out transplanted seedlings to establish themselves before the trays were transferred to the heated sand bed in the greenhouse. The temporary propagator set up has been very successful given how quickly it was set up and how relatively primitive it was. Having filled almost 6 x 170 cell plug plant trays it had become obvious that i would still have several times as many seedlings left over. The densest trays i currently have are 60 cells. I decided to put these to use and set up a temporary propagator in the house to bring these seedlings on until they are strong enough to move into the greenhouse. The propagator base is made up of 4 watering trays lined with metallised bubble insulating foil. The heating cable lies on the foil and the trays are placed on top capturing the warm air. The heating cable can be seen in the base of the watering tray at the top of the picture. The white cable is a temperature probe used to monitor the compost temperature. The cells of the trays allow the warm air to circulate around the compost and roots. The 60 cell trays were covered with plastic propagator covers for the first few days then these were removed to allow the compost to dry out and to avoid rotting of the seedlings. The heated sand bed in the greenhouse is currently being adapted to take these seed trays. The Begonia Tom Foolery seedlings are developing well after being thinned out into170 cell plug plant type trays. After being thinned out they took a couple of days to 'settle' and then started to develop. As a result i have continued thinning out the seeds into further 170 cell trays. To date i have 6 trays of 170 seedlings and still have many times as many seeds to thin out. As the seedlings have been thinned out the smaller seedlings that were crowded out have had a chance to develop as they get more light and this is creating a 'wave' of seed development. This picture shows a propagator base with the first 170 cell tray planted together with the two trays where the seeds were originally planted and germinated. As the seedlings have been thinned out the smaller seedlings have started to develop as space and light have become available. As long as the seedlings do not all suddenly develop at once there should be a steady stream available for planting into larger trays and eventually into the garden. As the Begonia Tom Foolery seedlings have progressed so well i have decided to thin them out using 170 cell plug plant trays salvaged from previous years when plug plants were purchased. This should save space and energy over putting the seedlings into 60 or40 cell trays. The thinning and transplanting of 170 seedlings took just over one hour. As can be seen from this post and the previous one the removal of 170 seedlings has made little impact on the density of the original tray! I plan to transplant as many seedlings as possible. I have found over a number of years that if the begonias are densely planted they provide excellent ground cover that discourages the growth of weeds and reduces the amount of maintenance. The Begonia Tom Foolery seeds have been a great success, probably too much of a success. I thought i had spread the seeds quite effectively and sparingly but obviously not! The growth to date has been very even, however they will need to be thinned very soon or the stronger, larger seedlings will start to crowd out the smaller ones leading to mis-shapen seedlings. I plan to try to use small plug plant type trays to allow the seedlings to be kept on a propagator and to save space and energy. |
AuthorAllan Faulds is an Electronic Design Engineer who develops Hardware and Software on a professional basis. He has a strong interest in applying his design and development skills to his areas of interest such as bicycle lighting and plant growing and greenhouse and garden control technology. Archives
January 2024
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