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PunkRotten
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I was doing some readin about the pros and cons to some of those mini greenhouses. And a lot of people said things like the plants can get mold, dampen off, fry etc if kept zipped up. Soem other people said a solution is to leave open/ventilated during the day and then zip up at night.

This is once the plants are up. I was thinking that since they are outdoors they would get hardened off on their own.

Tonio
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Well yeah..

open during the day so it don't cook, then close at night- lower temps, protect em !

Its still a enclosed ( even if partially :wink: ) structure. It does change the ambient nature of being totally outside & in ground/pot. Damping off, mold is of course possible- in or outside. Its all related to all things considered.

BTW man, Amazon raised the prices? Your link had a higher price when I got a new one late last year- my old one- the plastic covering is starting to disintegrate around the zipper stitching and such-guessing about 5 years old.
Suppose everyone's itching grow eh?

T

Tonio
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PunkRotten wrote:
This is once the plants are up. I was thinking that since they are outdoors they would get hardened off on their own.
oops, forgot about this...

Good question! Not sure, can anyone confirm? It is enclosed even in a partial manner.

I'd say the only way to now is ,try it. Its all about the situation and microclimate and what you provide as a means of growing the plants since man(us) is manipulating the germinating/growth in some degree. So , for us its a matter of frugal expenditure vs what we can afford for our benefit, no?

Share with us which ever way you go, and experience. IMO, that's where the fun is-learning from our mistakes and successes.


T

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PunkRotten
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At first I was going to use newspaper pots and take them outdoors during the day then indoors at night. But I was thinking instead of all that work, I could use containers to make mini greenhouses. They have a site called wintersown.com that shows you this.

The problem is that with the mini greenhouse containers you can only fit so much soil, or they can only allow a plant to go so high before you have to transplant to something else.


But if I bought the mini greenhouse I linked it would be the same thing kinda and would leave out some hassle. and I don't mind the cost. Plus I could reuse it. I happened to see that same mini greenhouse from the amazon link at lowes the other day. I may pick it up from there.

Bobberman
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I start most of my plants in 4 to 5 inch deep syrofoam grape boxes wih 4 or more inches of mixed dirt and potting soils .I leave the plants get about 4 inches to 6 inches before I put them into flats with 24 cells or I put them in 6 inch pots! I thin them in the grape boxes and leave several dozen get a foot high that I plant directly into the garden! I do this with pepper tomatoes and even some flowers! The deeper soil does not dry out as fast as shallow containers and I get nicer root development!

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rainbowgardener
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Tonio - Re Working hours prohibits getting progressive sunlight - how do you folks do it away at work?

I do it mostly with where I put the plants. I have a long planter bench on my deck. I start by putting the plants out UNDER the bench before I leave for work. They get no direct sun there, but some indirect light and are protected from wind. They come in when I get home from work. Once they are used to that then they come out from under the bench, but sit in the back corner of the deck next to the house, where they get only a little bit of direct sun and are still protected. Then they can go to the front of the deck or on top of the planter bench, where they will get some hours of morning sun and less protection. Once it's warm enough and they are hardened enough that they are not coming in at night and they are adapted to the morning sun/less protection, then they get moved to a similar location to where they will be, but still in pots, so if need be, they can be brought back to protection. If they are doing fine that way, then they get planted. This process takes at least a week, often more depending on how much the weather cooperates.

Tonio
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rainbowgardener wrote:Tonio - Re Working hours prohibits getting progressive sunlight - how do you folks do it away at work?

I do it mostly with where I put the plants. I have a long planter bench on my deck. I start by putting the plants out UNDER the bench before I leave for work. They get no direct sun there, but some indirect light and are protected from wind. They come in when I get home from work. Once they are used to that then they come out from under the bench, but sit in the back corner of the deck next to the house, where they get only a little bit of direct sun and are still protected. Then they can go to the front of the deck or on top of the planter bench, where they will get some hours of morning sun and less protection. Once it's warm enough and they are hardened enough that they are not coming in at night and they are adapted to the morning sun/less protection, then they get moved to a similar location to where they will be, but still in pots, so if need be, they can be brought back to protection. If they are doing fine that way, then they get planted. This process takes at least a week, often more depending on how much the weather cooperates.
Thanks RBG. Its been awhile since I set out seeldings for hardening off. My garden is on the north side, and I forgot to take notes last early spring on the sun cast. I think I can deal with that, but can get windy. Normally we can get some gloomy springs , so hopefully it should be doable.
T

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nedwina
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I mostly use 128 cell trays with fine germination mix. I've never had a damp off problem. Maybe because there's so little soil to stay soggy and the triangular shape drains nicely. They're not labor saving though-you have to water more often & the seedlings have to be potted up into 3 or 4 inchers (or into cups or whatever) after they reach an inch and a half or so.

I like 'em because you can start alot in a small space and you don't need tons of expensive germination mix. I use an artist's palette knife to lift 'em out.

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Intriguedbybonsai
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I just bought a Hydrofarm 72 cell germination kit. It came with the greenhouse lid, and heat mat included. I wish I had seen this thread before I had made a final decision on purchasing it.:? I don't want to give up on it before I've even tried it.

The kit came with azos(azospirullum brasilense), and mycorrhizal powder. The lid does have a vent at the top so that extensive moisture does not build up. Should I just leave the lid completely off to prevent fungal infections? And if I do leave the lid off, how do I keep the cells hydrated? Won't the heat mat dry them out?

The kit says you can use your favorite growth medium, or starter cubes. There's so many opinions here about soil on these kits. What growth medium is recommended?

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rainbowgardener
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Should I just leave the lid completely off to prevent fungal infections? And if I do leave the lid off, how do I keep the cells hydrated? Won't the heat mat dry them out?

I don't use covers at all, but especially with the vent, you can use it while the seeds are germinating. I would still take it off once some seeds have sprouted. Yes the cells do dry out faster with the heat mat. But the idea of the cells in trays is you can bottom water. Just put some water in the bottom of the tray and let the soil soak it up. So I just give the ones on the heat mats a little more water. But once a day is still generally enough, just don't have to be quite so sparing. The ones not on the heat mat don't necessarily get watered every single day, depending on how damp they seem.

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tremuloides
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Probably a bit off of the topic but new to the site and wanted to chime in....

Once your seeds have started and you want to "up-pot" them from the starter packs, I have found that the SOLO plastic cups work great.

I use blue painters tape on each cup and place the variety and the date of "up-potting" on it. I also am certain to drill little holes in the bottom of the cup so that water does NOT stay in the bottom.

The only DISADVANTAGE that this has is that the roots tend to slope slightly inward. It really is not that much of a disadvantage because the slope is not dramatic and they do not stay in these very long at all.

The benefit of this for me is that they (the plastic cups...get em at the dollar store or online or even at Wally World) are reusable over and over again.

Be sure to wash them in a light bleach solution as mentioned earlier as to kill of any spores/mold/etc that may be in your planting medium.



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