I hacked together this seed starter tray because I wanted to see if I could make my own without paying for the ones you can buy at the store. It was something I wanted to try to reduce watering from above and prevent the fungi that contribute to Dampening-off. This is a prototype and I am sure as the season progresses, I will find ways to improve it, but so far, it seems to be working very well for my trays of onions and leeks. I'll have to come up with something for the plants that really hate to have their roots disturbed while transplanting.
Supplies: 1 Small aluminum pan with lid
1 Large aluminum pan
1 Old cotton t-shirt
Exacto-knife
Scissors
4 Small terra cotta saucers (not shown digitally)
1. Take the smaller aluminum disposable pan and make hole in the bottom with the exacto knife. I spun the blade once it pierced the aluminum to make a nice hole. The number of holes along the width side should be even. The number of holes along the length should be distributed evenly about 1.5 to 2 inches apart.
2. Cut a cotton t-shirt into long strips about an inch in width but leave a piece that will cover the bottom of the small aluminum pan.
3. Weave the strips through the holes leaving a slacked loop on the underside of the pan. Place the large t-shirt piece over the loops in the bottom of the small aluminum pan.
4. Add water to the large pan to cover the strips. The terra cotta saucers were used to elevate the smaller pan and allow the strips to float freely.
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| Small aluminum pan supported by terracotta saucers (or similar). Bird helper optional. |
5. In order to assess the efficiency of your loops, observe how well the large t-shirt piece soaks up water from contact with the strips. Add holes and strips if an area of the t-shirt piece covering the loops is dry. Saturation takes more than a few minutes.
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| Gradual saturation of the top t-shirt layer |
6. Add a layer of sterilized media to the tray. I placed another extra strip or two on this layer to help facilitate the movement of water to the upper layer of soil.
7. Add additional sterilized media to the top of the smaller pan and space seedlings accordingly
8. Cut a few holes in a lid to allow for proper ventilation and place on the small pan to increase humidity for germination.
