I keep my seedlings in a huge tupperware storage bin. The pool liner sounds like a royal PITA. I water as needed but I water the bottom of the container like pam does, not the soil. Overwatering is the usual cause for poor root developement.
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Do roots grow toward the heat?
- Thread starter wordwiz
- Start date
Cheezy,
I don't have a Tupperware contianer that comes close to being able to hold 60-70 five-inch containers.
The liner shouldn't be a pain at all - simply cut out a section large enough so that it covers the entire area, then tape the sides so it stays up. It's a blue color so I don't know exactly how the absorbtion or relection of light will work, but I know it can easily withstand 90 degree temps.
The one thing I haven't asked about is how important a fan is. I get the impression it helps strengthen the stems and keeps the top of the soil drier but it would also lower the humidity and increase the heating bill.
Mike
I don't have a Tupperware contianer that comes close to being able to hold 60-70 five-inch containers.
The liner shouldn't be a pain at all - simply cut out a section large enough so that it covers the entire area, then tape the sides so it stays up. It's a blue color so I don't know exactly how the absorbtion or relection of light will work, but I know it can easily withstand 90 degree temps.The one thing I haven't asked about is how important a fan is. I get the impression it helps strengthen the stems and keeps the top of the soil drier but it would also lower the humidity and increase the heating bill.
Mike
That is why I have 3 large tupperware storage bins(?). They hold more than that. If you don't like the idea don't do it. I was trying to help. They were cheap too, not tupperware brand.
The fan is a 2 way street. I don't use one because it can dry the plants out in no time if you have an emergency and are away for a few days.
The fan is a 2 way street. I don't use one because it can dry the plants out in no time if you have an emergency and are away for a few days.
Cheezy,
Didn't mean to suggest you weren't trying to help - everyone I have met here is very great about helping out a new grower. Perhaps to explain a little better - we are heading into the very coldest period of the year, and the room the peppers are growing in receives only ambient heat, meaning the temps will cool down significantly during the night. Also, the hot box in not in a place that gets direct sunlight, nor is it tall enough to place larger tupperware containers in it - at least not the kind I have seen, unless I want to buy about a dozen of them. So lining the box with the pool liner is the lazy and cheap way out.
Mike
Didn't mean to suggest you weren't trying to help - everyone I have met here is very great about helping out a new grower. Perhaps to explain a little better - we are heading into the very coldest period of the year, and the room the peppers are growing in receives only ambient heat, meaning the temps will cool down significantly during the night. Also, the hot box in not in a place that gets direct sunlight, nor is it tall enough to place larger tupperware containers in it - at least not the kind I have seen, unless I want to buy about a dozen of them. So lining the box with the pool liner is the lazy and cheap way out.
Mike
cheezy, how long were you leaving your fan on? I use a fairly large fan from HD but i only leave it on for 20 min. a day, its on a timer.
Dale
Dale
Dale,
I tend to do the same thing. If I can find a fan that blows a small amount of air per minute (a fan about twice the size of the ones found in a computer) I would be tempted to put it on the same timer as the lights, or leave it on 24/7, but no way would I run a large fan all the time.
To me, the only way to use a fan that moves a significant amount of air would be if I had a hot house that was large enough to hold hundreds of trays that floated in a water tray. That's how tobacco plants are raised, but the farmers grow thousands of seeds at a time. The set-ups I have seen have seeds in a Styrofoam tray that travel in a trough with circulating water, so they keep moving. There is a fan that blows on them for a period of time as they travel the circuitous route.
Mike
I tend to do the same thing. If I can find a fan that blows a small amount of air per minute (a fan about twice the size of the ones found in a computer) I would be tempted to put it on the same timer as the lights, or leave it on 24/7, but no way would I run a large fan all the time.
To me, the only way to use a fan that moves a significant amount of air would be if I had a hot house that was large enough to hold hundreds of trays that floated in a water tray. That's how tobacco plants are raised, but the farmers grow thousands of seeds at a time. The set-ups I have seen have seeds in a Styrofoam tray that travel in a trough with circulating water, so they keep moving. There is a fan that blows on them for a period of time as they travel the circuitous route.
Mike
All you need is a couple of minutes of air circulation no more than that. You can get the same results by running your hands over the tops of the plants but I prefer not fondling my peppers LoL. I won't even turn my fan on them for the first month or month and a half.
Dale
Dale
If I had a habenero for every time I have heard this line...
Sorry, got to get back on track! The truth is that in the dead of winter, getting seeds to sprout and then grow is much better than looking out the window and watching the snow melt. I really wish it was March so I could go out, spread some manure and till up my garden. It was great last year and I got a very late start (didn't sow or transplant anything until early June).
How high can squirrels jump? Those critters would find every corn stalk seed that sprouted and pull it up. If they had any meat on them, I would pick them off with a rifle and after skinning and cleaning them, throw them in a skillet.
Mike
texas blues said:
I agree.
willard3 said:
The ceiling fan blowing air up (on low) 24/7
,then down around my plants, blows air through the material holding the roots.
The tips of the plants will get mold or dead
when there is too much humidity. Same with the roots. They need airflow for health.
The more water (filtered, not di$tilled) you pump through that plant the larger it will be.
A wick in a small reservoir below the plant keeps the water table lower too.