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seeds Ghetto hydroponics germination test

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pauly7

A few weeks back, while reading DeWitt's The Complete Chile Pepper Book, I pondered just how easy it could be to germinate seeds hydroponically. ANd I don't mean by playing by the rules, I'm talking real "slap it together and hope it works" stuff.

So, I got a plastic container, drilled a heap of holes in it, cut up some drinking-straws, rolled tissue into them, slipped in a few seeds (a heap of surplus, self-collected seeds), and filled the container with tap-water, a little epsom-salts and a few drops of fish-emulsion, and threw it together.

And then placed it on the window-sill (south-facing in AU, north-facing for you Americans, so not ideal for much) to brew.

In theory, I should have ended up with a smelly pool of water and some manky straws. Instead I got this.
ghetto.JPG


So far, the Red Cherry and Ebony Fire seeds have all sprouted 100%. Waiting to see what else will come up.

Was nothing more than an experiment to see what happens... might have to test it more over the coming cold months.
 
That's the idea - pull it out of the straw, slide it into a hole in the soil.

Still kinda surprised to get to the point where that step needs considering ;)
 
Do you have pics of when you take them out and open the paper towel? I am curious how long the root gets going for the water.
 
Wow, that is simultaneously crazy and brilliant! Hmm... I may have to take this as inspiration to try some sprouting experiments myself. Thanks for sharing your pics with us!
 
Thanks for the comments guys.

I'll keep updating the post as I go. The pic was taken yesterday, so I'll be leaving the seedlings in the tubes for a little while longer, will post pics when I transplant them out.
 
i am interested to see how it goes. :) hope more pictures to come . so u stuff tissue paper inside to straw until the top ? and put the seeds on the hole. why is there paper outside the straw as well ?
 
Srin - the straws I used were a bit smaller than some seeds, so the paper out the top "cradles" the seed.

Next version will have bigger tubes to hold the seed.

So far, 100% germination of two rows (Ebony Fire and Red Cherry) with true leaves starting to show, and the Hot Banana row is now starting to appear. Healthy looking seedlings too.
 
Wow that's really nice!! I have my seeds going in my phototron that makes sprouting easy as I can make several layers, but if I did it like that I could get 2-3 cartons with 7 layers each and germinate hundreds of seeds all at once!
 
I made a smaller version out of a coffee jar, it has nine holes in the lid.
In my excitement of your pic i failed to notice that you used straws so i just rolled up some napkins and used those.

I put in nine manzano seeds after they had been soaking for fourty eight hours, that was four days ago so im still waiting. :)
 
Novacastrian said:
I made a smaller version out of a coffee jar, it has nine holes in the lid.
In my excitement of your pic i failed to notice that you used straws so i just rolled up some napkins and used those.

I put in nine manzano seeds after they had been soaking for fourty eight hours, that was four days ago so im still waiting. :)
Click to expand...

One must always wait and take notice, Grasshopper.

Or something like that. :)
 
Update: Just had a look (and took a pic) and the Choc Hab's have started sprouting. All that is left is the Jalapeno seeds, and I don't expect them to sprout as they were a test-run from semi-ripe pods (a test inside a test, very meta).

Ghetto2.JPG


Given the number of leaves starting to appear, I might try potting some out soon (once the greenhouse goes up later in the week) and will take a photo of the root length.

I think a trip to Reverse Garbage is in order, see if I can score some materials for version 2 of this. Thinking hard-plastic tubing actually mounted to the lid... and an easier-to-remove lid, the clip on this one is a pain ;)
 
How far down the straw is the seed? How is the paper towel packed in there? Open at the bottom? So many questions hahaha! Looks awesome though!
 
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