Propagation box

It's still winter, but now is the time to start the first seeds. I am keen to have some biggish seedlings when it is finally time to start planting. Chillis, capsicums and eggplants seem to need longer to grow to a decent size. What to do?

Make your own propagation box!

Take some styrofoam boxes.


Add heat mats (in this case they are actually reptile mats).

Put your trays on that. (The seedling punnets will go in there.)

Cover with an old window.

Get yourself a thermometer with a probe, so that you can measure the temperature of the tray.

Start sowing! :)
As you may be able to see in the picture, the temperature inside the box climbed to 24C within a few minutes.

4 comments:

macmsue said...

Very clever. You should have really advanced plants by the time the weather is warm enough for planting out.

Veggie Gnome said...

macmsue, that's the plan. Let's see what happens. :)

sarah said...

Thank you for this. I did all of my seeds this weekend and they are all in mini green houses out in my garden. I didnt have a heat pack, but ill see how they go. Im in the South East and its still cold here at night but frost hasnt been touching my garden. Thanks for the idea. Ive been a bit sooky that i wouldnt have a hot house in time for this season.

Veggie Gnome said...

Mini green houses work well, too, Sarah! I have been using them for years. This is the first year I am using heat mats. But I'm also still using unheated mini green houses. They work well. Especially if they occupy the space around the wood heater in the family room! ;) You should be just fine. Let us know how you go. :)

Post a Comment