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[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

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From: "tvoivozhd" <tvoivozd AT infi.net>
To: "Homestead mailing list" <homestead AT listserv.unc.edu>
Subject: Seedstarter light/heat stand
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 23:52:06 -0800
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I know you've been dogging it.  If you wait another minute before giving
your plants a head start, you will be the shame of the neighborhood---the
Jones you've been trying to keep up with will have the first tomato of the
season again.

And I know you aren't going to spring for a five hundred dollar store-bought
seedstarter either, so sort through your packrat belongings and maybe make a
visit to the neighborhood dumpsters again for parts.

Here's a few ideas to think about.

http://shayalo.republika.pl/tajwan/matol/chinese/

Whoops, Pinyin may not be of much help.  Here are some in English---couldn't
find anything in the Zanoni dialect though.  No matter, the speakers are too
busy making beer from the cadavers of diseased hyenas to give any thought to
gardening.



http://www.greendealer-exotic-seeds.com/seeds/HowtoGermZip-lockBag.html

(growing seeds in Ziplock bags)

http://www.vg.com/gardening/content.asp?copy_id=5092  (use a capillary mat
to avoid over and under=watering---plus provide water once a week instead of
daily)  One other thing---provide a controlled heat source of some type,
thermostatically controlled electric mat is the most common.

http://www.diynet.com/DIY/article/0,2058,2463,FF.html  (various methods of
starting seeds, inc. seed tape)

http://homeharvest.com/linkspropagation.htm  (Home Harvest links)

http://www.taunton.com/finegardening/pages/g00047.asp (Taunton Press plant
growing stand)

http://www.fastplants.org/GrowingInstructions/LightSystems_body.htm
(fastplants.org homemade growing stand with lights)

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/lights/msg0319153910274.html  (a
bunch of homemade light stand suggestions)

http://www.carlnet.org/~ttsdaly/plantstand.html  (one-inch diameter PVC pipe
growing stand)

http://www.growingedge.com/basics/easyplans/ezegro.html  (The Growing Edge
is probably the best magazine on hydroponics with its many variations of
growing platforms.  I don't think it takes the place of a conventional
garden, but for anyone of limited physical ability it is a lot better than
staring wistfully out the window.) And Paula Speraneo's Aquaponics forum
sooner or later has everything on it you need for raising plants and/or
fish.

http://www.countrysidemag.com/past.htm  (I know you have too much time on
your hands---might as well look at some back issues of Countryside while you
are thinking about what kind of seedstarter gadget you should make.)

http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/sustainable/handbooks/essentialtools/5.html
(the many different types of containers usable for planting seeds early.  I
haven't used it for three or four years, but I bought a mold for making
earth blocks that worked well---according to the seeds I put in them, and
several of the seed catalogs sell a lathe-turned mold and plug to make pots
out of newspapers as one of the cheapest and best ways to go.  To get ready
early I bought a bale of spaghnum moss last fall when the #%^& Quality Farm
Store went out of business.  I like spaghnum better than peat moss because
it inhibits damping off of seed)

http://www.extension.iastate.edu/newsrel/2000/feb00/feb0021.html  (a few
suggestions on starting seed indoors)

http://www.vg.com/gardening/content.asp?copy_id=5020  (More comments on
lighting, air temperature)

http://www.monroe2boces.org/shared/esp/startseeds.htm  (don't forget to
harden off the tender inside-grown plants.  A good way to kill them off if
you forget to gradually accustom them to conditions in the garden).


Of course, you can build a seedstarter stand from whatever is at hand.
Last fall I bought several plastic pipe-stands on sale for twenty dollars
from Home Depot or Lowe's, ---forgot which.  Anyway they are three feet
wide, eighteen inches deep and have three shelves spaced fifteen inches
apart, plus the top shelf.  Easy to assemble, very strong and an unbeatable
price.

Two clear plastic Sterilite 28qu/27L pans 23 1/4" x 17" x 5" just squeeze on
each shelf. (also sold at H.D. or Lowes)  They sit on a 22" x 31 1/2" piece
of pink half-inch insulating board---so no heat is lost through the bottom
of the pans.

Three two-foot double-fluorescent bulb light fixtures are installed
lengthways on a 22" x 31 1/2" piece of half-inch plywood---one in the center
and the other two 2" from the edge on top of a two inch wide, half inch deep
steel channel salvaged from an old four-drawer file cabinet.  A wood strip
would do equally well, anything to provide a space so the fluorescent
fixtures will stay cool in constant operation.
If they don't, drill some air vent holes along the sides to keep the thermal
switch from shutting off the lights when they overheat.

I had a two hundred watt aquarium heater laying around for a couple years,
and an aquarium air pump meant to operate an aerator stone for a twenty to
thirty gallon tank. And a long piece of four-inch PVC pipe was up on one of
the barns, salvaged from plumbing discards when the next-door neighbor built
a new house.

So fourteen inches of PVC pipe was cut off, a four-inch PVC cap from Home
Depot cemented on one end as a heater-tank and fastened to a PVC pipe column
of the storage stand, the top end of the pipea couple inches above the top
of the 28-quart plastic pans.

The twelve-inch aquarium heater clipped on inside the PVC pipe tank.
The air pump clamps a couple inches above that, so it is unnecessary to
install a check valve.  The air outlet leades via 3/16 tube to the middle of
a plastic barb-fitting tee glued to the inside midpoint of the tank.  One of
the other tee ends faces down, with a section of 3/16" tube reaching near
the bottom, and the other tee-end has a section of 3/16" tubing extending
over the side of the nearest tank.

A short section of push-fit 1/4" inch tubing inserted in drilled holes,
connects the two 28-qt water pans an inch above the bottoms.  Another
section of 1/4" tubing push-fit into a hole one inch above the bottom of the
far end of the second tank---the cold-water return line back to the PVC tube
heating tank, where it is a push-fit in a hole about an inch above the
bottom.

In each water pan there is a sheet of 13 1/2" x 20" galvanized sheet
(salvaged from a torn-down barn roof) to support and conduct heat to
seed-flat bottoms.  They are held off the bottom of the water pans by
spacers cut from one-inch PVC pipe, just long enough to keep the pans above
water.

If I get more ambitious and add seed-flats to the two lower shelves, I will
either have to add two more heaters and pumps, or more likely, simply run a
continuous coil of tubing from the air pump into each water pan in series,
back to the PVC tube heater tank.  May have to increase the diameter of the
tubing to properly heat six water pans, and probably use a five hundred watt
aquarium heater instead of a two hundred watt unless I insulate the sides of
the storage stand  (the house gets pretty cold at night in February and
March).

Oh, yeah, I didn't explain.  Using the tee-fitting as described, makes the
air-pump function as a bubble-pump, i.e. the air stream rises in a series of
bubbles, pushing water between them up the tee-outlet, where the water
discharges into the first water pan.