Seed starting tools

[plantsnobin]

I have old heating cables that are I think, made of zinc? My husbands great uncle used to sell started tomato plants, probably 45-50 years ago, they gave me his cables and they still work! He laid the cables on the ground, put soil over them and sowed seeds directly. Pulled the plants when someone came to buy them. That's how they did it in the day. I have one on a propagating table, I put reflective strofoam insulation down, put the heating cable on that, flats on top of the cable and cover it with plastic sheeting. I don't keep the greenhouse heated, but under that plastic it stays warm enough. Now, I know that heating cables are expensive these days, but I bet you could get pretty good results with the rope lights used at christmas time. They are made for outside use, and don't cost much to operate. I have also heard of them used in a worm bin during the winter to keep the worms from freezing. Although my worms last year bounced back from freezing with no problem, I may try it.


Ok, that should be SEED starting, but I don't think you can modify that part of a post.

Edited it for ya Karen!

[Alan]

I use heating matts I inheritted from the previous owner when I bought his greenhouses as well as waterbed heating mattresses which do just as well but not as many at a time. I ditched most of my plastic flats this year, after four-five years in a greenhouse they degrade quickly and it's a shame that they really can't be used for much else. Weve been buying those $2.00 translucent shoe boxes at the dollar store to use for humidity domes, they are nice and tall and make for easy plant and seed starting as well as leaving room for the plants to grow on a lot longer than they would in a normal humidity dome. The soil blocks get placed on the lid, the box goes over the lid and clicks down which is excellent for keeping rodents from eating the seeds in the greenhouse (we had a major issue with this last season). Once those heating matts are under the lids there is no reason to run the heat in the greenhouse, the shoe boxes heat up fast and retain that heat and the heat matts don't have to run long at all.

I'm mostly out of growing seedlings commercially, just simply because there are too many greenhouses around here already doing this and it's hard to make money doing so, however I will grow all of my own and a few thousand for sale. I mostly use the old fashioned "slip" method you talked about above Karen, but thanks to your generosity I also make aa lot of soil blocks


I have a friend that uses those outdoor lights for worm bed heating and they actually work fairly proficiently.