Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 25, 2011 0:39:44 GMT -5
As a follow-up on how this has worked for me:
In regards to planting onion sets, about 10% of the harvested onion greens came out crooked. That is very good odds that I can easily live with. Onion seedlings grew straight.
In regards to planting potatoes. I tried cutting the eyes out using melon ballers, but they were too flimsily constructed to deal with potatoes. So I made my own, by taking a metal measuring spoon which was a half-sphere, sharpening the edge, and making a fiberglass-epoxy handle for it modeled from a cast of my favorite kitchen knife. It works great.
In regards to seeds in general... When I use a stick seeder I plant fewer seeds than when using an Earthway seeder. This can be good because I don't have to thin so much. It can be bad if the germination is poor and the row ends up too sparse. I've been going back over rows where seeds failed to germinate and reseeding. I'm liking that because it spreads out the harvest, and gives me plants of different ages in the same row which may help pest/disease survival.
I've planted perhaps a mile of row with stick seeders this spring. I had problems twice, in very wet soil, in which the end clogged, and I didn't notice, so I went through the motions of planting, but the seeds were collecting inside the stick. So now I am paying closer attention.
I'm already scheming for next year about how I could make a 2" diameter stick planter, and use 1.5" diameter jiffy pots for growing transplants, so that they'd drop right down the tube: No bending required. Oh... I still have a few dozen garden huckleberries to transplant. Might make the larger seeder this week.
In regards to planting onion sets, about 10% of the harvested onion greens came out crooked. That is very good odds that I can easily live with. Onion seedlings grew straight.
In regards to planting potatoes. I tried cutting the eyes out using melon ballers, but they were too flimsily constructed to deal with potatoes. So I made my own, by taking a metal measuring spoon which was a half-sphere, sharpening the edge, and making a fiberglass-epoxy handle for it modeled from a cast of my favorite kitchen knife. It works great.
In regards to seeds in general... When I use a stick seeder I plant fewer seeds than when using an Earthway seeder. This can be good because I don't have to thin so much. It can be bad if the germination is poor and the row ends up too sparse. I've been going back over rows where seeds failed to germinate and reseeding. I'm liking that because it spreads out the harvest, and gives me plants of different ages in the same row which may help pest/disease survival.
I've planted perhaps a mile of row with stick seeders this spring. I had problems twice, in very wet soil, in which the end clogged, and I didn't notice, so I went through the motions of planting, but the seeds were collecting inside the stick. So now I am paying closer attention.
I'm already scheming for next year about how I could make a 2" diameter stick planter, and use 1.5" diameter jiffy pots for growing transplants, so that they'd drop right down the tube: No bending required. Oh... I still have a few dozen garden huckleberries to transplant. Might make the larger seeder this week.
