Propagation: Dr. Deno's books are now in the public domain, 1 by Michael_Ronayne

Michael_Ronayne wrote:
Rick,

I have thought about using other paper layers to prevent root entanglement. First of all, I have no intention of replacing paper towels as the outer layer because they are food safe, are specifically engineered to absorb and hold water and hold together when wet. Root entanglement only became a problem after I realized that there were some advantages extending the time seedlings remained in the Deno Bag. Also some species of Hibiscus (i.e. tropical’s) are more prone to this problem than others.

I would reject news paper for several reasons:
* News paper is not rated as food safe.
* The chemicals and inks use in the printing process are unknown and vary.
* News paper would quickly disintegrate into pulp once wet.

Over a year ago, I did try a layer of coffee filters but the results were inconclusive. First I used filter paper for a kitchen coffee maker which was too small and I wasn’t keeping the seeds in the Deno Bag for extended periods of time, like I am now doing. What I need to do is rerun the tests using filters for large commercial coffee brewers. I also looked into using libratory grade filter paper but the prices are ridiculous.

I updated my post on the Hibiscus Forum with the final results for the Hibiscus seeds I am testing in the current batch. I also outlined an idea I have for using a Deno Bag to send seedlings through the mail, which admittedly needs more work. I am looking for a 6”x6” plastic framework which can be repurposed to support the paper layers during transport. I have the plastic parts to make a frame but it would not be a help to others. One possibility would be to cutup a polyethylene jewel case used to ship CD’s but even that may be to complicated.

Mike