Container Question

I use thin cotton rope for my wicks, anything that will absorb water will work. One end of the wick goes in the planting flat and the other in what ever container I'm using to hold water. I usually tie a knot in the end and weight it with a small pebble. The wick draws the water out of the container and into the flat. Depending on the size of the flat and the number of seedlings I have growing, I set up numerous wicks. It also depends on what kind of seedlings I'm growing. I've found with experience that things like tomatoes and peppers really need more water regularly.

Great system! I think I'll try that with the paper pots in Spring.

doccat: Are you speaking of using wicks into larger containers, or into trays of paper pots?

Overall, people do adapt to make things work. But for me, I just find it so much easier to use larger containers. Milk jugs just work best for me.

Another thing that I didn't mention: I'm too lazy! I found it pretty time consuming and annoying to make paper pots, fill little tiny potswith a spoon... I'm more the "take a giant soil scoop and dump it in a jug" type!

Karen

Just saw Dave's video and it seems I dont have to buy that tool , just need a tin can and using his method, I could actually make the pot any size I wanted. Thanks doccat5!

kqcrna--your under bed containers look neat and workable. Ummm... Thanks for sharing all these ideas!

Wicks will work in almost any type of container, Karen. You just need to use a large wick. I'm very particular about my tomatoes and peppers since these are heirlooms some of them from shared seed. I know from experience I have the best success rate doing them this way.

Regarding paper pots. I have used the paper pot tool and I have folded paper pots.

First, making paper pots was a great thing to do while DH read aloud to me. BUT they are not very deep and basically the plants are in a kind of "holding pattern" until you get them in the ground.

On the other hand, for starting some annuals that do not like to be transplanted, this was really a very cheap way to go - just don't start the annuals too early; you just want to give them a bit of a head start and the paper pots will breakdown in the soil. Things like Bachelor Buttons, poppies, etc. are fine.

I shall attempt to show the ice cream box seed pot.........where-in the bottom becomes the top, the top becomes the bottom.

Step one. The top becomes the bottom.

I have been playing with these this morning and found that if I use 3 sheets of paper and fold them width wise instead of lenghtwise I get a bigger pot (51/2 inches) that I can use for taller seedlings. I have some sprouted Ginkgo seeds that needed repotting and these work perfect. I hope they last till spring when I will put them right into the garden.

Seandor-- I too am waiting for spring to start the annuals. 75 more days!

Step two. The bottom becomes the top and the side gets slit open.

Sorry docgipe seems we had the same idea at the same time...looking for more of your demo :-0

Tape up the side only. To use.....Pull off the top that became the bottom and zip off the tape. Take the top cut out and play frisbee with your cat. :)

No problem with the break in.........I had to go to the far end of my picture world to find this pot demo.

Nice. I love Edy's!
Dont need an excuse to go get some but this works as good as any :-)

What a brilliant idea docgipe!

docgipe: ingenious container design!

Last year I got some ice cream tubs from a friend. I believe they held a gallon, and were opaque like milk jugs, had snap on lids, and had handles like a bucket. They didn't have a lot of head room for seedlings but were otherwise perfect containers. I only had a few and wish I would have saved them from last year. I only discovered that my husband trashed the empty ones after it was too late.

Karen

>>discovered that my husband trashed the empty ones

doesnt that just chap your hide??

I've got my stash hidden this year.. so far.

It would be awesome if those "sterlite" or Rubbermaid containers would go on sale.
Last year i used "shoe box" type, and they are just not tall enough.

tcs1366--Home depot had them last week for 4.99. I paid 13.99 for my first two. A big difference! Is there one near you?

yes.. there is. Maybe i'll pop in tomorrow to see how much they are. thanks.

I have a front porch open under the bottom. Can I winter sow there or do they need to be in the open?

Would your containers receive any light? would they be able to get some moisture to prevent them from drying out?

I think I would try to find a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade (don't want to cook those babies!).

Ideally, it should be somewhere reasonably easy to access so you can see if there is a fine mist of condensation on the tops and sides of your containers (but not big drops, I have been told). This is an idicator of humitidy.

Others probably have even better ideas :-)

As Seandor pointed out, if it gets enough light, i.e., bright shade/filtered shade/morning sun only, then it would be fine to keep your containers on your porch. (Think of the kind of light most house plants enjoy.) Just keep in mind, that if you keep them on a covered porch, you will have to water though, and that will be more work for you.

I have used the ziplock baggie method for the last 3 years. I had a great success last year and so far this year I have zebra Malva and cosmos sprouting. I am not worried about the Malva but I might lose the cosmos.

Betty

This message was edited Jan 17, 2008 11:58 AM

I am a newby at WS never have tried it before and want to try it, I have a very small GH and have had good and bad luck with seeds now it is full of plants given to me and not ready to go outside yet. after reading this tread, I have learned a lot of do's and dont's. Thank you all
But my Q is how do you get the plants out of the milk bottle without ending up with transplant shock?
I have lots of them to try it out this year or maybe its to late for zone 8.

Hi tillysrat,

Transplant shock is almost never a problem, for a couple of reasons. As it gets nearer to the time we want to plant, many of us start adding more ventilation holes to tops of the containers or gradually opening them up. This way, the plant gets used to the unprotected 'great outdoors' before being planted out. Also, most folks plant out when the plants are still quite small; meaning, they have somewhere between their first and fourth pairs of true leaves. Even plants that form long tap roots usually don't go into shock when they are this small.

Or, if they do suffer a little setback, they bounce back quickly, within days.

Karen

Okay, I need a show of hands to tell me which is the correct slitting pattern I should have? #11 or #7? I am unsure if I may have too many slits at the top. Pls advise.

r30

I think you'd be OK with either.

for my jugs, i did not slit the tops, and i didnt tape mine either.... just sorts twist-tied the to portions back together again. -- i taped 1 and it was a sticky mess.

I use smaller slits but that's just me. Yours should be fine.

I can sometimes get heavy snow and/or days of spring rains, so I just use thin slits. Once there, they are much easier to enlarge in spring.

You don't need any top slits as long as the cap is off. But when weather starts to warm those jugs can heat FAST. Since you are in NC, much warmer than my area, I think those larger holes are probably a very good thing. Lucky you, your weather will be warming in no time.

Zone envy again.

Karen

Rebecca, I used container 11 style. It creates more humidity with less of a chance of the container drying out. Just make sure you have enough drainage holes at the bottom.

Could someone show me more pics of the containers, I'm more of a see it do it, than trying to picture it in my little brain.

I must have deleted most of mine... though a few of them may be in the WS forum... but here is one

what you use here is one of those large "comforter bags" and put some WS containers in there.
here is looks like i have qt OJ containers
an Ice Cream bucket (the 5qt type you get at Sams)
and some foil flats I picked up at the dollar store.

i had run out of milk jugs.

But i poked hole with a hole punch [like you may have in your office]
and supports in the corners to hold it up. it was great when it got warm out, as all i had to do was unzip it and open the top.

here's a thread from last March or so
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/684550/

you can always go back to other pages.... check the dates from March or earlier -- buy reading the topic you should see if it is regarding containers or not... there may be images ... there are in the link i added here.

Thanks that helps allot
Off to give it a try.

tsc1366, what did you use to prop up the corners of the plastic comforter bags?

Tonight I cut the tops off 9 kitter containers with scissors and a paring knife. The knife also was good to put holes in the bottoms. I bought scrims in a package to hold up the dropcloth plastic I plan to put over them. I will tape or tie that so that it doesn't come loose. I plan to divide each container in half and plant two kinds of seeds in each. My three cats are very obliging in using up the kitty litter quickly.

There are so many good ideas on this thread! I will probably try the plastic bags too. I did last year. Even though I started in early March zone 7b, I had considerable success. This year I will also use individual 16 oz styrafoam cups and put them in a hard plastic storage box with holes in the bottom. That should keep them from flying away. I love the idea of putting a stake through aluminum pans. Great Idea.

>>what did you use to prop up the corners of the plastic comforter bags?

I started with straws... you can see the green in the corner... it wasn't strong enough ... if we had heavy rain or snow, it caved. I then moved to those thick craft type Popsicle stix.

Q
Does this look right, frist time, havent taped yet DH had to go buy me some. will fix better tags later.

looks GREAT.... once they are closed, in whatever fashion.. just put'em outside.

All taped and outside, first time ever doing this, fingers cross these where seeds from other DGers in trade and had no luck in my GH.

tillysrat: Great looking wintersown jugs! Hope you used a paint pen that will not fade in the sun or due to weather conditions. Water proof, weather proof paint pens can be found in arts & craft stores.