misting table ideas

I went ahead and put together a seeding ... table? It's on the ground - 8'x4' pressure treated lumber frame with hardware cloth in the bottom that allows the cable to be fastened down. When all was said and done, I wish that I had made it a bit smaller - my cable was 48' and wouldn't cover the edges as much as the manufacturer suggested.

So, in order to keep the heat even, I filled the frame with plastic trays, put about 2" of water in the bottom of them. The trays are the same size as my plug trays. A piece of clear plastic (gh plastic) draped over it, and I'm a seeding fool! Hopefully I won't need to add the misting part as long as I'm using it for seeds.

My only concern is what's under the hardware cloth - it's just the gravel from the Gh floor. Do you think that I should put something else under it? I was warned that the field mouse (please, no) population loves styrofoam and to avoid that. Should I put a layer of sand over the gravel or will it make no diff?

I hope this makes sense.

hay "Pagancat" i only have the gravel in my seed starting table and work great so far.

Excellent - that's good news.

For anyone wanting to root a bunch of succulent cuttings here is a photo of my rooting box when I had a commercial greenhouse in the 80's. I used peatmosss and perlite as the rooting mix in the ratio of 1:1. The box is wood, lined with black plastic. No drainage holes since it is not needed for succulents. The box next to it does have holes since I use it for other type of cuttings.

Has anyone heard from gthumbus (whitebear)? We are getting worried about our friend over in Greenhouses, hoping he is just busy.

hay cathy i'm find just busy hay blomma that looks great i'm glad you posted that because my two youngest sons want to grow succulents. great looking cuttings

hay "blomma" haven't done much with on succulent do you keep them kinda dryor is moist ok?

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/743771/

gthumbus The cuttings should be kept more on the dry side or they will rot. I used a sprayer to dampen the mix. Succulents root better when kept barely moist. Damp is a better word. Glad to hear your sons are interested in them. I wish I could still grow them. I had a large collection of both succulents and cactus when I had a greenhouse.

Caption: Huernia zebrina, a member of the Stapelia family

Intermittent misting obviously reduces transpiration losses. 60 years ago,I built a small unit in a table box on a bench inside a 20 ft glass conservatory.for getting walnut buds to take without the shrinkage of the bark and cambium layer separating the cut surfaces. There are timers now for the spray cycle and various capacity nozzles to maintain almost 100% humidity but not in those days. I used the mechanical principle of the artificial leaf set among the stocks. A filter paper strip was kept taut between two carbon cores from torch batteries. The wiring from a low power relay was soldered to the copper end. The relay energized a solenoid valve in the water line when contact being maintained by the wet filter paper strip was lost as it became a bit dry. The set up worked better than old practices but the problem eventually is with fungus developing in the medium - cured by heat sterilization before and after and chlorinating the containers etc.

Raised Misting Table.
I have a misting table that I made.
I used concrete blocks as supports to get the height I needed.
I used 8 ft landscaping timbers for the table.
I put a piece of stock panel from TSC Tractor supply for the table top for drainage.
I then use plastic motar mixing tubs from Lowes for the trays.
I drilled alot of holes in the tubs, put gravel about 2 inches deep in the bottom and filled with course sand.
I place my misting tips above the tubs.
If you space your cuttings correctly a 4 ft X 8 ft bed will hold approx. 4,000 cuttings.
I have timers on my misting system set to mist 12 seconds every 10 minutes from 8 AM till 8 PM

hay capt44 sounds like a cool system do you have any pics.?

gthumbus-
how are the air-layers coming along?

going to open them this week and see but the branches past the place trying to root keeps trying to grow fruit and i keep having to prune them off. so i think thats a good sign. I'll let you know this week end for sure.

I had 2 small successes this week. I've been trying for 2 years to root dappled willow, my favorite shrub. I checked my latest attempt and have dozens of rooted pieces. I went very small with the cuttings on the very first branches to get leaves. I'm so pleased. They are tiny, but I know they will grow quickly. Plain old damp sand finally worked.

And 3 of the cuttings a friend sent me from her Meyer's Lemon are showing tiny leaves. It took months, and I was about to give up. 3 of 6, not too bad.

congrats cathy4 "pictures my good woman pictures i say.lol

capt44
I would really like to see some pictures of your misting table setup. I don't know what you mean by stock panel and I would like to see the size of your tubs. I am ready to build a similar table and pictures would help to see what you have done.

Wow! you guys are really busy, keep up the good work.