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Post by andy on Oct 14, 2007 14:41:30 GMT
I purchased a heated propagator last spring with the view to providing my friends, family and anyone else i cared to ask, with an abundance of seedlings, shrubs and herbaceous plants all produced in the prop. However, things have been very different and apart from a couple of solanums, a few abutilons, some mint and 5 lovely weeping figs, just about everything has rotted off. I've tried easy to grow stuff....penstemons, fuchsia, willows and rock roses. I've tried normal potting compost, pearlite on it's own and various mixes of the two. I've used cheshunt compound and rooting hormone, i've left the little vents open....and tried it with them closed and i've tried leaving the top off alltogether. All without luck. I've come up with the following results. Water needs to be placed inside the prop to create a humid environment. Without this humidity, most of the plants just seem to wilt and die. Misting the leaves is just not good enough. However, this leaves the pots standing in a few mm of water and therefore makes the plants too wet. But i've grown thousands of cuttings before in mist propagation units !!! So the only thing i can conclude is that the general heat of the prop is too hot and provides ideal conditions for fungal spores to flourish and attack weakned cuttings. I don't have any thermostat on it so the temp does get a bit warm....even with all 4 vents open. So nest year, i may add a layer of coarse sand about half inch thick or i might have some spare fine fish tank gravel around, put that in and keep it moist for the humidity. I might just raise the lid up by half an inch too just to give a bit of side ventilation. Please tell me your tales.....has yours worked ?....any problems like above ? Andy  |
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Post by andy on Oct 15, 2007 14:26:35 GMT
Anyone  |
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Post by beanie on Oct 15, 2007 15:46:06 GMT
my propagator worked brilliantly with the quicker germinating seeds, but others with longer times have rotted. now i don't plant straight into the propagator itself, i plant them into pots first before i put them in
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Post by Spruance on Oct 15, 2007 19:36:13 GMT
I do use heated propagators Andy but only for seed germination, and then only in the house as despite vowing to do so every year I still don't have an electricity supply in either GH.  I have tried growing cuttings indoors before with the polythene bag over a plantpot but this has always produced very mixed results, and inevitably the grey mould problem tends to set in before too long. My main successes have come from cuttings shoved into a coarse compost/John Innes mix in a pot and left to their own devices in the unheated GH. I started around ten rosemary cuttings off this way in early September and it looks as though most of them have taken. As for your predicament, why not try capillary matting instead of sand which will provide the moisture without the extra weight.  |
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 15, 2007 20:01:16 GMT
By chance I have this very day started some 'overwinter trial' stuff in a borrowed (and very elderly - so elderly it had an old 15 amp round-pin plug) heated prop: Italian flat leaf and Lisette curled parsley and Arctic King lettuce. Unfortunately, it has no cover and is no conventional 'tray' size, so I've improvised with about two and a half traysworth of cells covered with a couple of clear covers to make a bit of breathing space, the whole thing wrapped in clingfilm.
I'll let you know...
OM.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2007 21:42:40 GMT
Andy - I have only ever used a heated prop to do what it says "on the tin" - progagate! Once this is achieved its purpose is served and the seedlings are removed.
Old Moley - Do NOT use a propagator for Arctic King lettuces. I don't think they are designed to germinate over about 16C/60F. They need really slow growth patterns especially in their early days. But are worth persevering with. You might be a tad late now for Chrimbo lettuce so think about Easter.
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 16, 2007 7:37:01 GMT
Old Moley - Do NOT use a propagator for Arctic King lettuces. I don't think they are designed to germinate over about 16C/60F. They need really slow growth patterns especially in their early days. But are worth persevering with. You might be a tad late now for Chrimbo lettuce so think about Easter. Thank you for that CpC, and I'll substitute with something else from the vast but raggedy seed store cupboard then... OM. |
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Post by Cheerypeabrain on Oct 16, 2007 18:33:09 GMT
I bought a heated propagator this year...£24.99 bog basic one, no thermostat. I put a one inch layer of clean sand in the bottom before I switched it on.
I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the results...managed to germinate not only my annuals and perennials in super quick time but also had 100% success with ensete ventriculosum seeds. The palms were my pride and joy tho....trachycarpus fortunei..I'd never managed to get them to germinate before (we don't have an airing cupboard).
I watered carefully, trying not to get the sand too damp as this leads to algae build up....and carefully monitored the vents. I'm really pleased and will be using it next year...only problem I have atm is storage.....
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Post by Chuckles on Oct 19, 2007 20:45:32 GMT
I found it hard to get right to start with, the heat and the water. Had a few cooked seeds ;D
My Prop has a thermostat and I currently have it in the GH. I've ran an extention cable up the garden to do this.
From using it earlier in the year I found it best to keep the watering to a minimum and ventilate all the time. I use the mat in the bottom and have seeds/cuttings in 1.5" cells or 3"pots. The problem I'm finding at the moment is the fluctuation in day and night temps, I'm having to prop the lid up in the day and switch off the heat if there is any amount of sun, then switch back on and replace lid at night but with vents slightly open.
The things we do for gardening ;D
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Post by oldmoleskins on Oct 30, 2007 17:29:21 GMT
As I've just said on the basil and chicory thread, I thought nothing had happened, but it was full of collapsed hair-like little plants... my fault, obviously 15 days is way too long then, even at this time of year. Have replaced them with some unseasonal basil in modules, which if successful will be put into larger pots and moved to a windowsill.
OM.
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Post by jean on Oct 30, 2007 20:48:03 GMT
Andy, I bought a propogator early this year and used it just for propogation. I found that I started too early with some seeds as I didn't have anywhere warm enough to keep them going once germinated. I did get my bananna to germinate though, and was well chuffed ;D Next year I will leave starting off a bit later. Btw it was great for getting the chillis off to an early start  |
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Post by madonplants on Oct 30, 2007 23:33:12 GMT
I bought a heated propagator this year...£24.99 bog basic one, no thermostat. I put a one inch layer of clean sand in the bottom before I switched it on. I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the results...managed to germinate not only my annuals and perennials in super quick time but also had 100% success with ensete ventriculosum seeds. The palms were my pride and joy tho....trachycarpus fortunei..I'd never managed to get them to germinate before (we don't have an airing cupboard). I watered carefully, trying not to get the sand too damp as this leads to algae build up....and carefully monitored the vents. I'm really pleased and will be using it next year...only problem I have atm is storage..... I might try this 'sand technique', as I have an ordinary one with no thermostat, as well. I have had mixed results, which I have put down to wrong temperature before. Maybe I can put off a thermostatic one until I see if sand makes a difference or not. My problem also is trying to sow too many things and with no greenhouse, struggle for room after germination. Keith |
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Post by Chuckles on Jan 8, 2008 20:43:04 GMT
Just been doing a bit of back tracking on threads and found this I've had my HP on for a while now and am finding although it's kept damp, the matting is sticking to the bottom of the tray. I'm going to try the sand like CPB did and see how I go with that. |
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Post by andy on Jan 10, 2008 10:53:40 GMT
To tell you the truth...i had more success with a poly bag over a pot of cuttings. Anyone want a heated propagator. It's bloody annoying because i've got loads of stuff i want to propagate but if i take the cuttings and put them in the propagating house at work, no one bothers looking after them and they die !!!  |
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Post by Cheerypeabrain on Jan 11, 2008 15:13:49 GMT
I purchased a heated propagator last spring with the view to providing my friends, family and anyone else i cared to ask, with an abundance of seedlings, shrubs and herbaceous plants all produced in the prop. However, things have been very different and apart from a couple of solanums, a few abutilons, some mint and 5 lovely weeping figs, just about everything has rotted off. I've tried easy to grow stuff....penstemons, fuchsia, willows and rock roses. I've tried normal potting compost, pearlite on it's own and various mixes of the two. I've used cheshunt compound and rooting hormone, i've left the little vents open....and tried it with them closed and i've tried leaving the top off alltogether. All without luck. I've come up with the following results. Water needs to be placed inside the prop to create a humid environment. Without this humidity, most of the plants just seem to wilt and die. Misting the leaves is just not good enough. However, this leaves the pots standing in a few mm of water and therefore makes the plants too wet. But i've grown thousands of cuttings before in mist propagation units !!! So the only thing i can conclude is that the general heat of the prop is too hot and provides ideal conditions for fungal spores to flourish and attack weakned cuttings. I don't have any thermostat on it so the temp does get a bit warm....even with all 4 vents open. So nest year, i may add a layer of coarse sand about half inch thick or i might have some spare fine fish tank gravel around, put that in and keep it moist for the humidity. I might just raise the lid up by half an inch too just to give a bit of side ventilation. Please tell me your tales.....has yours worked ?....any problems like above ? Andy My heated propagator is only a bog basic one but it did recommend that you put half an inch of clean sand in the bottom before you started. I think it's important to ventilate it as well...I kept the little vents open as soon as the seeds germinated. It was a huge success really. I managed to germinate a lot of stuff I'd had no success with before. Pity the weather was so rubbish over the summer tho...I think that if we'd had a bit more sun it would've meant that the strong young plants I'd successfully raised from seed could have at least survived (instead of rotting...  ) My big sister has loaned me HER heated propagator as well for this year's seeds... ;D um...I'm repeating myself ent I?..sorry ;D The only thing I would add is that you need to keep an eye on the sand, as it inevitably gets damp...and where you get damp you might get a bit of algae. I'd also caution against putting it into use too early, as has been said, it's for propagating...once the seeds are sprouting it's got to be mild enough for you to pot them on and take them out of the propagator...so you need to have a reasonable day length as well...I pricked out the seedlings then put them into an unheated propagator for a few days until they went out onto the staging in the GH...don't forget that altho we had an abysmal summer , we had a fantastic late spring last year.... |
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Post by jean on Jan 13, 2008 8:37:47 GMT
My propogator is in use again, I've put 2cm of damp compost in the bottom which worked well last year. So far I've germinated Geraniums, the Captains tomato seeds and some chillis, banana seeds are taking their time |
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Post by andy on Jan 13, 2008 8:57:23 GMT
Well i'm going to try again this year. I have about 1/2" fine fish tank gravel on the bottom and i will put some thin garden canes across the bottom so the lid can rest on them giving a little ventilation.
I also have some cheshunt compound which i will use when misting the leaves.
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Post by Chuckles on Jan 13, 2008 11:43:47 GMT
My propogator is in use again, I've put 2cm of damp compost in the bottom which worked well last year. So far I've germinated Geraniums, the Captains tomato seeds and some chillis, banana seeds are taking their time That's interesting JL, I was thinking of putting sand in mine like CPB. This maybe one of my Noo Noo questions  but, has anyone tried just using the compo/sand in the bottom to just stick cuttings in. I guess it may disrturb roots to much when they need potting on. And obviously seeds are maybe better done in cells or pots. Mmmm tis a Noo Noo question isn't it but as I've typed it I'll leave it and see Maybe section the prop off and do both, Oooooh I dunno, my brain is maybe throwing a wobbly |
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Post by Cheerypeabrain on Jan 13, 2008 14:42:24 GMT
My propogator is in use again, I've put 2cm of damp compost in the bottom which worked well last year. So far I've germinated Geraniums, the Captains tomato seeds and some chillis, banana seeds are taking their time I grew banana plants last year and trachycarpus fortunei JL....the banana seed took about 12 weeks to germinate...but once they started they ALL came up ;D (and grew like weeds) I have some more to grow this year (I want to sell the plants) The palm seeds were much more reluctant...out of 8 planted only 2 germinated...after 12 weeks all I had was a tap root coming out on the seed and going down into the compy...the single leaf only showing after another 3 weeks...I only kept one plant, giving the other away...and it's still in the conservatory with a lemonade bottle cloche over it ;D The bananas all suffered when I put them outside...the weather was too cold and wet last summer (no..really?) |
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but, has anyone tried just using the compo/sand in the bottom to just stick cuttings in. I guess it may disrturb roots to much when they need potting on. And obviously seeds are maybe better done in cells or pots.