Home Made Propagation Box

[migraineur]

Hi

Has anyone here made their own home made propagation box for small plants and cuttings? If so then can you give any advice or show any pictures?

I have some seedlings trays which have their own humidity dome but for young plants or large cuttings I need something bigger. I was thinking of buying a plastic storage tub like this:

http://www.bunnings.com.au/products_product_storage-container-kis-145l-t-box-clear-008656_P2581091.aspx?page=8

If anyone has setup anything like this then any tips or information that you could provide would be much appreciated.

[GoOnThen]

I have run this for a few years and it has worked well but I am going to build myself a new one that takes up less room but will hold more.

The problem with my tub on tub is when the top is opened you need a lot of space behind it so i cant be kept up against a wall.

My new one is going to be a big drawer and it will have three two foot fluro's with vents as well as fans built in to cool the lights when needed.

Cheers

Got

[Fluss]

Try to get a hold of an old aquarium!

If not on a yard sale or e-bay you might have a friends friend who hasn't looked after it for years, also wouldn't mind getting rid of it for free or a cheap buck.

[planthelper]

nice topic!

1, the bucket probagator, works very well, glass sheets can get adjusted to leave a small or wider gap.

or use brocoli boxes with a sheet of glass (old window from the dump) on top.

2, a small cabinet/trunk/box, fitted with fluros, which will provide additional heat.

this comes handy for getting cold sensitive plants over winter, and one can use them, as a probagator, over times of the year when, non heated probagators would fail.

3, a small dome/glass house structure, fitted with a bottom heat bed, this would be the best, but i'm happy with just using the two above.

4, instead of take away container, i use flower pots (you get no moss/gunk issues) of various sizes, and again just a small sheet of glass on top.

[migraineur]

Thanks for your replies. I went to Bunnings to check out what they had and I ended up finding some transparent storage boxes to use as a propagation chamber. The choice was limited when it came to large boxes that were transparent but if I need more room then I can connect the two together.

I'm wondering what I should do about drainage and humidity. I'm not sure if I should drill a couple of tiny holes in the bottom of one and put some perlite in or maybe a small container of water so that the humidity stays high when I am not around to mist.

[GoOnThen]

If it is sealed up with some way to vent it as required you should be able to get the humidity spot on.

Mine has no drain holes. It did have perlite in the bottom originally with the pots sitting on top and it worked well especially for my small pere mother plants that I kept in there. The roots went straight out the bottom of the pots and grew into a big mass in the perlite but they did push out a lot of growth.

Now the pots are up off the bottom sitting on a wire mesh shelf. I leave a bit of water in the bottom and it is easy to clean as you can just soak up the water and then wipe out. The perlite was hard to deal with especially with all of the roots in it.

Cheers

Got

[chronic]

Since I live in a "cold" country I have to rely for the cold months in the indoor cultivation. I use different systems. For small installations, and for the cultivation of the old aquarium. For larger plants, I take great transparent Ikea boxes. The floor is made ​​of fired clay pellets or always Seramis. They increase in wet best moisture. Once daily airing. I'll take one as a thermometer for babies. These are waterproof and inexpensive.

In the substrate is a heating cable for terraria.

Edited January 3, 2013 by pan

[mindperformer]

hey pan,

nice to see your greenhouses here ;-) your constructions are genial, like we say in german

I use heating mat with extern thermostat for this purpose, but I think there is no difference between heating mats and heating cables if you have a steady distribution of the heat... For lightning I use 80W -energy saving grow lamps and for a bigger area 200W

Sometimes after airing I blow through a drinking straw in the box, so that more CO2 gets inside.

[planthelper]

hi!

i noticed using (sheets of) glass is, not possible for some people, so here are, some DIY home miniture probagation domes, using PET drink bottles.

first design is easy, and works very well for cacti and some plant seedlings.

all you do is cut the bottom out of a bottle, and use it as a dome, which should fit, very snug, inside the right sized flower pot.

sometimes, you might prefere to use the top of the bottle, instead, as you can controll moisture by taking the cap off, or placing it, a jar (i mean slightly open)...

this setup avoids gunk issues, in comparisment, to the take a way see thru containers tek's.

this is a nice design, for creating just one save enviroment.

this pic shows how the two parts come apart, if you place one of the two parts in hot water for, a very few seconds, it will shrink, and than fit nicly, with it's old counter part.

[2meke]

they all look good. i like the pot with bottle for seeds and cuttings.

a mate made some nice ones from polystyrene boxes/fish bins. one stacked on top of the other with the bottom cut out of the top one and a light mounted to the lid on the top one and a hole in the side at the top for exhaust fan. just add more boxes in between if you need more height. quite a tidy and cheap way of doing it, they stack nicely.

the heat from the light should be enough to keep it warm in there as long as your house isn't arctic. otherwise you'd need an individual heat mat for each box which would be a pain..

i think the same bins with a plastic or glass window in the lid would work good for seeds outdoors.

i think he got his for free from fruit and vege shop. fish/shellfish markets have them too.

Edited January 14, 2013 by 2meke

[migraineur]

1.25 and 2 litre drink bottles are awesome for humidity domes and really cost effective.

[mindperformer]

@planthelper, I also prefer the plastic bottle- method for cuttings because, when rooted, the humidity can be slowly reduced by stepwise opening the cap

When to decide if a plant needs a heated tropic box, only a warm wet box, living room climate, a cool room or cold climate (now outside), I always have a look on the point of origin of the species:

Climate, world:

Humidity, world:

Solar Radiation, world:

Edited January 16, 2013 by mindperformer

[mindperformer]

I had thrips on the chacruná, so I put some Amblyseius- predator mites in the box and they killed all of them.

My boxes:

...with the iridescent Microsorum thailandicum:

...and the Toromiro and the Mitragyna:

The two Ibogas and the two Tatagias (A. simplex):

an Iboga- cutting:

and the Tatagias:

Edited January 16, 2013 by mindperformer

[shonman]

These are great setups for propagation, I usually use clear plastic tubs with a sheet of plexigass over the top...

Never had much problem with fungi, until I had to move and setup indoors...only option is a room with carpeting.

I have to keep high humidity in here for the plants....I now dislike carpeting alot!

How can fungi be kept at bay in these cutting propagating setups?

It almost makes me cry to lose a batch of cutting, I really am attached to my plants.....

I tried spraying them with a mixture of one teaspoon of clorox bleach to one gallon of water....

To kill anything.....would this be likely to cause leaves to turn brown? Would it kill fungi?

I have heard this will kill bugs effectively.....

Edited March 23, 2013 by shonman

[mindperformer]

mycorrhiza-fungi and trichoderma keep the bad fungi away

for cuttings I use plastic bottles (bottom cut away)

[gtarman]

Good idea for a thread...personally what I use for seeds and small cuttings is one of those plastic/tupperware containers with the clip on lids you buy from the supermarket. Get one that's big enough to stand some seedling pots in and you can just fill with a couple cm of water and stand the pots in it, clip the lid on, leave it somewhere with the desired amount of light etc.

Doesn't get much easier IMO

[mindperformer]

and you keep the lid completely closed?

[indigo264nm]

Planthelper, as usual, has it right, plastic bottles for cuttings for all the reasons people have already said.

Seed trays I'd just usually find a larger deeper container and use glad wrap with holes poked, and let it air out during the day warmer parts of the day.

Besides from that I have had good experiences using 'mini-greenhouses' - basically just a frame with with a couple of racks enclosed in thick plastic will do, but found the ones you can buy easier because are easily opened by zipper and thats necessary to allowed to air out a bit in the warmer months,

[migraineur]

Left over plastic drink bottles are the best things. You can use them as free humidity domes, as scoops and various other things. They're also good for keeping pests off your plants.