Germinating seeds in full sun...

[gtarman]

So I thought I'd put this up and see if anyone has some cool tips/tricks to share...

I somewhat regularly see seeds with germination instructions that say to germinate in full sun and to keep moist...but in QLD the harsh sun tends to make that an uphill battle, if not downright mutually exclusive in the hotter parts of the year. The sun here is quite efficient at drying things out...

I germinate most of my seeds without any direct sunlight (but still a lot of indirect light) just because I can't stick around all day to make sure they don't dry out. Usually this is no problem, but a few types of plants seem to do quite poorly in such conditions, coming up too spindly and leggy to support themselves, and probably not as strong as they should be, and I'm sure that many would benefit and germinate faster with a little more sun.

So does anybody have any nifty tricks or home-made contraptions that aid in attaining a happy middle ground? Something that provides strong light but keeps the soil from drying out? I'm more interested in low-tech approaches.

EDIT: I used to stand the seedling pots in an inch or so of water, but with mixed success (some just got waterlogged, and I've heard people raise concerns about possible rot problems with this method).

Edited July 24, 2013 by gtarman

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Maybe you can use those humidity domes? Or even just the tops of the $7 jobs from bunnings?

[Pinion]

You could place the seed tray in a dish of water (enough water to allow the soil to remain moist), and/or use soil/growing medium that will retain more moisture (coir, vermiculite, etc.)
Also, your average seed tray with small cells dries out too quickly, so something a little bit bigger is better.
And as thed00d has said, humidity domes are a good idea.

[nothinghead]

Simply mulching will retain a decent amount of moisture, and a thinner layer will mean your seedlings start to poke their heads out of it and get full sun fairly early on. You could also put a sheet of something transparent (like plastic) as an elevated cover so that the sunlight gets in and the water drips back down onto the soil. If you sow carefully in rows you could leave just the soil where the seeds are exposed, and cover the rest up with newspaper or something like which would reduce evaporation around the seeds and retain more water in the bed.

[gtarman]

Cheers guys. From looking into it a little further I'm thinking I definitely need to stick with something that self-waters, but avoids the pitfalls of just sitting a pot in water. I found some pretty neat designs for DIY self-watering containers that incorporate drainage so the soil can't get waterlogged/dripping wet, but still stays moist:

[gtarman]

So I think if I can take that principle and apply it on a smaller scale for seedling sized pots, and then maybe add in some kind of shelter to just take the edge off the sun, I might have a decent system?

I'm thinking even if I just stand seedling pots in water, I could try adding some gravel in the bottom of the pots to keep them from taking up too much water...

EDIT: Just found this way of doing the above with recycled plastic bottles and a drill...should be easy to scale by just using different sized bottles

 

Edited July 24, 2013 by gtarman

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

There's also the 'wick system'. Much more simple than above

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=wick+irrigation&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

[gtarman]

^^ nice! I'll have a closer look tomorrow :]

[Leaves]

I just use a clear plastic container with a lid. Cheap ones at reject shop or other shop similar. Just put your punnets in the container, water and close the lid.