I’m heading out tomorrow to buy some things I need to finish off a new seed bed I’m making (weedmat to line it and the lathes for the inside) in preparation for sowing all my seeds this season.
[attachment 881 seedbed800pix.jpg]
Only thing left bugging me is how I’m going to separate the different groups of seedlings. I intend to run the rows across the width, not along the length. Some crosses will take up one or more whole rows but there will be a lot of short runs too that will only take up a fraction of a row. So… I’m looking for ideas on how to keep things clearly separated. I was thinking of using bamboo stakes laid between the groups but thought this wouldn’t work well for the short rows unless I cut numerous short lengths to lay along each row. It might have perlite over the top as well which I thought might make things difficult though I’ve not had problems with damping off when done outside in the open. Any ideas?
Like your plan and the bench. Rounded stakes could roll and being wood would in time attract fungi which one doesn’t want. We all get foods and liquids in plastic containers from the grocery stores. Those that have square and or rectangular shapes or flat bottoms can be cut into strips of various widths and lengths like a ruler. Then, you can push the lower side into the medium and keep it raised in case you add more perlite. This would create “walls” and various " room’s" as you go along. Some of the detergent and coffee containers, etc. are colored plastic in the USA and then you can color code some rooms for quick identification if one wishes as opposed to the usual clear or translucent boxes (lots of bakery goods come in these). No fungi, stuck into the medium so won’t roll or be blown around, and can be reused for many years.
I like your table plan, Simon. That’s slick! It’s a much more elaborate version of what I have used for some years now. I also use thin bamboo stakes to separate the rows with the plant label to indicate breaks in varieties. I only place the labels at the end away from where I view the seedlings and always with the cross facing me. That way I know when I look at a row, their identity is always the one at the farthest end of the row, facing me. If the cross runs in to multiple rows, each row is labeled. If I happen to use the same cross to fill multiple empty spots in various rows, each spot is labled.
Unless you are using a green house or other structure which prevents birds and other vermin from getting into the table, I can’t over emphasize creating a lid or cover to protect the soil/seedlings. I’d not thought of birds as an issue until they were mentioned here earlier. Now, I have noticed the Towhees paying attention to the seed tables, sitting on the screening covering them. What a terror those things could be in those tables!
Good design as always Simon. Question, the shade cloth will need to be fine or the seed mix will run through it, so a couple of layers I think would be required. As for labels, I use nornal tags/stake types on small numbers but as you are going to have heaps I would go with the plastic idea from JimP. We use ice cream containers for general pots. No reason why you could not use the color idea as well. I know you are a perfectionist, as for barriers between varieties, how would thin strips of perspex go.
We have used, for many years, slats from venetian blinds in the seed trays, but don’tsee why they wouldn’t work in a bed like you designed. I can cut them to any size I want and merely push them down into the soil leaving just a tiny amount showing. Being plastic, no mildew, algae, rot or whatever. They always worked well for us.
David, the lining is weedmat, not shade cloth, so the weeve is very tight. It will drain well but not let any fines through. In reality it won’t be translucent like the diagram. I made the drawing in Google SketchUp so I had to use a texture that was available to represent the lining (BTW… I totally recommend SketchUp for anyone wanting to draw plans or design structures… I make everything in SketchUp first… allows me to do a virtual build in my head and to plan all the gear I need to buy, down the the last screw if need be, before I start).
Kim, do you just use lables to separate seedlings in short rows?
John, I think I can get a whole stack of vertical blind, PVC, drapes from work from ones the kids have destroyed (typical Dept of Education intelligence to put fragile things like vertical blinds into schools rolls eyes). Maybe that will work as you describe too.
A very fine mesh will keep the soil from falling through. If you decide to use a screen or wire mesh, a thin layer of “walk on” or “shredded” bark can be put down first on the bottom to hold the soil in. That is what I do - learned it from Tom Carruth.
Regarding separation of groups of seeds, I just use an inch of blank space - no other visible separators are used. When planting the seeds, I use wooden slats 1 inch wide as guides for where to plant the seeds. For smaller lots, I put several in a row with a tag closest to me of each group in the row. I plant from both sides of the seedling benches. Mine are 5 feet wide. There is a length of pvc pipe down the middle to separate sides. For larger lots of seeds, I calculate amount of space needed (seeds planted per square inch), and basically make larger or smaller rectangles of space within which I broadcast spread the seeds. I used to meticulously plant the seeds on 1 inch centers, but that was way too time consuming (efficiency is key!). Planting in rectangles I place the marking tag for the cross on the edge of the table, which defines the group from there down to the next tag on the left (use whatever convention works best for you). Outdoors, if you have a lot of wind, you might lose most of the perlite.
I have always used plain old nylon window screen, with a layer of galvinized metal hardware cloth underneath it to reinforce it for the bottom. There are also wooden slats to support the hardware cloth and screen. I’ve never had issues with the soil washing out, nor the bottom not being strong or secure enough.
Notice in this photo there are bamboo stakes separating the rows. The batchs of seeds are separated by the cross label. Everything in front of (closer to where you stand to view the box) is from that cross. The ones behind it belong to the next label up (away) from where you’re standing. Does that make sense?
Ok… just got back with the last bit of wood for the lathes in the base… Most the material is treated pine I have lying around… I forgot to brace the legs and will add these as well. I have a small irrigation system to attach to it with a digital timer for convenience.
Jim, yes it will be outside and wind is going to an issue. I think if I make some kind of cloche for it with pieces of bent irrigation pipe (also lying around here lol) I might be able to stop the wind blowing the perlite away and keep the birds off at the same time though the only reason I used perlite in the past was to prevent damping off and this doesn’t usually happen germinating outdoors.
Nice wide cross labels would do the trick, Kim. I pictured the skinny little things I have and thought they would blow away, wash away, or something but bigger, wider cross labels would be great! Problem solved!
The less wood the better, since wood decays with time. My benches are supported with cement blocks, gravity holds them in place. One of my benches has the middle bottom wood support buckling that we have propped up with a 2"x4". I changed the design on my second 2 benches and have not had problems with them.
I have the posts lying around so will use them first. I’m hoping I can avoid buckling under the soil by turning the supports under the lathes up on their narrow edge instead of on the wide edge (if that makes sense) and the beds are only 4ft wide (cos I’m short) so I’m hoping it won’t buckle… but it’s a major concern of mine. I think I will use your idea, Kim, and place a layer of galvanised wire under the weedmat to help prevent slumping too. I figured the weedmat is cheap and easy to install and replace and it’s plastic so would get decent longevity out of it too being underneath away from U.V. light.
On another, related, note… what are the cons regarding placing a frame like this directly on the ground, filling it with good potting mix, and sowing directly into that so that seedlings with very vigorous root systems can go directly into the ground if they need to? The reason I wanted to go with the raised bed, 200mm deep, is so I didn’t need to disturb seedlings at all and so they could grow a deep root system in a larger mass of soil which is less likely to experience water and heat stress than pots are. This is why I used large foam fruit boxes in the past too. However, placing them directly on the ground seems pretty much the same to me with the added bonus of allowing seedlings to access the nutrients found in the soil once they’ve gained some size and strength with even more thermal insulation. The workflow I had in mind was to sow directly into the raised bed, leave them there for the whole of their first year to grow undisturbed, cull like crazy during the first year and whatever was left after the end of the first year would then go into the ground over winter in the test beds so I start with an empty bed each time I sow new seeds and can replace the potting mix each season as well. The same workflow could be achieved sitting it directly on the ground I think (p.s. I don’t have problems with moles, voles, gophers, ground hogs, ground squirels, sky squirels, deer, or any other digging-root-chewing-leaf-eating critters… rabbits are an issue but a simple fence around it would keep them out).
I think that the air circulation under the benches really helps them to grow faster. I’m not sure I would want to deal with digging them out when they root into the ground underneath. Also, raised benches get the small seedlings up where you can see them.
I guess if you use the Venetian blind’s cut up for tags, that should solve all of your problems. I just use the traditional plant tags and have no issues with seeing what belongs where, unless some varmint takes the bloody tag! That’s happened many times over the years. That’s why I don’t know positively what created Sunburn, nor precisely what the pollen parent of Nessie is, though I am pretty certain it was Mlle. Cecile Brunner.
I’ve tried putting them on the ground. Don’t! Some grow through the bottom pretty quickly and it makes it a witch to transplant them. You can more easily keep snails, slugs, earwigs, etc. out of them on supports. On the ground, you get tree roots, grass rhyzomes, bugs all making themselves at home in your seedlings. No thanks! Fencing sounds workable to keep Thumper out, but RAISED off the ground is guaranteed to keep him out!
That looks great!! If you have possums in your area and you haven’t built it yet, I would recommend setting the corner posts inside the frame so that there is a lip on the underside edge. Possums can go straight up the side of timber but they have difficulty climbing upside down. I had this problem with an initial bench I constricted from teated pine. The next version had overhangs and I haven’t had the problem since. These are just benches for placing cuttings out into full sun at this stage.
I like your plan though and might modify my breeding program next year to have a seed bed like yours. At the moment they are all in rows of large punnets in my shadehouse with regular misting. I plant them one at a time with surgical forceps and have two and a half rows like the picture shown. Very time consuming, so all these ideas look great. This year was 4000 seeds but I fear next year will be much more. My question this year is on fertilising with the mist system. I think foliar feed will wash through too quickly so I am going to transplant into tubes and move them into a different area.