Agave seeds up
Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:33 pm
I have been building upon my experiments from last year where I tried an approach different to those in previous years.
In the past I have used the 'baggie' method where I just sprinkle a few seeds onto a 3 inch pot and place it in a poly bag. The problem comes later in the season where roots need to be untangled and the plants potted on. I have found that the root damage does set them back quite a bit.
Last year, I tried a method where seeds were chittted on some damp kitchen towel and then sown into individual pots where they remained for the remainder of the growing season. The plants do seem to gain an advantage when treated this way.
This year I wanted to get the most out of a growing season so needed to get them started earlier with some form of heating.
Seeds are sown onto damp kitchen towel in a small polystyrene jar and then placed onto the micro propagator.
The micro propagator consists of two aluminium plates with some ceramic wire wound resistors sandwiched between with a dob of thermal paste to ensure good heat transfer. There are two temperature sensors, one in thermal contact with the top plate and one to measure ambient temperature. A micro controller monitors the temperatures and applies the correct amount of power to maintain a constant temperature.
Once the seeds have chitted they are sown into individual pots and placed in a conventional propagator at 21 deg.C
The bulk of these seeds chitted in 5 days.
I'll post some more pics once they are at the first leaf stage.
Regards
Dave
In the past I have used the 'baggie' method where I just sprinkle a few seeds onto a 3 inch pot and place it in a poly bag. The problem comes later in the season where roots need to be untangled and the plants potted on. I have found that the root damage does set them back quite a bit.
Last year, I tried a method where seeds were chittted on some damp kitchen towel and then sown into individual pots where they remained for the remainder of the growing season. The plants do seem to gain an advantage when treated this way.
This year I wanted to get the most out of a growing season so needed to get them started earlier with some form of heating.
Seeds are sown onto damp kitchen towel in a small polystyrene jar and then placed onto the micro propagator.
The micro propagator consists of two aluminium plates with some ceramic wire wound resistors sandwiched between with a dob of thermal paste to ensure good heat transfer. There are two temperature sensors, one in thermal contact with the top plate and one to measure ambient temperature. A micro controller monitors the temperatures and applies the correct amount of power to maintain a constant temperature.
Once the seeds have chitted they are sown into individual pots and placed in a conventional propagator at 21 deg.C
The bulk of these seeds chitted in 5 days.
I'll post some more pics once they are at the first leaf stage.
Regards
Dave