Seed starting hack...

I found this video and I decided to do the same thing only with solo cups.       I had such good success that I am expanding the setup..




The results were I grew some of the best cabbage starter plants I have ever done, as well as a couple pepper plants.    I love set and forget it systems, this is one that intend to keep multiplying.  

Mart, LOVE this!! Aanndd you can re-use the cups over again, I would assume. Collecting the plant containers can take a bit of time, but a quick buy of solos and storing them over off season is a win-win. Awesome!! Cabbage is one of my go to foods year round, I can't wait to have a place to start my own permaparadise! ---Tess

Tess Misch wrote:Mart, LOVE this!! Aanndd you can re-use the cups over again, I would assume. Collecting the plant containers can take a bit of time, but a quick buy of solos and storing them over off season is a win-win. Awesome!! Cabbage is one of my go to foods year round, I can't wait to have a place to start my own permaparadise! ---Tess

And....   you can easily take the plant out of the cup and put it into another cup to give away....

I have been thinking about improvements:

1) Switch to EPDM pond liner  to remove plastic.
2) replace cups with clay pots to also remove plastic

I am most thankful for people who share their ideas on youtube as open source ideas sure enriches the world and others can build on those ideas to even make them better.

Wicking solo cups are a winner for me.      This onion grew from seed in this cup and I am starting to think I could grow the onions to the point of harvest right in the solo cups....     I harvested this one today was the largest of the ones I have planted, I have many more right behind this one.       I believe I should put more holes in the bottom of the cup as the roots maxxed out the single hole they had going down.  

Some of the plants are now big enough to plant out into my grow bags.       I plan on adding more holes to the bottom of the solo cups but I love the results I have now.

I bottom-water in 1020 trays for a similar effect. I wonder if there's any advantage to the extra infrastructure needed for the wicking solution other than needing to refill water less often.

Christopher Weeks wrote:I bottom-water in 1020 trays for a similar effect. I wonder if there's any advantage to the extra infrastructure needed for the wicking solution other than needing to refill water less often.

For me it is the advantage of not over watering, and as you say watering less often...    

Being able to set it and walk away to me is a large advantage.      I think next I will try to add air pruning...

I have been thinking about testing  combining air layering with the wicking to see if I get better starting of plants.

Hey, Mart, looks great!
I think you could use 3" net cups to combine this with air pruning.
Can you elaborate on using this hack with air layering?

It's interesting that this system mirrors hydroponic systems, but the nutrients are in the medium, not in the water.

William Bronson wrote:Hey, Mart, looks great!
I think you could use 3" net cups to combine this with air pruning.
Can you elaborate on using this hack with air layering?

It's interesting that this system mirrors hydroponic systems, but the nutrients are in the medium, not in the water.

In my research on Kratky I found the original starting systems combined soil with nutrients, so when I found the video ( at the start of this thread ) I was intrigued enough to chase this idea as I have found hydroponic nutrients to be lacking in nutrients needed to sustain plants ( at least the ones I tried )..

As to the air prunning, I have chased a rabbit hole of "root maker"   systems that use air layering in creating dense roots for trees.    I have found this method very reasonable, as I have experience with grow bags and I have seen these results  myself...       I have some of the root maker products and I simply plan to add the wicking rope to these systems to see if I can have good results..

https://youtu.be/NAVv4ubnc2w

Bottom watering is honestly the one thing that made the biggest difference for me with seedlings. I used to lose so many to damping off before I switched. Never tried the wicking setup with solo cups though, that looks like a nice low effort version of it. Do you find the single wick is enough or does it dry out on the edges?

Joao Winckler wrote:Bottom watering is honestly the one thing that made the biggest difference for me with seedlings. I used to lose so many to damping off before I switched. Never tried the wicking setup with solo cups though, that looks like a nice low effort version of it. Do you find the single wick is enough or does it dry out on the edges?

This is my first time ever trying this system with rope wicks...     So I cannot speak from experience with this system other than the  first 2 plantings have given me very good results.

I love bottom watering as well, as I have made several DIY earth boxes, wicking tubs, and wicking beds, and Larry Hall's kiddie pool setups.

My whole objective with this system is to create plants that are robust enough to put into my grow bags and can form roots down to the water at the base.      I have them set so they are automagically watered each night so the water wicks up from the base.         My experience from times past with starting seeds directly in grow bags,  is that if I start seeds in the top, most of them die off from lack of water  before they can mature.        On the other hand if I transplant a good sized plant say 8 - 10 inches tall it will send out roots and thrive in my grow bags.

I now have a single grow bag being feed from the top with a rope in a 55 gal barrel.      ( from one of my aquaponic systems )   so I hope to learn more,   I really won't know more before the brutal summer heat hits..

I also have setup a 1 gal milk jug right next to a cabbage plant which now needs to be refilled about every 2 weeks, the cabbage next to it is pretty happy as I can tell.

So,   I have so many ideas  I want to test out but life is sooo short :-)        Today I went thru 1/2 of cups and made more holes in the bottom so more roots can be formed,   I love the results I see with the present system, and I believe just a few more tweaks and this system will really be rockin for me, at least that is my hope, with experimental stuff you roll the dice...      But do enough experiments then you see patterns that work and you can navigate in that direction.

Id like to see your 55 gallon and 1 gallon systems.
If you get the roots to grow out of the cup, will you remove the cup before transplanting?
I ask, because I can see that leading to damaged roots
Maybe cut the plant loose?

When I last messed with a similar set up, the potting  soil itself was the wick.
I used it to nurse volunteer tree seedlings, so I'm not sure if they wicked enough water to start seeds

William Bronson wrote: Id like to see your 55 gallon and 1 gallon systems.
If you get the roots to grow out of the cup, will you remove the cup before transplanting?
I ask, because I can see that leading to damaged roots
Maybe cut the plant loose?

When I last messed with a similar set up, the potting  soil itself was the wick.
I used it to nurse volunteer tree seedlings, so I'm not sure if you wicked enough water to start seeds
I

I have had some success in removing the plant with roots intact  ( the roots dangling below the solo cup )  with the cabbage and kale with 1/4 inch holes with some of the plants if the roots were too tight in the bottom hole they would just break off, but because there are so many roots in the cup above I am not really too concerned about that now....

This is why I am looking into the root pruning containers I am most curious what the result that will give me after I set that experiment up.....    

At present I just yank the rope out of the solo cup with my composted wood chip mix and the plants I have transplanted so far with this seem to be doing well..    

A question I have is air pruning better than just cutting the roots off?          What if I remove the plant out of the cup with the wick intact and put the wick into water....  will the roots air prune and the plant start filling the soil with far more roots?

As to starting seeds, they make capillary wicking matts for greenhouses...  ( not sure how they use them ) , and I have started cabbage, and tomato and now basil seeds directly on the wicking rope in perlite, and now clay balls ( hydroton)  so yes it can be done, but it may be a few more weeks before I know the full results of those experiments....    I don't know how the roots will work in those environments....     but experiments are in action now....    

I don't want to multiply the 1 gal milk jug because I don't want to multiply my weekly tasks, but my 55 gal barrel fills up every night with more water so that should work out without my intervention.

Other experiments I would like to try is to combine this with Korean natural farming to see if I can make my own fertilizer for hydroponics.        But,  my mind does not end with experiments LOL ..

I had to edit my post-I didn't mean to question if your set up could start seeds, I was questioning if mine could!
You shared even more cool experiments as a result of my flub.
I love that your medium is composted wood chips, not peat, that's one less thing to buy.

For people wanting less plastic, Solo makes an aluminum cup as a semi disposable/reusable , completely recyclable alternative to their big red cups.

For a food safe plastic bin, consider bus bins, available from restaurant supply stores.

I wonder if a mesh cylinder, lined with burlap and stuffed with grow medium, would give us wicking,air pruning and maximum  roots.

Maybe make the cylinder out on this:

William Bronson wrote:Hey, Mart, looks great!
I think you could use 3" net cups to combine this with air pruning.
Can you elaborate on using this hack with air layering?

It's interesting that this system mirrors hydroponic systems, but the nutrients are in the medium, not in the water.

Oh forgot to tell you, I am using hydroponic nutrients...    FYI.

I was able to add wicks to a set of of these root maker pots.      

I am looking forward to see how this experiment works out.

William Bronson wrote:I had to edit my post-I didn't mean to question if your set up could start seeds, I was questioning if mine could!
You shared even more cool experiments as a result of my flub.
I love that your medium is composted wood chips, not peat, that's one less thing to buy.

For people wanting less plastic, Solo makes an aluminum cup as a semi disposable/reusable , completely recyclable alternative to their big red cups.

For a food safe plastic bin, consider bus bins, available from restaurant supply stores.

I wonder if a mesh cylinder, lined with burlap and stuffed with grow medium, would give us wicking,air pruning and maximum  roots.

Maybe make the cylinder out on this: