Seed starting

Now we are ready to start some seeds.  My growing media for seed starting will be 1.5" Grodan rock wool cubes.   For some of the smaller stuff like "Micro greens", "Mesclun mix" and Dill I cut the cubes in quarters and made them about 1" high.  A 3/8" hole was drilled 1/4" deep.  Per the package instructions they were soaked 30-60 minutes in pH 5.5 water.  Into each hole went 2 seeds.  For the seed starting apparatus we are using a Burpee Self-watering 36 cell seed starting system.


To use with our aquaponics system we will discard the "cell" grow tray and peat moss pellets.  We are only interested in using the clear dome, wick, and tray system.   Once the rock wool and water are conditioned to the right pH level and planted with seeds we place them on the wick mat.


I marked the rows with a numbered flag. The number was written on the seed package as well. This should mark what is in what cube.   Four small holes were put in the clear dome and then placed on the tray.


Until the seeds sprout they will be under constant light from the 10W Ultra Sun 6500K CFL light.   Next time around I will increase this to a 23W bulb.


Hopefully in a few days you should see sprouts.  At this point take off the clear dome.  When roots appear it is time to put into the grow bed.