Sproutlings

Oh my god! I can’t believe they’re already done. Apparently they germinate a lot quicker when indoors, contained, and warm. (all pictures to coincide with this blog are down below)

I went downstairs to check on them today and the paper towels they were inside of were like bubbled up, so I thought someone messed with them. When I opened it every single one of them had sprouted other than the peppers (ironically, the one that was supposed to be done first).

So I quickly closed them all back up and set everything up. I didn’t think they’d be done for at least another week. Some of them actually grew their roots through the paper towel. This all happened overnight.

BTW: I found out the original method with just a plate didn’t work so well because it dried out so fast. So I seperated the seeds in their own small container and kept it closed to keep in the moisture. Within 4 days they’re all done. This is THE WAY to do it for anyone interested.

I took my container in the garage and filled it with the soil loosely. I took three sprouts from each container and put them in three small holes I dug in each corner and then surrounded them with toothpicks so I knew where they were. Thinking about it now, I think I might have planted them deeper than I wanted to, almost two inches. I also should have pressed the soil down on top of each seed so I knew exactly where each one was instead of just having a general box around them.

Once they start popping through the soil, I’ll take the last two to pop out from each group and throw them out since I only have room for four total in this thing. This way, if one got damaged in the moving I’ll have better chances. Natural selection I call it 😀

Quickly set up my lighting. Tripods didn’t work that bad actually. I just took the park that hooks to the camera off and used the lock that locks that in to wrap the chain around and lock that. I should probably reinforce it with tape or something soon though. I’ll also need to lower it as close the seeds as possible. That’s why I’m liking this tripod idea. I’ve also got another CFL I was using for photography that I’ll use. For now the lights will stay off mostly because the seedlings are so weak they can’t take direct sunlight yet. Maybe I’ll start with the CFL when they first come out of the dirt so they’re used to it.

I’m really hoping they come out of it soon.

I also need to make a watering device of some sort. I was water out of a water bottle and I’m not sure if I put too much water because it was such a stream that it kinda soaked a small area and I had to move it around a lot. I need the opposite. A little water thrown about a lot of area. I’m thinking something like a water bottle with a few small holes drilled into it. Probably on the side of it like one of those long bar rotating sprinklers. And whenever I want to water I just turn that side down so it drips out of each hole.

I’ll post back soon. Probably whenever they sprout out of the dirt.