Propagation

Latest Update 17th November 2017.

Propagation 

• I have used a cold frame to bring on seedlings during winter for many years, and more recently modified it to give all year round climate and pest protection.
• The latest incarnation called the EcoPropagator uses wicking bed principles to keep seedlings moist and their growing medium biologically active at all times.
• It was designed to make good use of space within the constraints of standard hardware store sizes of polycarbonate sheet and 9mm marine plywood. The links below take you to my webpages where I describe the EcoPropagator's construction and operation in detail.

References.

• Propagating Plants Efficiently.
• Building an EcoPropagator.

• I use a 75mm layer of soil with a very high proportion (75%) of high quality, homemade, biologically active, finely sieved compost as a wicking medium.
• Seeds are sown in groups in organic seed raising soil in plastic mini pots sunk up to their rims in this medium and when mature enough, the seedlings are transplanted individually into fibre minipots and returned to the wicking medium to be grown-on ready for planting in my garden beds.

• Two EcoPropagators provide me with all the capacity I need to grow seedlings and cuttings all year round for the whole of my garden, and cope well with the usual heavy demand in spring.
• They have been extremely useful, reliably growing new plants as and when required.  Failures of seeds to germinate or plants to be checked during transplantation are rare.  Growth is rapid and seedlings are strong and healthy.