I'm propagating more seeds than whats needed just incase some of the seeds aren't viable and so i can pick and choose the better plants later on.
I've also used a selection of different propagation media incase i have better success with one and not another. I've used 1.5" rockwool cubes, fleximix, jiffy 7 peat pellets and a new media called sure to grow which is like pillow stuffing.
I pre-soaked everything with VitaLink Plantstart and BioPlus, two great products for getting well rooted little plants. I set the EC to 1.0 and the pH to 5.8.
I am using a T5 LightWave 8-Way flourescent lighting unit above the propagator and i'm really impressed by it. I can choose to have 4 lights on at once (4 middle tubes or 4 outer tubes) for when they are young and all 8 lights for vigorous growth when they are large enough.
Sometimes when the sun came out temperatures would reach above 30°C in the propagator, it was essentialy a greenhouse inside a greenhouse. To prevent cooking my young plants i used black and white reflective sheeting to reflect the suns rays away from the propagator, and lifting the light away helped. Opening the vents helps cool down the propagator but drops the humidity levels in there, I can keep an eye on my temperatures and humidity levels using a hygro-thermometer and it tells me the maximum and minimum levels of both readings. Now i'm waiting for seeds to germinate i can organise the rest of the greenhouse.
