Cuttings (and many seeds) like the soil a little warmer than my basement runs (roughly 55-60 right now). While browsing the net I ran across this article about a setup using Christmas lights in a box to heat the soil for rose cuttings. It is quite an ingenious little setup and one I want to play with. So… tonight after work I stopped by Lowes and picked up some parts. The author adjusted the temperature by the addition or subtraction of 7 watt bulbs. Some time back when I used to play with stained glass I built a dimmer box using an electic outlet, dimmer swich and junction box to adjust the temperature of my soldering iron. If I plug a light or string of lights in such a box it should give me much more control over temperature. I haven’t worked out all of the details yet but suffice it to say that it may involve a large old (very heavy) metal utility sink… stay tuned for more info and pictures.
Rooting Chamber or How to Warm Your Plant’s Heart by Warming Their Feet.
March 8th, 2006 · 3 Comments
Tags: Projects · Propagation
3 responses so far ↓
1 Harvest McCampbell // Mar 23, 2006 at 10:03 pm
I heat my seedlings and cuttings with an old fashioned food warming tray I got at the second hand store. It has an adustable tempreture gage from low to high. I use a terarium thermometer and a soil thermometer to help regulate the tempreture, and I use clip on hallogen full specturm lights to supplement the light the plants get though the window.
I guess there are lots of ways to keep the seedlings and cuttings warm . . .
Harvest
2 kerry // Mar 30, 2006 at 10:25 pm
Harvest,
Great ideas. What kind of things do you grow?
3 Harvest McCampbell // May 3, 2007 at 6:08 pm
All kinds of things, herbs, veggies, flowers, ornamentals . . . whatever strikes my fancy at any given time . . .
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