.Ginger ..Thanks for your reply ....I just spent an hour writing a response and lost it when I went to advanced to post pictures so I have to do it again...I do note that I get very few notifications of replies to my threads and wonder whether gmail is spamming them...
Anyway I am now at a crucial point of my tomato season....All my seeds have germinated using the paper towel method and each put in a "jiffy "pot (which is a peat pot) filled with a Sphagnum Moss/Perlite and Vermiculite mix (3-1-1)....and dropped in a foam cup with the bottom cut out and top cut to reduce height so as it can go in a propagator which is self watering by way of a capillary cloth........
I now have my first seedlings with True leaves appearing ....and plans ( from Google articles and some ideas of my own ) are to remove the "jiffy "pot from its foam cup at the appropriate time and put it in a larger container..and into my growth chamber which is a mini cool room?? with self watering capillary trays for the pots to sit on......With a Temperature of 10 degrees C ..10 hours a day of intense light provided by 10 LED 150cm bulbs as well as some Red and Blue light that comes from 6 x 120mm
computer
fans which will blow air across my plants ..After 2-3 weeks I will raise the temperature inside the chamber before they will be transplanted out into my growing drums out in my greenhouse..
So I feel I really require if possible expert comments on a couple of points I am unsure about...They are should I use seed raising mix or normal tomato Mix in the Pots my jiffy pots will be put into ...I intend to put soil in and use a foam cup to make an indent and just drop the Jiffy pot with plant into the indent ....PLUS at this point I presume I have to introduce my seedlings to fertiliser....Seeing I bought Mycorrhizae I will be sprinkling this around where the jiffy cup sits so the roots will get at it .....but what else....I have Calmag,Dolomite lime ,Miracle Gro plus many more probably useless foods I have purchased...and i wonder if anything else should be applied along with the mycorrhizae.....I will point out that whatever soil i use I will ensure that I get the PH correct first......
I have been held back by seeds....Seeds I saved myself from earlier in the year have germinated within 48 hours with no problems but I bought some seeds from a supplier and I wonder how old they are ....It seems to me that having to check the paper towel every night one soon gets a sense that most of these seeds are dormant and not worth persevering with...Any variety that I find I like I will be saving my own seeds from now on.....Thank goodness I am using the paper towel method and not looking at a propagator cell everyday waiting for a seed to appear ???....
Plus my washing machine drums with the plastic water tank at the top ....(aprox 2 litres) seems to be working for self watering using 3 rope wicks .......hanging over the side into the soil??I have attached Photos,,,,Regards Ron
PS..the two tasty Toms were purchased from a gardening centre but are looking pretty good so far..