Comments on: The watering tray http://tinyfarmblog.com/2008/03/13/the-watering-tray/ Daily photo-journal of organic market gardening: growing local food with two acres and some tools...! Sat, 17 May 2008 05:52:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Clayton http://tinyfarmblog.com/2008/03/13/the-watering-tray/#comment-20776 Clayton Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:14:40 +0000 http://tinyfarmblog.com/2008/03/13/the-watering-tray/#comment-20776 My dream for watering trays is a 45 gal barrel and a number of trays similar to yours with a web of small tubes carrying water pushed by a small pond pump to the trays and out again. A tray similar to this one at Lee Valley http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=10553&cat=2,51603&ap=2 would work very nicely but the bottom of these trays rises in the middle which means your seedlings will not get fed or watered evenly. The tray you have looks ideal. I have just started to plant annuals and since we only do personal garden size it will not take me long. I do however have a ton of flowers to start so hope to get that all done soon. My dream for watering trays is a 45 gal barrel and a number of trays similar to yours with a web of small tubes carrying water pushed by a small pond pump to the trays and out again. A tray similar to this one at Lee Valley http://www.leevalley.com/garden/page.aspx?c=1&p=10553&cat=2,51603&ap=2
would work very nicely but the bottom of these trays rises in the middle which means your seedlings will not get fed or watered evenly. The tray you have looks ideal.
I have just started to plant annuals and since we only do personal garden size it will not take me long. I do however have a ton of flowers to start so hope to get that all done soon.

]]> By: Mike (tfb) http://tinyfarmblog.com/2008/03/13/the-watering-tray/#comment-20759 Mike (tfb) Fri, 21 Mar 2008 05:20:26 +0000 http://tinyfarmblog.com/2008/03/13/the-watering-tray/#comment-20759 <b>klaus:</b> Thanks for the suggestion. That sounds pretty efficient, it certainly conserves every last bit of nutrient inputs, and keeps the concentration consistent. I do have a problem keeping track of nutrient (fish fert, liquid kelp) levels, because I'll add more water after each tray, but not top up the inputs for a few trays. Offsetting that is that I use very little in the early seedling stage, and top water when the seedlings are more established, it's much quicker. I also like a high level in the trays, to speed up uptake. Of course, I have a lot of refinement to go... What I'll try is premixing a certain amount, and topping up the trays from the mix. I'd want to use it all at once, though, so more measuring and estimating, because diluted fish fert left for a bit gets pretty funky... It's amazing how some little changes work out great, and others just seem to get in the way. Trial and error...! klaus: Thanks for the suggestion. That sounds pretty efficient, it certainly conserves every last bit of nutrient inputs, and keeps the concentration consistent. I do have a problem keeping track of nutrient (fish fert, liquid kelp) levels, because I’ll add more water after each tray, but not top up the inputs for a few trays. Offsetting that is that I use very little in the early seedling stage, and top water when the seedlings are more established, it’s much quicker. I also like a high level in the trays, to speed up uptake. Of course, I have a lot of refinement to go… What I’ll try is premixing a certain amount, and topping up the trays from the mix. I’d want to use it all at once, though, so more measuring and estimating, because diluted fish fert left for a bit gets pretty funky… It’s amazing how some little changes work out great, and others just seem to get in the way. Trial and error…!

]]> By: klaus http://tinyfarmblog.com/2008/03/13/the-watering-tray/#comment-20694 klaus Thu, 20 Mar 2008 04:06:40 +0000 http://tinyfarmblog.com/2008/03/13/the-watering-tray/#comment-20694 In my nano farming endeavour I currently have all of 2 seed trays with about 20 varieties of veggies growing under some lights (not working out so well due to variable growing speeds/heights). I've been trying something different for the watering, and maybe you've tried something similar and can tell me to cease and desist. Or maybe you'll find it useful... So basically I figure out about how much volume of water it takes to re-saturate my seed flat and every three days (or however long it takes for flats to be starting to get dry) and dump that amount into the tray (just lifting a seedling tray to pour under). The water gets wicked up, plants seem happy, and I haven't washed any nutrients down the drain. One concern is that maybe planting mix doesn't dry out enough? but the stuff I have is peat based with loads of perlite, so doesn't ever feel soggy... Anyhow, thoughts are appreciated! btw, thanks for feedback on rotting squashes... In my nano farming endeavour I currently have all of 2 seed trays with about 20 varieties of veggies growing under some lights (not working out so well due to variable growing speeds/heights).

I’ve been trying something different for the watering, and maybe you’ve tried something similar and can tell me to cease and desist. Or maybe you’ll find it useful…

So basically I figure out about how much volume of water it takes to re-saturate my seed flat and every three days (or however long it takes for flats to be starting to get dry) and dump that amount into the tray (just lifting a seedling tray to pour under).

The water gets wicked up, plants seem happy, and I haven’t washed any nutrients down the drain. One concern is that maybe planting mix doesn’t dry out enough? but the stuff I have is peat based with loads of perlite, so doesn’t ever feel soggy…

Anyhow, thoughts are appreciated!

btw, thanks for feedback on rotting squashes…

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