Woodland Farm

 This winter we built a bottom heat system for seed propagation.  I am more than a little excited about this as I have been starting all of our seed in my basement.  I’ll go ahead and let the cat out of the bag and say the new system is awesome!  Everyone involved did a super job and I am thankful.  Here are a few pics to show you what we did.  

 

Foam insulation board was routed to secure micro tube.  Header pipes were cut for each zone.  We have three!

 

 

The header pipe was tapped for a threaded nipple.

 

 

Each tube was fed, cut, and attached to two header pipes—hot feed and cold return—for each zone. 

 

Zone 1 can hold 80 plug trays.  This is a far cry from the 16-tray capacity of my basement system.

 

 

Before the system was even complete it was time to fill plug trays for seeding.

 

Without time to waste, trays were filled, stacked, and then the seeding began.  

 

 

Seed trays were covered with plastic until the system was up and running.

 

 

Thermostats were centrally placed in pots filled with germination media.

 

 

IT WORKS!

The system is set to kick on or off when the temperature deviates from the desired temperature: + or – 3 degrees.

  

 

 

Nice to see consistent germination and high percentages.

 

 

 Ready to transplant!