Grower Discussion

I dragged out my homemade germination box the other day to give it a good cleaning and sanitizing before the season starts. Figured I’d share a few photos while I was at it — always feels good to start getting things ready, even with all this snow still around.

Here is a look at the inside. I use an incandescent light bulb as the heat source and a small computer fan that comes on every time the light comes on.

To sort of dissipate the heat I made a stand to hold a ceramic pot over the light bulb.

Basically this is just an insulated box with a wooden floor that is covered with ceramic tile. The inside of the box is lined with aluminum metal. I have an old refrigerator wire shelf that sits in the middle of the box. This shelf actually determined the size that I made the box

Here is the box in action. I'm just starting some bushel gourd seedlings so that I can do a practice batch of watermelon grafts. I'm germinating the seeds using the damp paper towel Ziploc bag method. Once the seeds germinate they go into the cups and left in this box until I see signs of them emerging. It seems to work well for me.

How is everyone else germinating their seeds this year? I’d love to hear any tips or setups you’re using.