I have an old dog house that we have out in the garage. I put plastic and foam all around he inside and believe I have it pretty well sealed. I have a thermometer inside along with two lights. One is a heat lamp and the other is your regular growing bulb. I have the lights on a timer, they are getting around 10-12 hours of light/heat everyday. The temp gets up to around 80-85 everyday and the lowest I’ve seen it is around 60 without the lights and early in the morning before the timer cuts them back on. It’s been around 0 or below every night for the past week or so here thanks to this dang winter bomb. I have a mix of chestnuts, oaks and some persimmons in RM trays of 18 and 32s. The seeds have been in the trays for about 2 weeks now. I’m curious if anyone has any experience dealing with the greenhouse stuff. What temperature do y’all use or try to keep it around? How often do you water and do you have any other tips? I’ll try to take some pictures later and post them.
Greenhouse
- Thread starter Mitch123
- Start date
wbpdeer
Well-Known Member
I have a greenhouse that is 16' by 25' with a gravel floor. You need to get the lights as close as possible to the top of the stems in order to avoid your seedlings becoming leggy. For instance Chinese Chestnuts produce broad leaves and the stems can't always support them.
When we grow in containers, water is important and oxygen is important. Temperature and sunlight are important. You need to get fresh air to the roots which means I don't want a sealed system.
What you have is a grow box - artificial light without any sunlight. Now you can grow very effectively with your system as long as you get the lights closer to the growing surface.
What temperatures do I like in a grow box? 65 to 78 work good for me but I have a heater and can use an oscillating fan to promote air circulation and stem strength. When I run a fan - it is only 30 minutes in morning or a 2nd 30 minute period about 12 hours later. Fan air will dry out the cells of a rootmaker - think of it as a hot fire - the closer to the fan are the cells that dry out first.
When I run containers in the high 70s range in a grow box, I may have to water twice a day. I have plastic about 16 inches below the grade of the rootmakers to catch the water and this increases the humidity inside the grow box.
Mitch - I applaud your dedication and you are on the right track. Distance from light to growing surface. If you raise the rootmaker trays higher you close the distance and increase oxygen to the bottom of the roots.
Most common mistake is packing soil too tightly in the rootmaker tray - roots need air and space to fill up as they expand.
I like grow boxes - my lights are shop lights and I raise and lower the light fixture with ropes.
Transition - when a seedling is grown thru the use of artificial light, it has to be gently introduced to the sunlight or it can die from too much sunlight all of the sudden. I use the timer on my Microwave to time how long I set them in the sun in the beginning. I start at 30 minutes and work upward to 2 1/2 hours over about 10 -14 days. You have to watch your plants and inspect how they are adjusting to more sunlight. Morning light is the gentle light and mid-day sunlight is harsher.
I have rambled but these are the issues and challenges to get great seedlings when you start in a grow box.
No system is 100% perfect - so you get 65 to 75% of your seedlings to planted in the field that is great. Nature has a way of eliminating the weak - so losses occur. That was frustrating to me when I first started - after some time you learn that some die even though you make zero mistakes. Nature knows best.
Wayne
When we grow in containers, water is important and oxygen is important. Temperature and sunlight are important. You need to get fresh air to the roots which means I don't want a sealed system.
What you have is a grow box - artificial light without any sunlight. Now you can grow very effectively with your system as long as you get the lights closer to the growing surface.
What temperatures do I like in a grow box? 65 to 78 work good for me but I have a heater and can use an oscillating fan to promote air circulation and stem strength. When I run a fan - it is only 30 minutes in morning or a 2nd 30 minute period about 12 hours later. Fan air will dry out the cells of a rootmaker - think of it as a hot fire - the closer to the fan are the cells that dry out first.
When I run containers in the high 70s range in a grow box, I may have to water twice a day. I have plastic about 16 inches below the grade of the rootmakers to catch the water and this increases the humidity inside the grow box.
Mitch - I applaud your dedication and you are on the right track. Distance from light to growing surface. If you raise the rootmaker trays higher you close the distance and increase oxygen to the bottom of the roots.
Most common mistake is packing soil too tightly in the rootmaker tray - roots need air and space to fill up as they expand.
I like grow boxes - my lights are shop lights and I raise and lower the light fixture with ropes.
Transition - when a seedling is grown thru the use of artificial light, it has to be gently introduced to the sunlight or it can die from too much sunlight all of the sudden. I use the timer on my Microwave to time how long I set them in the sun in the beginning. I start at 30 minutes and work upward to 2 1/2 hours over about 10 -14 days. You have to watch your plants and inspect how they are adjusting to more sunlight. Morning light is the gentle light and mid-day sunlight is harsher.
I have rambled but these are the issues and challenges to get great seedlings when you start in a grow box.
No system is 100% perfect - so you get 65 to 75% of your seedlings to planted in the field that is great. Nature has a way of eliminating the weak - so losses occur. That was frustrating to me when I first started - after some time you learn that some die even though you make zero mistakes. Nature knows best.
Wayne
Wayne thank you so much! This is some of the information I’ve been looking for. With your information I plan on building some sort of platform in order to raise the trays as you said. I believe I will also increase my watering routine as you suggested. If I get 50 percent of the seedlings to make it I would be thrilled!
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Trees so far, this week they are going into a sunroom, in order to start to get some natural light. In another week or so I plan on moving the living ones into a 1 gallon bag. Once the weather warms up and is consistent I plan on moving them outdoors with the plan to plant later this summer/fall.
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wbpdeer
Well-Known Member
When you plant the trees in their final destination, it is important that they get water as the roots get established. Moisture miser is a product that I buy from the Wildlife Group in Alabama. It is sold under other names - water sorb. It is crystals that hold about 1,000 times it's weight in water and when it gets dry it releases it. Acquire some of that type of product and put it in the planting hole at different levels as you back fill.
Put down landscape fabric to eliminate competition for the moisture. You can get small buckets - 2 to 5 gallon range and drill 2 or 3 three small holes about 1/8 inch diameter in one side. Put the bucket beside the newly planted seedlings. If you do that for the first 3 or 4 weeks that will get those seedlings established. I think the first time you plant is a critical time. When you have a seedling full of large leaves, they have to be feed nutrients and moisture and if not they will begin to suffer and die.
I like Osmocote Plus to put in the planting hole also. It is a slow release fertilizer that will not burn the seedling but will definitely help it flourish. Osmocote Plus is available at Walmart and Lowes in my area.
You cut the chestnut away from the seedling before you go outside with them. I use a very sharp pair of scissors to do this. If you don't protect the tender seedlings with wire, rabbits can be attracted to the tender green stems.
You are headed in the right direction and I am proud to see your success. The details I have shared will increase your rate of success. You have watched them grow and the next stage will be to watch them develop into trees and bear chestnuts 4 to 8 years down the road. Some are fast and some a slow to bear.
Plant them where they get FULL Sunlight and no standing water occurs if you have a 2 inch rainfall. Standing water will drown the roots.
Wayne
Put down landscape fabric to eliminate competition for the moisture. You can get small buckets - 2 to 5 gallon range and drill 2 or 3 three small holes about 1/8 inch diameter in one side. Put the bucket beside the newly planted seedlings. If you do that for the first 3 or 4 weeks that will get those seedlings established. I think the first time you plant is a critical time. When you have a seedling full of large leaves, they have to be feed nutrients and moisture and if not they will begin to suffer and die.
I like Osmocote Plus to put in the planting hole also. It is a slow release fertilizer that will not burn the seedling but will definitely help it flourish. Osmocote Plus is available at Walmart and Lowes in my area.
You cut the chestnut away from the seedling before you go outside with them. I use a very sharp pair of scissors to do this. If you don't protect the tender seedlings with wire, rabbits can be attracted to the tender green stems.
You are headed in the right direction and I am proud to see your success. The details I have shared will increase your rate of success. You have watched them grow and the next stage will be to watch them develop into trees and bear chestnuts 4 to 8 years down the road. Some are fast and some a slow to bear.
Plant them where they get FULL Sunlight and no standing water occurs if you have a 2 inch rainfall. Standing water will drown the roots.
Wayne
Thank you Wayne! I owe some of the credit to you as you have helped me a lot along the way. I already ordered some moisture mizer along with a new jug of osmocote plus. Hopefully I can continue my success!
wbpdeer
Well-Known Member
I hope I never forget the first time I got excited watching chestnuts seedlings getting cranked up in my small growing operation.
Also, I hope I never stop reading and hearing the excitement other people have doing the same thing. Mitch - you have fun in this journey - cause in the end run - the whitetail deer will benefit greatly from what you are doing.
I got started because I wanted to do something that would benefit the whitetail deer - best fun of my life has been chasing this great creatures with stick and string.
Wayne
Also, I hope I never stop reading and hearing the excitement other people have doing the same thing. Mitch - you have fun in this journey - cause in the end run - the whitetail deer will benefit greatly from what you are doing.
I got started because I wanted to do something that would benefit the whitetail deer - best fun of my life has been chasing this great creatures with stick and string.
Wayne
Transplanting a dozen or so seeds I had in an outdoor grow box. Over the winter I put 2-3 seeds in gallon containers and just covered them with straw. 2 weeks ago I moved them inside under some lights and some are starting to shoot up. Moving them into gallon RM bags and will see if I have any luck with that method.
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