June Blog 2020

Latest Update 7th June 2020.

This is my latest propagator design.  Its based on my EcoPropagators, but has no self watering capacity.  After 3 years of excellent results with the old model, its proved to be more expensive and time consuming to maintain than expected.  This is mainly because the wicking medium needed to be replaced regularly to avoid pest build up, and the constantly wet environment makes frequent repainting necessary.

The new units (I have built 2) are smaller and considerably lighter than the old ones because they no longer have a built in water tank and the associated wicking apparatus.

Because of this I have been able to raise the unit to a more sensible working height (for an old codger like me), and still retain some of the old unit's best features.

The new design has a slatted platform built into the unit to support three 30 cell seedling trays.  The bottom of the unit is sealed off from pests by a layer of heavy duty shadecloth.   The unit retains the multipurpose cover which helps moderate extremes of temperature in the hottest and coldest of our weather.  Its also very effective at protecting the seedlings in heavy rain and high winds.

Currently I do my sowing and initial transplants on a bench in my shed, but I may build a pull out bench to fit under the body of the unit to make transplanting from tray to tray easier.  It's all a bit of work in progress at the moment, but so far so good.