I really appreciate how often ya'll respond to questions! I've learned more from this video and the q+a's than I have on a few blogs combined. Thank you!!!
So glad this helps you @rationalgazedesign. Its kind of a personal goal to keep in contact with folks. Figuring they took time to comment so we should while its feasible to get back to people.
Thank you for your video! Very informative! I used a very similar setup for my own veggie starts using mesh trays, soil blocks, heat mat, and capillary mat. However, my soil mini blocks are drying out despite the mesh tray sitting on the capillary mat and the mat being constantly wet. The mesh tray itself has quite thick plastic which I think is preventing the direct contact between the soil block and the capillary mat. How do you overcome this issue when starting seeds and there is no transpiration yet occurring? Thanks!
Thanks for the info. we have a capilliary matting set up, and are trying soil blocks this year. I was wondering if soil blocks in a tray would wick up the water from the mat, so its very useful to see that you have this set up :-)
Loved your video, I bought the capillary mat from farmtek and set it up like you show, but can't seem to get the water to move thru the mat. I watered mat, pots and have full reservoir. farmkek is no help, they just sell the product, do you have any tips or secrets to get it working?? thanks Kevin
Kevin Derheimer I might think that perhaps your soil in the plant pots are not making sufficient contact with the mat. We use this set up with 10" x 20" weave bottom trays for our soil blocks.. The openings on the trays allows good contact between the soil blocks and the mat. capillary action can only occur if the blocks holding the plants can make partial or whole contact with the mat. The process of plant transpiration is what drives the capillary pull of water through the mat.
Tony or Denise, What does the bottom of the seedling tray look like? I was wondering how the soil blocks come in contact with the mat. Thanks for sharing this with us.
Thank you so much, I knew I was going to have to make something like this soon, so it is really helpful to see your set-up. Muchas gracias amigos. Keep doing what you do on this channel. It's going to be a huge success soon.
Do you direct plant your 3/4 inch blocks, or do you put them in the two inch blocks? Thanks for the video. I learned something new that I can use with capillary matting👍☺️
We have direct planted them but have found that keeping adequate moisture to them after transplant till the time they really begin growing is is challenging. If they(Miniblocks) dry out just once they are toasted since they don't have much of a root system. Letting the plants grow on in a larger block or plug cell makes a much stronger transplant.
Thx so much 4 this video!!❤🤗 may i ask, how long everyday do you leave the trays on daily before moving them off to avoid rooting and what kind of plastic do you wrap the heating mat in?
Thank you. Are your Heating mats OK getting wet? Can I set solid tray on heat mat and then have 1/4" wood dowels inside tray on bottom in grooves , water to top of dowels, capillary mat on dowels, and then have 2" soil blocks on capillary mat?
Hi @Mike Blackard the heating mats we use are rated for wet environments. Your plan sounds like it'll work. However, you need to be careful with capillary mat right next to the blocks as the roots for the blocks can and will grow into the capillary mat if not watched.
Hi this is the most brilliant seedling starting video I have found, thank you so much. I have followed your set up at home and it's working like a charm. The only question I have now is that I planted my sweet pea seedlings (on Feb 12th) in a 3/4" (or micro 20) block and have now moved them into the 2" (or mini 4) block the plants have grown to about 4" or so tall...when I had them in the 3/4" block the root system was coming thru the bottom into the capillary mat (as I was slightly tardy to move them) that being now settled, I am worried that this will happen again in the 2" blocks...I live in Victoria (similar climate to you) do you recommend getting the larger soil block to move them again or do you think they should be okay to go into the ground once the weather warms up? I swear they grow .5" per day. I have them under grow lights and have a heated mat underneath my capillary mat. Thank you kindly for your reply and much appreciated advice! keep up the great work and thank you again for your wonderful videos. *technically I have a wicking mat from lee valley as I couldn't find capillary matting here, but similar difference from what I can gather.
If you have to delay too much longer my thought would be to move them on to the ground under a low tunnel to give them temporary protection. As we move forward this month the temps should be ok, for us its the protection from rain deluges and hail. The tunnel plastic can be removed in early to mid April to prevent too much warming. These sweetpeas are pretty tough.
Hi, Do you use this set-up year round to start your seeds? Curious to know if I can do this in February to indoor sow my flower/vegetable seeds. Thanks in advance! Great video!!
Hi @Leslie Mowers Wish we could claim credit for this! Most of the alignment is due to the Miniblocker on each charge evenly puts out a block of 20 , each tray holds 15 charges, 3 wide by 5 long. Denise also does a fantastic job in seeding these trays!
Thank you for kind sharing. Could you please kindly share how you put warming mats together with capillary matting? I am planing to build the bed for my 5 seedlings trays exactly like yours and not sure how warming mats would go along with capillary matting. Thank you again
mokrohond We use a heat mat made by Hydro Farm. it is a sealed rubber mat and very water resistant. we lay the marine grade plywood down first, cover this Wood with plastic sheet then lay the heat mat down, then the capillary mat. Hope this helps
What other types of capillary matting would you recommend? the one from FarmTek is made from polypropylene and its linked to cancer a reproductive system issues. Id liek to use another type for my vegetable seedlings, wondering if you have other recommendations?? Thanks
Once the seedlings have popped, where do the trays go? Are they staying on capillary matting until they are transplanted into the field or do you do some overhead watering? Thank you for your videos!
Rebecca Sadlowski we grow the seedlings on in another unheated hoophouse that also uses capillary mat watering. these grow for several weeks and then are either bumped up or transplanted to the field.
nice video, never had luck with 3/4 " blocks, seem to dry out too quickly. But looks like you got it down. How did you grow your 3/4" blocks to that stage keeping them moist?
Hi @2002chow We have started seedlings on the larger mat but we have also found it more flexible to use a cut piece of the cap mat in the bottom of a solid 1020 tray that the weave bottom with the soil mini-blocks sits on. This allows us to move the seedlings around more effectively while maintaining the moisture level
How much do they root into the capillary mats? That has been my main concern with this system, could the bigger blocks be watered this way as well without too much root growth into the capillary mat?
If the blocks in the trays aren't moved just a little bit every time you water you can get roots into the mat. we have watered up to 2" blocks on this system
60 foot lengths ( $63) of 'eve heating cord' _ to melt snow off the eves of a house. These zig-zagged and used with a thermostatic controller ($ 32 )are a lot cheaper than heating mats. Enough for about 14 to 16 1020 trays for less than $100
A couple questions: 1. Are you heating the air in this greenhouse or only using the heat mats as a source of heat. 2. The plywood under the heat mats doesn't rot over time? 3. I am considering something like this for a greenhouse I'm building but I was considering putting rigid foam insulation under the heat mats to retain the heat. Good idea or not necessary? If good idea do you have an idea on how to keep it dry? Thank you for your videos and help!
Hi Elisa; We nominally heat our greenhouse only when it drops below 40F in the winter so most of the initial heat for the seedlings comes from the mat on a thermostat. 2.) We wrap the plywood in plastic all 4 sides. tends to keep it dry. Useful life last go around was 5 years and was still fine we just needed a bigger piece. 3.) insulation board especially 2" thick would be excellent and rigid enough. you could wrap it in plastic too if your concerned about it degrading. Thanks for watching the video!
We haven't had mildew or black mold but if we are lax in keeping it clean we had gotton algae growth that needed to be cleaned with a high pressure wash.
Rathvinden We don't put anything directly under the soilblocks. The blocks rest directly on the tray small portions of the blocks do come in contact with the capillary mat, All water is transferred to the block via the capillary action of the mat. The blocks integrity is not impacted when watering this way.
Hi Katie, we start our mini-blocks on the capillary mat all the time. The capillary action is facilitated by the roots of the seedling absorbing moisture. If this action is missing the block will not be drawing in excessive moisture. Thanks for the great question.
Jean; Thats a great idea for an improvement and it would help even out the water flow even more. We are going to add that and try it out! Thanks for watching the channel!
Thanks for the video. That looks like a good idea for soil blocks. I am not sure how it works, however. The trays seem to create discontinuity between the fine pore space in the mat and the growing substrate. How does the moisture move across the macro pore space created by the tray?
Hi Nette; The wicking action works with just a fraction of a block making contact with the mat. The blocks being adjacent to each other also help with the transport of moisture. Thanks for watching!
Oh yeah we do! We have not encountered a vacuum seeder or such device that will work well with soil mini-blocks. Any ideas on this front would be more than welcome!
Yah, I am in the same boat as you! It takes A LOT of time for sure! I have used Lisa Ziegler's technique with the spit and toothpick. Works well, but I tend to go cross eyed with seeds like celosia after a while! LOL!
Your fluorescents are way too high up, and probably a bit overkill. You could easily get away with two fixtures, and bring them like literally 4 inches away from seedlings.
Hi John, Yep your right in the video the lights were raised to get them above the mat to make filming easier. We do lower them when we need higher intensity. Good eye for detail....
You are right! sanitation is important. We occasionally take the mat out and spray it with intense water spray to wash it off. Its really at it best for only one season as it does accumulate dirt and a certain point washing just doesn't cut it. If left to its own with out a wash it can get mold.
Hi, we just watched it again just to be sure it wasn't something on our end. There was only 1 sound break that was when we sped up the video while cutting the mat. It was intentional as we were still learning how to make videos. Thanks for watching.
I really appreciate how often ya'll respond to questions! I've learned more from this video and the q+a's than I have on a few blogs combined. Thank you!!!
So glad this helps you @rationalgazedesign. Its kind of a personal goal to keep in contact with folks. Figuring they took time to comment so we should while its feasible to get back to people.
Good Work. Thinking of using capillary action in garden beds using my pond water.
Thank you for your video! Very informative! I used a very similar setup for my own veggie starts using mesh trays, soil blocks, heat mat, and capillary mat. However, my soil mini blocks are drying out despite the mesh tray sitting on the capillary mat and the mat being constantly wet. The mesh tray itself has quite thick plastic which I think is preventing the direct contact between the soil block and the capillary mat. How do you overcome this issue when starting seeds and there is no transpiration yet occurring? Thanks!
Were you able to find a solution? I am thinking I'll build some trays with 1/4" hardware cloth bottoms.
Thanks for the info. we have a capilliary matting set up, and are trying soil blocks this year. I was wondering if soil blocks in a tray would wick up the water from the mat, so its very useful to see that you have this set up :-)
awesome!!!
do you still fo that??
lol.. watering the blocks is such a pain ..
yours look great!
Loved your video, I bought the capillary mat from farmtek and set it up like you show, but can't seem to get the water to move thru the mat. I watered mat, pots and have full reservoir. farmkek is no help, they just sell the product, do you have any tips or secrets to get it working??
thanks
Kevin
Kevin Derheimer I might think that perhaps your soil in the plant pots are not making sufficient contact with the mat. We use this set up with 10" x 20" weave bottom trays for our soil blocks.. The openings on the trays allows good contact between the soil blocks and the mat. capillary action can only occur if the blocks holding the plants can make partial or whole contact with the mat. The process of plant transpiration is what drives the capillary pull of water through the mat.
Tony or Denise, What does the bottom of the seedling tray look like? I was wondering how the soil blocks come in contact with the mat. Thanks for sharing this with us.
We use a standard 1020 mesh or weave bottom tray. You can get them at Johnny's Seeds. Thanks for viewing the video and for your question.
Thank you so much, I knew I was going to have to make something like this soon, so it is really helpful to see your set-up. Muchas gracias amigos. Keep doing what you do on this channel. It's going to be a huge success soon.
De Nada Mister Mac! thanks for watching!
Do you direct plant your 3/4 inch blocks, or do you put them in the two inch blocks? Thanks for the video. I learned something new that I can use with capillary matting👍☺️
We have direct planted them but have found that keeping adequate moisture to them after transplant till the time they really begin growing is is challenging. If they(Miniblocks) dry out just once they are toasted since they don't have much of a root system. Letting the plants grow on in a larger block or plug cell makes a much stronger transplant.
Thx so much 4 this video!!❤🤗 may i ask, how long everyday do you leave the trays on daily before moving them off to avoid rooting and what kind of plastic do you wrap the heating mat in?
Thank you. Are your Heating mats OK getting wet? Can I set solid tray on heat mat and then have 1/4" wood dowels inside tray on bottom in grooves , water to top of dowels, capillary mat on dowels, and then have 2" soil blocks on capillary mat?
Hi @Mike Blackard the heating mats we use are rated for wet environments. Your plan sounds like it'll work. However, you need to be careful with capillary mat right next to the blocks as the roots for the blocks can and will grow into the capillary mat if not watched.
Hi this is the most brilliant seedling starting video I have found, thank you so much. I have followed your set up at home and it's working like a charm. The only question I have now is that I planted my sweet pea seedlings (on Feb 12th) in a 3/4" (or micro 20) block and have now moved them into the 2" (or mini 4) block the plants have grown to about 4" or so tall...when I had them in the 3/4" block the root system was coming thru the bottom into the capillary mat (as I was slightly tardy to move them) that being now settled, I am worried that this will happen again in the 2" blocks...I live in Victoria (similar climate to you) do you recommend getting the larger soil block to move them again or do you think they should be okay to go into the ground once the weather warms up? I swear they grow .5" per day. I have them under grow lights and have a heated mat underneath my capillary mat.
Thank you kindly for your reply and much appreciated advice! keep up the great work and thank you again for your wonderful videos.
*technically I have a wicking mat from lee valley as I couldn't find capillary matting here, but similar difference from what I can gather.
If you have to delay too much longer my thought would be to move them on to the ground under a low tunnel to give them temporary protection. As we move forward this month the temps should be ok, for us its the protection from rain deluges and hail. The tunnel plastic can be removed in early to mid April to prevent too much warming. These sweetpeas are pretty tough.
Hi, Do you use this set-up year round to start your seeds? Curious to know if I can do this in February to indoor sow my flower/vegetable seeds. Thanks in advance! Great video!!
Hi Frances; We do use this in our greenhouse year round as it has a heating mat underneath. Thanks for watching our videos!
Thank you! How do you get the seeds in such nice, neat rows?
Hi @Leslie Mowers Wish we could claim credit for this! Most of the alignment is due to the Miniblocker on each charge evenly puts out a block of 20 , each tray holds 15 charges, 3 wide by 5 long. Denise also does a fantastic job in seeding these trays!
Thank you for kind sharing. Could you please kindly share how you put warming mats together with capillary matting?
I am planing to build the bed for my 5 seedlings trays exactly like yours and not sure how warming mats would go along with capillary matting. Thank you again
mokrohond We use a heat mat made by Hydro Farm. it is a sealed rubber mat and very water resistant. we lay the marine grade plywood down first, cover this Wood with plastic sheet then lay the heat mat down, then the capillary mat. Hope this helps
What other types of capillary matting would you recommend? the one from FarmTek is made from polypropylene and its linked to cancer a reproductive system issues. Id liek to use another type for my vegetable seedlings, wondering if you have other recommendations?? Thanks
Once the seedlings have popped, where do the trays go? Are they staying on capillary matting until they are transplanted into the field or do you do some overhead watering? Thank you for your videos!
Rebecca Sadlowski we grow the seedlings on in another unheated hoophouse that also uses capillary mat watering. these grow for several weeks and then are either bumped up or transplanted to the field.
How many days does this keep the blocks watered for without needing to refill the trough?
Our experience depended on the temp in the greenhouse. We just checked it daily and refilled as needed. Warm days tended to need a daily fill.
nice video, never had luck with 3/4 " blocks, seem to dry out too quickly. But looks like you got it down. How did you grow your 3/4" blocks to that stage keeping them moist?
motocephalic The capillary mats we use keep moisture even so the blocks don't dry out.
Thanks, I may try finding some. I am small scale, so I was just using 2" blocks for most of my seedlings. I was not successful with 3/4" blocks.
Would you start seeds this way or is this best for seedlings??
Hi @2002chow We have started seedlings on the larger mat but we have also found it more flexible to use a cut piece of the cap mat in the bottom of a solid 1020 tray that the weave bottom with the soil mini-blocks sits on. This allows us to move the seedlings around more effectively while maintaining the moisture level
How much do they root into the capillary mats? That has been my main concern with this system, could the bigger blocks be watered this way as well without too much root growth into the capillary mat?
If the blocks in the trays aren't moved just a little bit every time you water you can get roots into the mat. we have watered up to 2" blocks on this system
60 foot lengths ( $63) of 'eve heating cord' _ to melt snow off the eves of a house. These zig-zagged and used with a thermostatic controller ($ 32 )are a lot cheaper than heating mats. Enough for about 14 to 16 1020 trays for less than $100
A couple questions:
1. Are you heating the air in this greenhouse or only using the heat mats as a source of heat.
2. The plywood under the heat mats doesn't rot over time?
3. I am considering something like this for a greenhouse I'm building but I was considering putting rigid foam insulation under the heat mats to retain the heat. Good idea or not necessary? If good idea do you have an idea on how to keep it dry?
Thank you for your videos and help!
Hi Elisa; We nominally heat our greenhouse only when it drops below 40F in the winter so most of the initial heat for the seedlings comes from the mat on a thermostat.
2.) We wrap the plywood in plastic all 4 sides. tends to keep it dry. Useful life last go around was 5 years and was still fine we just needed a bigger piece.
3.) insulation board especially 2" thick would be excellent and rigid enough. you could wrap it in plastic too if your concerned about it degrading.
Thanks for watching the video!
What do the bottom of the trays look like?
Hi @L Heaster Check this quick video we did on these trays at : ua-cam.com/video/aRY8o9dDaKc/v-deo.html Thanks!
Is there any problem with mildew or black mold? If so, how is.this prevented?
We haven't had mildew or black mold but if we are lax in keeping it clean we had gotton algae growth that needed to be cleaned with a high pressure wash.
May I please ask, what do you have between the tray and the soil blocks to prevent erosion of the soil through the tray on to the mat?
Rathvinden We don't put anything directly under the soilblocks. The blocks rest directly on the tray small portions of the blocks do come in contact with the capillary mat, All water is transferred to the block via the capillary action of the mat. The blocks integrity is not impacted when watering this way.
Would it be bad to start seeds off on a capillary mat? Would that keep them too wet while germinating?
Hi Katie, we start our mini-blocks on the capillary mat all the time. The capillary action is facilitated by the roots of the seedling absorbing moisture. If this action is missing the block will not be drawing in excessive moisture. Thanks for the great question.
why not put a gutter at each end?
Jean; Thats a great idea for an improvement and it would help even out the water flow even more. We are going to add that and try it out! Thanks for watching the channel!
Hi there, thanks for the informative video. Do you know if watermats will work on larger pots, say 10 gallon? Cheers.
Are the Capillary mats capable of moving nutrient solution as well? Say around 1.2 Ec?
Not sure on using fertilizer in the water tray. This might cause more problems with fungal/bacteria growth in the mat itself.
It will work for sometime until salt deposit takes over
Thanks for the video. That looks like a good idea for soil blocks. I am not sure how it works, however. The trays seem to create discontinuity between the fine pore space in the mat and the growing substrate. How does the moisture move across the macro pore space created by the tray?
Hi Nette; The wicking action works with just a fraction of a block making contact with the mat. The blocks being adjacent to each other also help with the transport of moisture. Thanks for watching!
Thanks. That makes sense.
Hi- I was wondering if you seed all the blocks by hand?
Oh yeah we do! We have not encountered a vacuum seeder or such device that will work well with soil mini-blocks. Any ideas on this front would be more than welcome!
Yah, I am in the same boat as you! It takes A LOT of time for sure! I have used Lisa Ziegler's technique with the spit and toothpick. Works well, but I tend to go cross eyed with seeds like celosia after a while! LOL!
Your fluorescents are way too high up, and probably a bit overkill. You could easily get away with two fixtures, and bring them like literally 4 inches away from seedlings.
Hi John, Yep your right in the video the lights were raised to get them above the mat to make filming easier. We do lower them when we need higher intensity. Good eye for detail....
Use microfiber towels. Works just as well and won’t mold because it’s polyester. Also not $100.
Thanks for the tip!
@@BareMtnFarm Also, they are not treated with chemicals which is a concern for many growers.
Don't you have problems with fungus?
You are right! sanitation is important. We occasionally take the mat out and spray it with intense water spray to wash it off. Its really at it best for only one season as it does accumulate dirt and a certain point washing just doesn't cut it. If left to its own with out a wash it can get mold.
i tried to use a capillary mat for growing basil in my apartment .. the smell got really bad from mold and germs .. had to put it in the trash
Is anyone else experiencing the sound cutting out constantly while watching videos? I never had this happen before....
Hi, we just watched it again just to be sure it wasn't something on our end. There was only 1 sound break that was when we sped up the video while cutting the mat. It was intentional as we were still learning how to make videos. Thanks for watching.