Mini-greenhouse

Has anyone used a mini-greenhouse for seed striation?

Any advice?

Thanks,

Corinne

I've got that same one. I haven't used it for seed starting, But I used it all last summer for hardening off. I normally don't buy annuals until May 30th because if I do, they look pretty ratty by the time it's safe to plant and then I usually end up having to replace them. I went to a few early plant sales last spring and kept them outdoors in the mini greenhouse until it was safe to plant outside. I had much better luck than in past years. I think there was one or two nights that got below freezing and I did bring the plants inside. I think the cover helps retain moisture better and plants don't dry out as much as if they were just sitting in flats on the ground. I did open up the cover on sunny days above 40 degrees.

I would think this would work except you'll have to water. If you winter sow with smaller containers, they have openings that allow moisture to get in; the mini greenhouse won't do that. Once they germinate, you could move them into the greenhouse. I kept some of my wintersowed plants in there all summer long; ones that I didn't get around to planting because I had too many. Some I planted in September and they seemed to take OK that late.

I've used these for winter sowing, with the "door" rolled up/open. Have to water sometimes, but I garden on a balcony, so I have to water all my containers at some point. I place my containers in solid-bottomed plant trays or aluminum tins, and bottom water when it's necessary. Has worked fine for me ....

PV

Thanks for the information.

I used this same greenhouse for winter sowing last year. In most cases, I also enclosed eachpot of seeds in a large zip lock bag that was partially unzipped at the top. I also did some without the zip lock bag, just open inside the greenhouse. Both seemed to work OK, since the humidity within the greenhouse was pretty good.

I was planning to do the same thing this year, but a big windstorm just blew the greenhouse to bits yesterday. I haven't surveyed the damage yet to see if it's repairable.

Here's a picture of my GH that the DH bought me from overstock.com back in May. I didn't set it up until October as it gets too hot to use in south GA, but I still have Italian flat leaf parsley, a couple of different thymes a basil which is a bit raggid plus a few things that I've managed to root. I even have 1 tomato plant which is still living. Of course, there's no tomatoes. It's just an experiment to see what I can keep living in it. I've used a 25 watt light on extreme cold nights along with hot milk jugs. Okay ... enough talk! Here's my picture.
~Elaine~

101: that's a beauty!

I appreciate all the comments.

Corinne

Thanks Corinne! I've enjoyed it so much. :-)
~Elaine~

lilystorm: Hope your mini-greenhouse is okay after the wind storm. Those winter winds can really get gusty.

101 & lilystorm: I would be very interested to know how you went about wintersowing in your beautifully warm climates. Could either one of you please start a separate thread (so the info doesn't get buried) and tell the wintersowers in 'hot climates' (zones 8, 9, & 10) what you found successful and what problems (if any) you had. We've had those questions on this forum before and I'm not able to speak from experience, since I'm in zone 7. Thanks!