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Re: Seed Starting -// Fans and Timers

Square Foot Gardening List - http://www.flinet.com/~gallus/sqft.html

Ron wrote:
>I can vouch for the fan technique.  Even with bright fresh tubes
>and aluminum foil covering the nearby walls, I had leggy plants.
>Using an oscillating fan helped considerably with making my
>plants much stockier.  

Some very good information, Ron, thanks. I was especially relieved to read
that someone else had leggy plants. (Do you think your problem was also
heat-related?) Last fall, after reading someone's suggestion for it, I
tried "petting" my plants and I do think it helped a slight bit. But this
year, after reading your good notes, I think I'll attach a fan.

Boy, this seed starting business sure is complicated. There sure is a lot
of *hardware* involved, too. It helps if you're a carpenter, and an
electrician -- or have one in the family.

Now about those timers -- 

>   1) Leave the fan on a timer.  Running it constantly dries the
 >   plants out quickly and kills (or stresses) them.  Running the
 >   fan for a few hours a day seemed fine.  I ran mine for 15 minutes
 >   every other hour or so.  I now use a computerized timer but one
 >   of those cheap $5 dollar timers will work just fine.  However if
 >   you have overwatered them, leaving the fan on a little longer is
  >  a great way to dry them out a bit.

We bought some timers recently for a different use, but we had to go to a
specialty (actually wholesale) supply place and they weren't cheap.
Further, they have to be hardwired -- can't just be plugged in, so I don't
see us using them for the seedstarting effort. We'd looked at Home Depot,
and they had nothing. Where did you find $5 jobbies, or your computerized
timers -- and for how much? And how are the computerized ones different --
that is, how do they work?

Patricia


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