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Re: T&M

Responding to the message of 
<Pine.OSF.3.91.970330175140.14828C-100000@wilde.oit.umass.edu>
from seeds-list@eskimo.com:
> 
> I have another question about propagation.  This year, I tried bottom 
> watering, but found myself having the soil too wet (thereby the fungus 
> gnats, I'm afraid).  With a multitude of pots in a flat, it seems a 
> little too hard to bottom water and then pour excess water out. My 
> questions are: is it really worth it (to bottom water)? and if so, how do 
> people do it exactly (I hear of bottom watering and misting -- what is 
> the exact procedure).

I used to wonder about the same thing, until I discovered that a turkey baster, 
the kind that looks like a big eye dropper, could be used to suck the excess 
water out of the tray from between the pots without having to take them out. You
don't have to get it all, just enough to keep the pots sitting on the ridges out
of the remainder. In some cases it is definitely worth it to water from the 
bottom. You can even begin feeding seedlings with liquid half-strength 
fertilizer that way when they are too small to water from the top.
I also use the baster for emergency help when I water too liberally in my living
room and have to get water out of a saurcer before it runs over on the floor.

Mary R. Henry
Minneapolis, MN
phone: 612-729-9524    FAX: 729-1573
"We're all in this together."  USDA Zone 4a
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