Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Here's a picture of my germination station with many different varieties of seeds germinating! I already have had Velutina and Itinerans germinate in less than two weeks!!!



These are pictures of Musa Itinerans which has already germinated!!!! I already pulled it from the station and planted it, placing it into a ziplock baggie for humidity in a shady spot with my bromeliads. I hope it starts it's first leaf soon!!!!

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

JP,

What do you use for heat in your germination station? I noticed a cylindrical looking object in the picture. :cloudban:

Dean

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

That is a glass themometer actually. Bought that at walmart for like $8 I think. That's the top part that holds the battery that you see, then the bottom is a glass plate that digitally shows the temps. I'll pull it out and take a picture tonight after the heat cycle is over! As well I have a meat themometer in one of the soil containers to watch the soil temps.

For heat I use to a reptile heat pad, look closely in the picture, the black object underneath is it. It was the largest I could find. I have a towel under it to concentrate and insulate the heat! But since the plastic tub is so large, I also have a heating pad for your back or joints kinda pad. NOT the auto shutoff kind (made that mistake the first time I bought it). I have that on top of the lid, also covered with a towel on top to concentrate and insulate the heat!

The air temperatures are staying between 92-102, but the soil tempuratures are staying between 85-93 at most. Night temps are ranging from 65-72. I have a timer on the pads cutting on at 10am and sequencing as so: Three hours on, one hour off, two hours on, one hour off, two hours on, one off, two on... off the rest of the night. It takes about 2-3 hours to even reach above 90 air temps, so I decided to even it out 50/50 on/off.

Later I'll go and look up all of the varieties I've have in there and list them! OFF TO THE BEACH NOW!!! :2691:

I also forgot to mention I have bromeliads, many cacti, cereus (night blooming dragon fruit cacti), passiflora, jalepeno peppers, and strawberry seeds all germinating in there as well!!!!

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Nice, I use a ten-gallon aquarium with some christmas lights.

Dean

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

see josh im not the only one getting one started with an aquarium.

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Christmas lights? Is that enough heat?? Oh, I'd do an aquarium too, but too much money, plus my rubbermaid container has a nice tight lid on it for $10!

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

can get an aquarium at a yard sale for between .50 and 5.00. have a piece of plexi-glass cut to fit with a few small holes drilled for ventilation. and walla germination station! see you started this with the germination station. i just took it and ran. you had a great idea! i love that phrase: GERMINATION STATION, sounds like something off of stargate sg1. lol. matter of fact i think i have a friend who has a 10 gall one. i gave away a 29 gallon about 5 yrs ago. wish id of kpt it. but then again i have a 75gal....but it has fish in it. they are almost big enough to fillette. im just joking. i love my sharks.

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

NO NO Don't kill your fish!!!! LOL Actually I think I like the rubbermade one just fine. I'm going to stick with it for a while! :vandelnana: Yardsales and thrift shops here arn't that cheap! I know what you mean by in your neck of the woods, my mother lives in N. AL on the TN state line and she buys like crazy at yard sales, estate sales, and thrift stores and resells it on e-bay and she makes a killing. She's done it for almost 10 years now! She wouldn't be able to do that here, she already looked around and saw what they charge here. But here, they know what they have and they charge higher than say e-bay prices now days so it's almost no worth the search. Actually most places use e-bay as a refference as to what they price it at their store. Last aquarium I saw at a thirft store here was over $30 for I think a 50 gal.

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

UPDATE!!!!!!

One Velutina germinated and in ONE DAY the itinerans has grown and showing green coloring!!! Can you feel the growth??? :2214: Sorry, I'm just a little happy!!!! Other varieties in the germination station have began to germinate, but haven't formed their shoot or any roots yet.


Itinerans! Check out day 2 VS. day 3!!!!!



Velutina!!

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Okay everyone, here's the list of what all I'm growing in here!!!!

M Ornata
M Zebrina
M Balbisiana
M Violecea
M Sikkimensis
M Velutina (two trials from two different sources... was given a packet for free from someone)
M Coccinea
M Helens Hybrid
M Itinerans
M Ornata Royal Purple
M Lasiocarpa
M Siamensis
M Bronze? Maybe Ornata Bronze. Can someone good with identification please check out this pic and see what your take on it's actual species name? http://georgiavines.com/v-web/produc...natabronze.jpg

I've had great luck with Georgia Vines seeds, musa and all of her others!!! Georgiavines Passion Vines Aristolochia Passiflora Hibiscus Seeds

I also have germinating:
Alpine Golden Strawberries
Jalepeno Pepers (germinated and being put in the sun tomorrow)
Black Bromeliad (Drykia, many have been germinated and transplanted out in the sun)
Coral Aloe
Venus Flytrap
Red Rhipsales (variety of cacti)
Night Blooming Cereus (AKA Dragon Fruit Cacti, variety of cacti with 12" fragrant flowers)
Variety of other cacti (many of already germinated and transplanted out in the sun)
5 varieties of Passiflora

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

:woohoonaner:

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Yes, the christmas light work well for a ten-gallon aquarium. It gets to 90-95F in there. The aquarium was something I had lying around, so.

Jp, wow, that's quite a list. Good Luck!

Dean

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

looks really good! succes with germinating the other seeds:D

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Sorry that I haven't spent too much time on here guys... our 12 y/o rottie died last week and it's been really hard on us and then we started a new job... but I'm finally here to give an update on my germination success! Here's what all I've already had germinate and it out in a screened porch with morning sun (inside ziplocks):
8 Itinirans
5 Balbisiana
3 Velutina
3 Violecea
4 Ornata Bronze

This pic was taken a few days ago, there's been more growth since!

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Josh, your picture was too dark to see any sprouts. I saved it on my computer and used a photo editor to increase the brightness and contrast about 20% each. Presto! You really are having great success!

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Thanks Richard, that was a hard pic to take in my garage... plus most of the tiny seedlings I had just transplanted so there really wasn't much to see yet.

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

:bebe::bebe::bebe:. wahoo! new babies. congrats on these pretty little things!

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Looking good, you definetly have a green thumb. :woohoonaner:

Dean

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Hey I know this is an old-ish thread but I'm thinking about setting up one of these for myself was wondering how long do/did you leave the heat on in a normal day?

I'd probably have a rather small germination station to start with...probably about a quarter the size of yours....what bulb wattage do you think i'd need for that?

thanks:)

Re: Germination Station in full swing!!!
 

Jen, the best research shows that germination is best for banana seeds if kept at 32 C (~90 F) for 4-6 hours. Then the remaining time they should be kept at 19C (~66 F) So I suggest a cool basement area or a closet in an unheated room. The ideal swing in temperatures should be as close to this as possible.

Good luck!