I happened to be out looking for a home ultrasonic humidifier and only found the newer evaporative, cool mist varieties. These consist of tabletop tanks of water, with a water wick and variable speed fan. Some of them even had adjustable humidistats (sp?) to turn them on and shut them off. Most seem to come with water filters.
The thought struck me that if you built a humidity chamber, large enough to contain seedlings/cuttings and one of these tabletop humidifiers you would have a great combination.
The humidifier would stir the air with the fan intermittently (humistat equipped), and keep the humidity high, but not too high.
The humidifiers are cheap too, only around $30 Canadian ($20 US) and will only do an area of 500-700 square feet. If you ensure ample air leakeage in the chamber it should prevent damping off.
I am still looking for an home ultrasonic humidifier, but have not been able to find one. Hoping to find a cheap new/used one.
Regards,
Tom
Don Yellman wrote:
1. Over the years, I have tried a number of the "soilless" seed
starting mixes. One of those years it was a big bale of Pro-Mix.
2. I observed that the Pro-Mix looked almost exactly like spaghnum peat
moss, with traces of vermiculite and perlite thrown in. That got me to
thinking: Why couldn't I just buy a bale of spaghnum at less than 1/3
the price, and throw in my own vermiculite and perlite? (Wetting
agents? What's that, gypsum?) That's what I do now, mixing it up in a
big plastic can.
3. I know that one of the advertised advantages of the expensive mixes
is that they are "sterilized", and free of the pathogens that cause
damping off and etc.. But there are other ways to deal with damping
off, including heating the mix in the oven, or using the Tom Olenio
method of aiming a small circulating fan at the emerging plants. That
fan business makes a lot of sense to me, and I am going to try it this
spring. I anticipate it will produce sturdier, stockier plants in the
bargain.
4. It it's mycorrhizal fungi that are of interest, throwing in a little
handful from bio-organics or one of the other fungal purveyors would fix
that. I don't think I would pay $32, either Canadian or U.S. dollars,
for a product which, it is plain to see, is about 99.9% or so Candian
spaghnum peat moss, which, BTW, is a wonderful soil amendment if there
ever was one.Best Rgds and Apologies to the Mixmakers, Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA
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Thomas Olenio
Ontario, Canada
Hardiness Zone 6a