by Larry Moore
Starting basil
5:45 pm in Getting Started, made from scratch (without a kit), Plants, questions, Seeking Advice by Larry Moore
I am ready to build my first WF column and I want to start Basil from seed. I am planning to put 2 seeds in a rock wool cube. My questions are;
Can I start the seeds in the WF
How should I put the cubes in the web pots, I will be using clay marbles
Where should the water/nutes drip onto the plants/cube.
Any advice or suggestions would be great. Thank you
You wouldn’t start them in the windowfarm, they are too fragile for that. Just put them in a container on a ledge until they spout and have some roots to work with.
I usually give the plants a good base of clay pellets at the bottom of the net cup and then pile them around the rockwool cube. Don’t dump the clay pellets on a new seedling, this could damage it.
I usually position them so the nutrients hits the side of the rockwool cube, but not directly on the plant. At least until the roots are established, then they will find water in the clay pellets.
Thanks for the feed back. I have gotten real good at starting seedlings but when I put them into my home made ebb and flow they usually die within a month or so. I either over water then under water and soon they are a goner. I think from what I see of the WF method I should have better control over the nutrient feed rate. How often and for how long should they be watered do you think?
I made a little “rockwool” cube out of a dollar store sponge,made a little slit in it and put some sweet basil seeds. Then put it in my window farm v.3. I then surrounded it with hydroton. Watering with a slow constant “trickle” my basil is now ready to harvest and its only been 2 months!
WOW Andrew, That is amazing in only 2 months. What are you using for nutrients? Do you have any pictures of your farm?