Germinating and labeling

Since my yesterday's success, I am going to germinate more seeds to see how that would go.

I bought this compost material, supposed to be quite good. It absorbs and holds water well. I like it.

 

Then I bought some cups from the baking shop, drill some holes to make drainage. Very cheap - 50 pcs for US$2.00.

To label, I wrote the plants name on some strip of paper and then pierce it with tooth picks.

 

Just stick it into the cup. No need to have sticky tape, easy to remove and to view.

I bought some mesh from the nursery the other day. Since I am placing these trays near the windows, I need to protect the seeds from hash sun. So, I covered it up. The trays are actually cookie baking tray - US$1.50/pc.

That's it.

Happy farming.

New Born

I was waking up this morning, still half asleep.

My wife informed me that my plant that had been germinated for 2 days is sprouting.

I immediately rushed out to the living room and I saw this thing. My tomato!!!!! My iPhone camera doesn't do it justice. Isn't that like the most beautiful thing in the world??

I feel like a farmer now. Hahaha.

Happy farming.

New Growbed and Bell Sihpon

Yesterday I made my first growbed. The plastic container I bought from supermarket. Since this is a test model, I didn't get a fancy growbed.

The container is 70cm (L) x 48cm (W) x 32cm (H) = 107.52 litres

I had a 35mm hole saw which is bigger than the OD of the bulkhead (31mm) but I will do some mod to make it fit.

Then fixed the base of stand pipe, and added some sealant to make it watertight.

Then the bottom of the growbed, same treatment.

Update (16 April 2014) : I'm a bit worried that the sealant that I've used may not be the right type. So I'm going to trim the excess and apply another type of sealant over the area around the bulkhead. This type is suitable for Aquarium and should be ok.

Then the stand-pipe:

As you can see, I have the middle section in various lengths so that it allows me to adjust the height of the standpipe.

I also cut the top of the 50mm to 25mm reducer because it was making my 50mm bell too high. You can see the difference in the above picture. I managed to find another type of 50-25 reducer. I will add the picture later.

Update (19 Apr 2014): As you can see in the picture, the 50mm-25mm reducer comes in different shapes and sizes. The white one on the left has a ID of 32mm at the bottom which will fit a 25mm pipe's OD. The grey one on the left has a smaller ID at the bottom. So be careful, better bring a caliper to the hardware shop when you are buying your reducer and bulkhead. The y have to fit your PVC pipes.

Bell Siphon:

Credit goes to Affnan as I follow his: Design of Affnan's Siphoon

I cut a 20 inch 50mm pipe to make 2 pieces of bell.

Then using tile drill bits, I drilled holes around the pipe.

Then cut it into two pieces.

Upside-down view of the bell.

Then I added another pipe which is 110mm to go over the Bell Siphon. (I will add more pictures later.) to prevent hydrotons or gravel blocking the siphon.

Put it together and tested the siphon in my bathroom.

and it works!! YAY!!

P.S. I added a valve outlet in case I need to drain the tank later. However, if I add a sump thank, this may not be necessary. But still it's nice to have options.