Okay, I know everyone has their favorite way of doing things. For me I have many crosses 5 seeds+ and some long crosses with 200+ seeds this year.. so I wanted a way to economically germinate them in sterile media (not a baggie). The whole baggie thing does not work for me with so many seeds... i don't want to be under the gun and i dont want to disturb seedlings until they have real roots and 2 or 3 actual leaves. At that point my intention is to transplant into soil using deep 1020 inserts (36 per flat... 1 seed per cell)... AND then when the time is right put them in the ground. Sowing seeds direct into the 1020 36 cell flats requires expensive humidity domes or goofing around with saran wrap... not for me... high costs and high labor will lead me to drink.. more than I should. Plus I really only want to plant them into cells once they germinate.... i dont need wasted space in flats where seeds do not germinate... and plugging those holes with new seedlings introduces labeling issues... who needs seedling Vampire Lady x Heavenly New Frontiers in the middle of Pirahana Appocolypse x Edvinas Misiukevicius? haha I mean we all do... but it would be better if they had separate growing areas.
I have searched and searched and searched, and found three options that seemed viable (1) the roasted chicken plastic containers (like costco chickens are sold in.... nice domes.. a little expensive and a little large... have more space for leaves than roots... not a bad option at all). (2) Berry containers like in the grocery story (have vents on top and bottom so need drainage and venting is very easy.. they are not very tall), (3) living lettuce containers (7x7... nice size... equal root and leaf space... cheap... 100% recycled PETE).
I have opted for the living lettuce containers.... they are the perfect size to germinate 36 seeds (a flat's worth). They are 7" x 7" x 5 1/4" tall dividers can be used in the shape of a cross allowing for 4 crosses in one box.... and each side can be labeled with a marker as needed. The lids can be loosely placed on top, or securely... or they can be opened. I figure... worth a shot. The prices vary a great deal... you can get them for pennies if you want a zillion of them an order off of alibaba in China.... but in the USA a case of 420 seems to range from $73.50 to $150... I just placed an order.
I opted to pay the $73.50 plus $24 shipping... the case is 40lbs....
Let the experiment begin.
If anyone else has similar needs.. this is where i ordered:
https://producepackaging.com/s...