Definitely worth a try thats for sure. 😊

It's a real challenge with any home made or green waste compost, you never really know what you are getting, that's why for seeds only, I like the precision of a professional product : All the best - Steve

What tray size, the 40 cell like I use?

What advantage do these have Steve? I'd imagine they'd need frequent watering?

@@SteveRichards two benefits, air pruning the roots and removing time pressure. Whether I use 1.77 inch or 3 inch netcups, they sit in a standard size seed tray (no holes). I can fit 40 x 1.77 inch netcups into a standard size tray and 12 x 3 inch netcups into a standard size tray. When I use the 1.77 inch netcups, I also add some thin wood supports in the tray length ways for each row of netcups (difficult to describe in words). I bottom water the seedlings, simply water the trays and leave. No need to keep on top of adding more water to the trays all the time as once the compost begins to slightly dry out that’s when you get the boost in general root growth and air root growth. The air roots I presume take in more nitrogen from the air, the seedlings put on more leaf growth. From time to time, bottom water the netcups. As there are holes in netcups, roots never get root bound which means I’m no longer under the time pressure of maintaining watering, potting on etc. Previously I would feel under a great deal of pressure to pot on because the seedlings were getting too big for the cell trays. Plants getting stressed. Now, I can wait an extra few weeks, there is a bigger window of when I need to pot on. Most of us aren’t full time gardeners and we don’t have much free time. I use 1 gallon grow bags for larger plants like brassicas, sunflowers, courgettes, cucumbers, pumpkins etc. Most of the time I plant the seedlings from 3 inch netcups straight into the ground. However I grow a lot of seedlings for friends and family and their soil is rubbish, they have slug and other pest issues etc. so I transplant from 3 inch netcups to 1 gallon grow bags, grow bigger plants with bigger root structures so by the time they are planted in their soil, they have the best chance to become prolific no matter how bad the soil or pest pressure is. I sit the grow bags in Garland gravel trays. Water the tray, let the water wick up the fabric sides of the bag. The root mass is amazing by the time you take them out of the bags to be planted. I also use self wicking for sowing small size seeds in ice cream tubs using kitchen tissue as the wicking medium. Cut two thin holes in either end of ice cream tub lid. Put some water in the ice cream tub, turn the lid upside down and place on top of the ice cream tub. Most UK supermarket ice cream tubs are shaped so if you turn the ice cream tub upside down, it sits high up on the ice cream tub. Fold the kitchen tissue (I use two squares) in a fashion so you can poke each end through the thin holes you have cut in the lid so they dangle into the water reservoir. The water will wick up and soak all of the kitchen tissue. Now add a thin layer of seed compost, place seeds on top, cover with a thin layer of seed compost. If you want extra humidity use the top of another ice cream tub and place it on top, however that’s generally not needed as there is plenty of the right amount of moisture provided by the wicking environment. The main benefit of this method of germinating small seeds are as follows. Use a minute amount of seed compost, removes the time pressure of watering, removes the time pressure of potting on and faster germination. When you do pot on, you will have relatively nice long roots which in my case I poke through the holes of the netcups when I transplant. I’m influenced by the late Larry Hall if you want to check out some of his You Tube videos. Self wicking, air pruning and removing time pressure makes gardening more enjoyable, for me anyway. My methods might be a bit OTT but it works for me.

That's absolutely fascinating Steve, thanks so much for taking the time to describe your methods. I have such a well optimised system, I'm loath of change it, but if I did I'd definitely give this a go. Like you I have very little time for gardening, I spend probably less than an hour a week on sowing and growing seedlings and I almost never pot on, so I don't feel the time pressure you do. I do like the idea of your air pruned pots though, especially for the few times that I do pot on : All the best - Steve

@@SteveRichards I don’t have a green house, polytunnel or cold frames so in the early months of the year, there is also a lack of space to grow seedlings hence why I usually prick out seedlings and pot onto 1.77 inch netcups. I introduced that extra step about 6 years ago as I didn’t have enough space in the house for all my trays of 3 inch netcups (12 in a tray), made sense to use 1.77 inch netcups (40 in a tray), until the weather was better to give me the confidence to start potting onto 3 inch netcups and then stick a humidity lid on top (with holes drilled in the sides for air flow) and leave outdoors on the decking to make room indoors for more seedlings. I use 19mm bull dog clips at either end of the trays to stop the wind blowing the tops off. This setup is effectively my mini portable coldframe/greenhouse. It’s a set and forget setup as the humidity lid also stops a lot of water evaporation, again so I don’t have to water the tray so much. Once the sun gets too hot, obviously take the lids off, no more chance of frost. In an ideal world I would prick out straight into 3 inch netcups but have a lack of space. I dedicate a small room in my house as a germination, seedling station. Built shelves which I can slide in 1200 x 600 led ceiling panel lights. I chose 45 watt ones as those were the least powered ones I could find to save on electricity. That’s been working well for years. Not trying to encourage you to change your ways, always best to stick to tried and tested techniques as a growing season in the UK is too short, can’t afford for things to go wrong else that’s the season over, but for me, half the enjoyment of gardening is experimentation. I love to try new concepts and challenge my way of thinking. Any marginal gains in optimising the reduction of time, space, water and pest pressure is a good thing for home gardeners.

That's what I love about gardening so many ways to do it and achieve great results, it does frustrate me when 'famous' gardeners push one style of gardening and one set of perfect dates to do things. Anyway I digress, I love the way you've optimised this. For me - set and forget - is the last thing on my mind when I'm gardening, I revel in watching the daily progress, so I want to be surrounded by my seedlings as much as possible and I love the 5-10 minutes a day I spend watering. MY grow lights are above my bedroom wardrobe and in the conservatory, so I can enjoy the light and the view. Where you are trying to keep your young plants in your netcups for as long as possible, I'm always trying to get them in the ground and giving me a harvest, so we can eat fresh every week of the year. On our allotment site we have 4 really great growers and they are all so different, it's wonderful : All the best - Steve

I now have a full set of all of the containerwise products and I'm trialling them now, I will be making a video with my thoughts in 4-6 weeks : All the best - Steve

lol, why's that?