Chicken bald back

[Valkyrie]

Well it's here already and I only ordered it yesterday morning!!! I went to check on my little pots yesterday and take the added fleecy blanket off the top so that the sun could get cracking and eh? No condensation. Alarm bells rang whoop whoop whoop! Felt inside and only one little area of the base was slightly warm. Now I had been nosing around on this website for ages - even before I'd sown my seeds I mentioned to hubby that wow look at this! And it was met with a positive response. I didn't think I'd need replacing mine so soon! But I suppose 10 years is a good innings for my old ones. So yesterday morning I tried to get hold of hubby on the phone with no luck - I thought I'd run it by him first and then thought oh blow it! Executive decision and happy birthday to me yet again! I have more than the Queen now.

 

And just to make sure I have covered all bases, I ordered the double length and double height. Now he did go "eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!" or similar when he found out, but he's OK with it really. The fact that it had a good best buy review in different reports sort of clinched the deal. So now my little babes are going to be fully thermostatically pampered!

 

http://www.harrodhorticultural.com/vitopod-heated-propagator-pid7821.html

[Bramble]

Wow, that looks an amazing propagator!!! If you've got any spare room in there, I'll pop round with some of my seeds, if that's ok!?!?

[Valkyrie]

It's HUGE! Bring 'em round! I shall only take up a little corner at this rate! A tad bigger than I thought - I knew it was going to be big. But when those little toms are potted on then it will come into it's own. I've screwed all the bits together and just having a spot of lunchipoos before playing with the thermostat. A good video on Youtube has helped me go ahaaaaaaa!

 

At the moment my other old propagator is trundling away and happily created condensation so I know it's warm in there. But the exact temp and whoo hoo! I've already promised our postie some toms. He said "what's a propagator?" So he had the blow by blow run down of what they do. His news was that he and his other half have a new puppy!

[Bramble]

Oooh, when I bring my seeds round, do you think I'll be able to play with Mr Posty's puppy too, or will that be pushing my luck!?!?

[Valkyrie]

I'm sure he'd be delighted! We have a lovely postie. He's just moved in a few houses away. He says he's in the posh area now. I told him to shut his eyes when I open our door - posh we aren't!

[Alis girls]

I'll have 3 at that price (not) - impressive - my seeds are in my little greenhousey thing.

[Valkyrie]

Wow big greenhouse then Ali!

We started off with window cills and boxes with kitchen foil after being in the airing cupboard! Then the cut off fizzy bottle cloches. Then a little slimline window ledge propagator with a plug! Oooooh! Our greenhouse has electricity and my goodness did we realise how much it cost! So it was back to the normal wait until it gets warmer outside. Then we got 2 big propagators with a plug which lasted for something like 10 years or so. Can't complain - the broken one will still make a great drip tray. So we've gradually worked our way up.

I've turned the thermostat down now because the peppers have germinated so it's just gentle heat now.

[sjp]

I stopped heating my greenhouse a long time ago and switched over to heated propagators for the seeds that need a bit extra heat or a bit of frost protection at night and unheated ones for the ones that need a little bit of extra protection then everything else get sown in the unheated greenhouse at the appropriate time for my area of the country so that are at the right stage to plant out in late May or mid May when I pot up my tomatoes and cucumbers

[Valkyrie]

Yup, it's certainly the best way. I've also got a layer of fleece for the night - take it off every morning. I found one year the tomatoes (even in the propagator) got frosted tips of their leaves so added protection. I have used bubble wrap in the past, but it gets so yukky when the rain runs in between the glass (or condensation perhaps) - then the sun bakes it and it gets stuck to the windows. YUK!

[sjp]

is it frost damage or sun scorching on the tomatoes?

[Valkyrie]

It was a bit of both I guess. One year I didn't put the cover on and they were really sad - it was a very thick frost unfortunately. Then they burnt because the wet on the leaves were like magnifying glasses! But that was when they weren't in the propagator and bigger. Either way I've made sure I don't mess up again - fleece will also stop the sun cooking them and provides a bit of shade. Last year I fixed the white fleece up at the window and it was indeed a lovely shade - I felt better working in there while it was up. Rather surprising that!

[sjp]

It was a bit of both I guess. One year I didn't put the cover on and they were really sad - it was a very thick frost unfortunately. Then they burnt because the wet on the leaves were like magnifying glasses! But that was when they weren't in the propagator and bigger. Either way I've made sure I don't mess up again - fleece will also stop the sun cooking them and provides a bit of shade. Last year I fixed the white fleece up at the window and it was indeed a lovely shade - I felt better working in there while it was up. Rather surprising that!

I was thinking about fleece as a sun shade this afternoon as I was tiding up in my greenhouse even with the door and window open I could on stay in there for 15 mins. I've tried scaffold netting in the past with little success, shading paint work well but is a bit pricey and a bit of a pig to do on my main greenhouse so all I need mow is to find the half roll of fleece I've got and figure out the best way to fit it

[Valkyrie]

I thought that the whitewash wasn't any different to white fleece plus easier to remove. I just used the green garden string/twine to keep mine up. At the moment it's lying over the top of the propagators. Which I must now go out and take off and let the rabble out before they wake up the neighbourhood!

 

Otherwise we have green shading material that OH fixes up on the outside, but it's a pain to get over the top and around the windows - the fleece sorts out the big gap.