Water Tomatoes;)

My tomatoes survived 5 sunny days without watering thanks to my tray-in-tray solution. They were just dipped in water all the time. When I came yesterday it was high time to refill the water. I noticed also that their roots were hanging below the tray bottom like some seaweed. It happened because they had grown very long during those 5 days and went out through holes that are in the bottom the the tray. I pulled them up carefully and put all the roots in the cubes tray. Some of roots ends broke and I hope it did not cause shock to the plants and does not affect their growth. So far they look strong. 

I am impressed how fast seeds sprout in the propagation cubes and how fast roots grow. It happens much faster than in a regular soil. On the other hand though the whole process needs too much attention. Growing plants in regular pots with soil maybe is not so effective and it takes longer time for seeds to sprout but they really need only regular watering (not too often).

Now I try to keep the water level not too high so it only reaches the bottom of the tray. The cubes absorb water very well so they stay moist. 

Long roots of the plants

Tomatoes one month after sowing

Next step will be transplanting my tomatoes to bigger pots. I am looking forward to doing it.  

Keeping Propagation Cubes Moist For a Long Time

I experimented with my "tray in tray" idea and it worked out. I put the tray with the propagation cubes in a bigger tray that I used to use to propagate plants in previous years. I filled the bigger one with water. The water level was as high as it could almost reach the cubes tray surface. Thanks to that the cubes stayed very moist. My tomatoes grow on the south facing windowsill which has a radiator underneath so water evaporates quite fast. This is important to keep sprouting seeds in warmth because it speeds up this process. Unfortunately these conditions caused the drought problem and my cubes with tomatoes used to get dry so often. I was afraid that the water from the container would evaporate too quickly but after 24 hours its level did not go down too much. I did not see any signs of fungus and plants look healthy in their "sponges". They even seem to like these conditions;) I had a little problem with fitting the smaller tray into the bigger one because the bigger one was not wide enough. At the end I suspended the smaller tray between two walls of the bigger one hoping that it would stay in a horizontal position. I will see what happens after a week and will write about it...

Underwater view

Tray in tray