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Lodi, California

You may have seen the seed hot tub I made in my diary last year. It's a submersible water heating element mounted inside a water cooler, with a thermostat to monitor the temperature. It worked great, and yielded a pretty high germination rate for me. The warmer water would rise to the top and the colder water would be on the bottom, but this wasn't really an issue since I would float the seeds in baggies on the surface of the pool.

The cheap heating element I used was getting a bit corroded after using it about 30 times, so I was looking for a new heating element when I came across this: an immersion sous vide water heater. Sous Vide is a method of slow cooking where you submerse food, like a steak, in the water in vacuum sealed plastic at low temperatures (~135 degrees) for a long period of time. I thought this heater would be perfect for germinating seeds, because it goes all the way down to 68 degrees, is capable of being set to half a degree (ie 87.5 degrees), and has a water circulator to ensure consistent temperature.

Here's the link:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08S316BZ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

Just wanted to share this so other people could consider this option for starting their seeds. It should make it stupid easy to get the best possible germination once you dial in the temperature. I'll give it a try and report back here how it works.

2/23/2023 4:26:58 PM

Chapel Hill, NC

If I but it, it will not only germinate my seeds, but also cook my dinner!

2/23/2023 6:49:41 PM

Massachusetts

I have had a sous vide cooker for a couple of years. It is an awesome device and I have never prepared a perfect steak or slow-cooked brisket like I can with the sous vide cooker. It is a precision circulator that can hold temperature to .5 degrees. Overkill for seed germination? probably but someone should try it (Ashton). Keep in mind that sous vide is french for "under vacuum" and maintaining temperature with food requires the food be sealed in a plastic bag and all air removed. Don't know whether seeds would like that.

2/23/2023 8:44:33 PM

Syracuse, NY

Per my own experimentation with that in my diary in 2019, my firm belief is that they like to sprout in a mostly air-removed environment, so maybe a vacuum is even more suitable.
If utilized, the towel-to-squeeze-out method is advisable.
http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=301530

eg

2/23/2023 8:55:11 PM

Lodi, California

In my water bath I just put them in a paper towel in a plastic bag. As long as the environment is consistently warm they should be good

2/23/2023 9:06:38 PM

Lodi, California

Jonah just as long as you don't cook your seeds and germinate your dinner by user error!

2/23/2023 9:09:02 PM

Lodi, California

One issue that just came to mind is that you might not be able to run it continuously for several days. I'll have to look into it

2/23/2023 9:10:13 PM

Lodi, California

I just looked it up, this particular model will do up to 100 hours, which is perfect

2/23/2023 9:11:34 PM

Syracuse, NY

Fine, then, don't lol---eg

2/23/2023 11:38:51 PM

Syracuse, NY

In re-reading, you are correct but you can try it with both ways and simultaneously try it for all of us as part of your test - or not, that's okay, just suggesting; plus, that temperature accuracy is impressive---eg

2/24/2023 12:00:03 AM

Grittyville, WA

Bubba kindly pointed out that AG's dont need anything fancy, as long as the seeds arent too old room temperature is sufficient.

But yeah, the gourds would appreciate being placed in a sauna. Sounds perfect for gourds.

2/24/2023 12:17:39 AM

Lodi, California

Well for some people room temperature is 40 degrees, and if you have high value seeds you want to find the best method of germinating them. I'm trying to maximize germination rate, so I'll give this a try. Just thought this was interesting and wanted to share

2/24/2023 11:44:45 AM

Lodi, California

You can also cook food with it when you aren't germinating seeds,so that's a bonus. I'm personally excited to cook eggs. I think around 145 degrees is where they come out a bit runny.

On the vacuum situation: the reason you do that is because air is a good insulator, and it can prevent heat penetrating evenly. However, most of the time you cook food in sous vide for less than 3-4 hours. For seeds, there's much more time for the temperature to equalize, plus the temperature differential is much smaller since we'd only set it to about 85 degrees. So yeah sucking out the air might be mildly beneficial, but I think it would make an extremely minimal difference.

2/24/2023 11:55:00 AM

Western NY

If you're already getting good germination on seeds that should be germinating, I wouldn't overcomplicate it.

2/24/2023 11:59:28 AM

Lodi, California

However I think I'd want to submerse the baggies in the water, in which case I would have to suck out the air

2/24/2023 12:01:54 PM

Lodi, California

Andy the idea is that this would make it really simple and consistent. Heat mats have heat spots, and it's hard to get a good reading on the temperature of the seed. I think this would make it really simple

2/24/2023 12:03:21 PM

Western NY

My setup is an old beer cooler (50 qt maybe) - half full with warm water. Float the seeds in a container. Drain out a little water in the morning, and add some hot water to warm it up a little. Cheap and effective.

2/24/2023 1:17:16 PM

Upa Creek, Mo

There is no right way. My set up for years has been a foil hut held together by duct tape with a foil roof I can slide back and forth to control the heat depending on inside house temps. The hut is placed on an old heat mat that stays consistent. It is a Macgyver set up, but fail proof.

2/24/2023 1:44:45 PM

Lodi, California

Andy that's very similar to my setup, except I have a water heater and a thermostat

2/24/2023 2:26:18 PM

Grittyville, WA

I get too cold at 40... 50-80 works for me lol. Good post Ashton it might help someone.

2/24/2023 2:32:05 PM

Syracuse, NY

Just to be clear on the air removal, there is no sucking out of any air - it can be squeezed out and I hear you about a minimal difference. A simple placing of the ZipLoc on a table with the Zip edge sticking out from under a folded 2-4X towel with a solid flat thing on top of that; Push down and Zip, concurrently, not really simultaneously. Ever done something you think no one ever has?
Yeeeaaahhh!!!
Done, and as air-free as I have ever seen without a pump of some sort. (this was for anyone else whom, including myself,
is excited to cook eggs -
I LOVE my omelettes! It's the simple things!)
G'luck, y'all---eg

PS---I won't continue to be an annoying fly - It's just...Little Kins and I were (Well, just I was) getting lonely in Seed Starting, lol---
eg, err, Egg---eg

2/24/2023 4:56:04 PM