Propagation trays

[Jzack605]

Anyone have a propagation tray they like? Been doing a lot of cuttings but mostly been using what’s been lying around; cups, old pots, etc.

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

What I don't like about trays is their size. Every cutting gets the same treatment, while I might want them to be treated individually.
So I stick with stuff that's lying around.

I use trays for seedlings. The shallower the better, because that inhibits tap root formation.

 

[Shibui]

I also use trays for seed.
For cuttings 3" diameter plastic pots work best for me. Enough depth for cuttings and to maintain moisture and I can fit around 20 cuttings in that sized pot. Roots out the bottom indicate success and time to pot up cuttings.
Always sanitise used propagation containers before use - hot water or wash in bleach solution. You don't want to start infections before the plants even get started.

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

I use Anderson flats, inside dimension is 16 x 16 x 5 inches, you can buy inserts that are 4 x 4 x 8 inches and fit 16 in a flat, or you can by the 2 x 2 x 4 inserts, which gives you 64 pots in a flat. The Andersons have mesh bottoms, and I often use the flat as a grow out container, holds roughly 3 gallons of potting mix. So I buy them in lots of 50 at a time, so that with shipping the each cost comes down to less than $10 each. They are very rugged, minimal flexing, they do flex, but with a little care you can avoid breaking roots of large individual trees.

Flexing of the container can break fine feeder roots which means if you use soft bags to grow out trees, you have to be careful about moving them around. Killed a nice pine that way once. Only thing that was done was move it around the yard without care to keep the bag from flexing. Dropped a few feet several times, by summer it was dead.

 

[Jzack605]

Yeah the pots just take up so much room and a tray with cells can hold so much more. Plus ability to add a humidity cover. Was looking at some that had deeper cells.

 

[ThirdCoastBorn]

Yeah the pots just take up so much room and a tray with cells can hold so much more. Plus ability to add a humidity cover. Was looking at some that had deeper cells.

I've had reasonable success with seeds this past season in the 32 cell Rootmakers, so I ordered two of their 60 cell ones for cuttings. Cell dimensions are 1.3"x1.25"x3" = 6 cu in. I plan to line the 10x20 tray paired with it with pumice, to keep finer perlite particles from slipping through and then cover with ventable lids from Amazon.

I'm thinking the air pruning will start them off with a strong root system, but ask me in a few weeks Also had picked up some Jiffy brand tray from Lowe's that made claims about the hexagonal shape, but haven't broken in yet either.