My trays

This is pretty ingenious even if I do say so myself.  When I started growing mass quantities of seedlings (for a non-commercial, non-greenhouse owner), I needed something more than the average set up found in home improvement stores or seed catalogs.  Pictures are from several years ago when I constructed my trays.

I took a sheet of plywood and some 1x4's to make the base for the tray.

Drilled a hole in the corner for drainage purposes.

Bought a whole bunch of pond liner.  Boy was that stuff heavy.

Laid the pond liner over the tray, tucked the corners, and stapled the liner to the top edges of the tray.

Staples along the top edge so that the base and sides of the tray are still waterproof.

Cut out the circle in the pond liner for the drain.



Two trays set up on saw horses.  I purchased seed trays in bulk.

Mixing up my soil and moistening it.

Trimmed the pond liner, and nailed a strip of wood to the top edge to give my trays a nice finished look.  One tray filled with soil and seeds, covered in saran wrap for germination (several years ago).

I can bottom water my seed trays, and let the excess water drain out into a bucket.

Standard drainage plug in my tray. 

My current setup- "The Bubble."  The trays are on sawhorses, and there are thick moving blankets that are attached to the trays to form a skirt all around. Underneath is a space heater.  On the right, under the painters plastic bubble, the temperature is kept at a toasty 80 degrees.  On the left are the seeds that require cool temperatures for germination. 

Not exactly the prettiest of setups, but it was done on a paupers budget with materials we had on hand, and IT WORKS!  I do have a little plastic greenhouse that we'll get out when the temperatures consistently stay above freezing.  My dream is to one day have a REAL greenhouse- a HUGE one. (Anyone want to donate to the cause?) ;-)