GardenBanter.co.uk - Germination and growinh light & heat boxes

I am gathering and selecting alder seeds now to grow and to graft next
year, 2011, onto the spurs of adult trees which will carry the cones
and catkins of the year beyond, 2012. I tried this last year, one of
the problems that seeds germinated on the windowsill don't start
growing til February and by the time the need to be grafted onto the
adult trees they are only a millimetre in diameter against the 3 mm of
the spurs of the adult trees. I want to close this gap by starting the
seeds growing SOON in light and heat.

The obvious thing to do is to germinate the seeds earlier so that
they grow bigger, and I really have to start growing them soon.

For that you need heat and light. I went to a local shop which sold
this kind of thing, I got the feeling that it was really for cannabis
growing, and when I took my daughters, far more street-wise than me,
they said, "Yes Daddy, it IS for growing cannabis!" That shop has shut
down now. I went round garden centres, and described what I wanted,
and they said they had taken such boxes off the shelves on police
instructions.

So where can I get light boxes for germinating and growing my seeds?
Or can you tell me how to build one? Fluorescent strip lights are
easily available, what power do I need and what spacing should they be
at? This will not be in a garage, it will be in my kitchen, so warmth
will not be a problem, indeed because of the heat output of the lamps
I may need cooling, and I will water the boxes daily.

(I am keeping the seeds in sealed-strip plastic bags (with a
kind of tongue and groove sealer strip across the top) in a
kitchen fridge with a strip of paper or card in the bag with
one drop of water on it to stop the seeds from drying out.
So I think they are probably germination-ready.)

The question I want answered is where do I buy or how can I make,
germination-and-growing boxes? Indeed, what are they CALLED?

Michael Bell

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