Protecting Seedlings

[Garf]

I have no need for protection from the cold. I am in Miami, Florida. The growing season here is winter, so I need to start seed in the last part of summer, with temp in the 90's and a lot of rain. Most of my starts were destroyed. I have to start seed outside, so I need some sort of shelter for the starts and small seedlings. I need ideas.

[wmontanez]

Do you need to protect them from the rain? I grew up in the Caribbean and also had to run to cover my fragile seedlings outdoor and also they used to literaly drown sometimes. I would suggest a type of mesh 1/8 or 1/4 in that would scatter the rain dropplets as a cover and eventually 2 trenches along the sides of the elevated rows so the water has a way to get flowing away from the plants when they are little to avoid drowning. Hope this helps!

I don't know if this will help with growing seedlings from seed, but it helped me grow plants from cuttings in 105 degree heat and bright sunlight.

I had been trying to root cuttings, but the bright sun would simply fry them before they could form roots. I had a couple of screen doors I removed when I replaced a door. They are simply aluminum frames with screen cloth in the frame. I estimate the cloth cuts the sunlight by 30%. I lean them over a bed at about a 45 degree angle and grow under the screen. I think the screen will also help prevent torrential rain from beating the seedlings to death. In my case, one screen still didn't cut out enough light, so I put a second screen over the first and it worked perfect.

You can often purchase used sliding screen doors at places like "Habitat For Humanity" resale stores. They receive a lot of building materials both used and new. Much of it is used to build new homes, but a lot of the used materials like toilets, sinks, doors, windows, and other items are simply sold to support their mission.

Ted

[amideutch]

You can make a cold frame out of wood and paint it white. Use plexiglass for the top and attach to hinges. You can cover with a piece of shade cloth (60-70%) or paint the plastic with water base white paint like the commercial green house folks do. Then make a 3" or 4" hole on each end covered with screen cloth to get cross flow ventilation in the seed bed in addition to having the hinged top propped open or closed during heavy rains. Size will depend on how many plants you want to start. Ami