# Homemade flat seeder.



## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

The thread on float trays at: http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=311846 speaks about a Lexan seeding device which leads me to this question:

Have any of you ever made or thought about making a vacuum flat seeder, crude but similar to commercial greenhouse ones in principal?

A solid sheet of Plexiglass, thin Masonite, etc. would have small holes drilled into it corresponding to the tray cells you are using. A backing with small air gap would be applied with a small hose providing a vacuum source. The hose would have a valve in it for turning on and turning off the vacuum supply. Think along the lines of homemade peg board only with correct hole positioning. Correctly drilling in Masonite so that it doesn't fuzz would be key to its use.

The device would be lowered into a shallow tray containing seed and the vacuum would be turned on. The tray would need to be tilted from end to end and from side to side to ensure each vacuum port was holding a seed. I believe that commercial units have a vibrator to bounce the seeds around ensuring that every port gets a seed. Holding the device upside down over a catch tray and pouring seed over it might be simpler. That would allow visually knowing the unit was fully loaded. 

Once loaded with seed the device would be placed over the flat with soil in place and the vacuum would be turned off. Commercial units use a puff of air to ensure seed drop. For very tiny seed that might stick to the ports that air puff might also be needed with a homemade version. Static cling for tiny seed might also be a problem. 

Once the seed is in place finish the tray as you normally would, i.e. add soil (soilless mix, whatever) over the seed, water, etc.

The difficulty would arise in producing the correct size of port. Too large and tiny seed would lodge in them. Too small and there might not be enough vacuum to hold large seed in place during the transfer.

Supplying the correct amount of vacuum without having too much would probably be the greatest problem. First thoughts are for using a hand held Dirt Devil vacuum which because of size would have limited vacuum volume. One might also recycle a refrigerator or freezer compressor and use the vacuum side of it to pull vacuum into a larger accumulating tank ultimately leading to the device.

Something for tinkerers to think about this winter if they do a lot of flat seeding and dislike placing all of those tiny seed by hand into each cell.

What are your thoughts for producing such? Would a homemade unit work at all? Welcome or feasible if you sow a lot of flats? Would you rather do it by hand? Design tweaks such as guides that hold it directly over the proper cell area. Color of unit to visually allow checking for loading?

While I don't think I have enough use to justify building one it is fun to think about. Maybe a Mother Earth News project that you would get paid to build.


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## T-Bone 369 (Jan 18, 2007)

Interestingly I have been toying with this idea. We use 288's for starter trays - I have been using a curved set of forcepts to plant them but that gets a little tedious. I had the opportunity to tinker with one of the comercial units this spring and get some ideas into my head. My thinking was very much along the lines of what you are thinking. I was thinking about using two peices of lexan - one drilled for the seed and one as a back up plate with a screened air chamber between. Some where I found a chart with the size holes for different seed types given by drill bit sizes. The drilled plate would be removable so that a different one could be mounted for different seed. I think any vacume could be used to power the operation but a valve to control the air flow would be needed (I can just see sucking up medium from the tray and cloging the entire operation). My intention was to build a small mock up this fall after putting the farm to bed to serve as a test bed and play around with - if it works than I plan on having a full sized version ready by spring (like I am so fond of saying it's on my list - along with a hundred other projects). If you get something up and running I sure would like to see some pics.


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## Stephen in SOKY (Jun 6, 2006)

My little mind has been churning over something along these lines using a vacuum: http://www.gro-morent.com/wandseeder.htm The replacement tip sets are available so sizing to the seed wouldn't be such a bother.


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Stephen in SOKY said:


> My little mind has been churning over something along these lines using a vacuum:


Looks quite usable and rather low tech. No valve, just a finger over a hole.

Would be easy to make something along those lines. Piece of pipe with tapped holes in it to accommodate grease zerks that have the ball drilled out.

Where's an old refrigerator to donate a vacuum pump when you want one?

T-Bone 369 if I do work on a unit I will post photos.


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## Marcia in MT (May 11, 2002)

We use one of the commercial seeders, and I LOVE it. It's a very bottom-of-the-line, hands-on piece of equipment. No fancy stuff: The seed goes on top of the tray, I shake it to distribute the seed into every hole, the excess is dumped off into a wallpaper-type trough, the unit is turned over onto the flat, a slide cuts off the vacuum without having to shut off the motor, and I bang on the bottom with an old screwdriver to make sure all the seed falls. The bottom box is made of Lexan or something very similar (has taken a lot of screwdriver banging over the years without showing a thing), and the pierced top is made of aluminum.

We have quite a few tops to accommodate all the different seeds we sow and for the 4 different types of plug flats we use. It can get pricey pretty quickly.

There is another unit also vacuum driven, that consists of a wand with different tips for different sizes of seed. It sows one row at a time rather than a whole flat. If we weren't doing so many flats, I'd look into one of these units.

We also have a hand-held vibrating seeder from Gro-Mor. It's very useful for extremely fine seed or sowing things in clumps. If I didn't have a wheeled seeder, I'd be tempted to take it out into the garden.

I think that while it would be interesting and fun for a tinkerer to put together a vacuum seeder, growers should investigate other options, too. As one poster mentioned, there are going to be issues with hole size, deburring of holes, and vacuum strength regulation, among others.


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## Stephen in SOKY (Jun 6, 2006)

Here's another alternative that could be used for float or conventional trays:http://tobacco.tennessee.edu/research/poorboy.html Might make a good winter time project.


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## Windy in Kansas (Jun 16, 2002)

Sure sounds like an easy solution to planting really small seed. I had no idea tobacco seed was so small. No wonder it is pelleted. Wonder what size turnip seed is?

About the finest seed I've ever worked with was flower seed. I don't remember what kind it was but it was indeed very small.

Thanks for posting those instructions.


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## Stephen in SOKY (Jun 6, 2006)

Turnips, Seven Tops at least, are at least twice & perhaps three times the size of a raw tobacco seed. Sowing old fashion in the ground tobacco plant beds was almost an art.


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