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Germinating Seedlings in the Flex Micro (Part 3 of 6)

Part 3 of 6: How to manage the humidity dome and pump timer for the first 14 to 21 days

After seeding and labeling your trays, your seedlings hold in the Flex Micro for typically 14 to 21 days, and your herbs run longer than that. Your trays arrive misted, drained of excess water, and covered with a humidity dome. Keep your Flex Acre on its usual weekly cadence while your nursery runs, and follow Flex Acre Maintenance Schedule on its normal days.

Setting your Covered Trays into the Flex Micro

  • Confirm the humidity dome is seated over every tray.
  • Set each covered tray into the Flex Micro.
  • Confirm the labeling tape on every tray still shows the crop type, the amount, and the planting date.
  • Leave the humidity domes on your lettuce seeds for 5 to 7 days.
  • Check your trays for germination each day.

The dome holds moisture around your seeds while they germinate. The 5 to 7 day window applies to your lettuce, and for every crop it is germination rather than the calendar that ends the dome stage.

Removing the Humidity Dome

  • Judge germination across the whole tray, not one corner.
  • Remove the humidity dome once your seeds have germinated across about 90 percent of the tray.
  • Log the germination check-off against that tray.
  • Leave the dome off for the rest of your seedlings' time in the Flex Micro.

CAUTION: LEAVING THE HUMIDITY DOME ON AFTER 90 PERCENT GERMINATION BUILDS MOISTURE ON PLANT SURFACES AND CAUSES DISEASE. REMOVE THE DOME AT THE GERMINATION MILESTONE, NOT ON A SET DATE.

Dome removal is the one call in your nursery you cannot take back, so record the date it happens. Follow the steps in Logging your Flex Acre Tasks & Readings for where that entry goes.

Confirming your Pump Timer

  • Confirm the pump timer on your Flex Micro is set to flood once every 12 hours, or 2 times per day.
  • Reset the timer to 2 floods per day if the schedule has drifted.
  • Keep the water level in your Flex Micro above the top of the pump.

Letting the water level fall below the top of the pump voids your warranty. Check the timer on the same daily walk as your germination check, so a stopped timer never costs you more than one flood cycle.

Holding Leafy Greens in the Flex Micro

  • Read the planting date off the labeling tape on the tray.
  • Keep your leafy greens, including lettuce, in the Flex Micro for typically 2 weeks from that planting date.
  • Move the tray on to transplant at the end of that window.

NOTE: THE 2 WEEK HOLD FOR GREENS AND YOUR SOFTWARE'S 21 DAY TRANSPLANT READY ALERT DO NOT MATCH. CONFIRM YOUR GREENS HOLD TIME WITH OUR SUPPORT TEAM BEFORE YOU MOVE A GREENS TRAY.

Holding Herbs in the Flex Micro

  • Read the planting date off the labeling tape on the tray.
  • Keep your herbs, including basil, in the Flex Micro for typically 3 to 4 weeks from that planting date.
  • Move the tray on to transplant at the end of that window.

Your two crops do not come out together. Read the labeling tape before you move any tray, as a lettuce tray and an herb tray sown on the same day are ready weeks apart. Your herb window runs to the 28 day transplant alert your software fires for herbs, so an herb tray stays in the Flex Micro after your greens have gone to the wall.

NOTE: BOTH WINDOWS ARE COUNTED FROM THE PLANTING DATE ON YOUR TRAY LABEL, NOT FROM THE DAY THE HUMIDITY DOME CAME OFF.

Your seedlings are now ready to leave the Flex Micro—well done! Continue to Preparing your Flex Acre for Transplant Day (Part 4 of 6) for next steps.