Anne's new grafting set-up 11-1-13

[aclum]

Hi Everyone,

I realize all this is probably overkill - esp. as Delerium has come up with a grafting technique that apparently doesn't even require a healing chamber , but I love to "tinker" with things and have been trying to come up with a more traditional set-up based on Cary Rivard's (from NC State and KC State) techniques found on the web. I like to make things out of things I can scrounge up around our house and garage - and spend as little as possible. It's sort of combination of "Mr Wizard" and "Junk Yard Wars" (for those of you old enough to remember those shows). Not pretty but it (generally) works.

Overall my grafting healing chamber consists of the main healing chamber - seed tray with humidity dome, a waterproof heating pad, a CVS Ultrasonic Personal Humidifier, a breathing tube (for CO2), a fresh air fan, a chiller, a darkness cover, a digital timer, and an electronic temperature controller.

My brother and I put together the electronic temperature controller using a $20 (including Shipping) STC-1000 dual electronic controller with relay. The particular one we got happens to be just in centigrade. For the project box, I found an old plastic index card box (still had the 49 cent label on top!!) and a couple of dual electrical sockets in the garage. For the power cord, I used a section of one of the many computer power cords we've accumulated over the years. For the wiring, I cannibalized a very old computer power source. There are a total of 4 wall sockets or outlets on the back. 2 are for hot and 2 are for cold. The hot is hooked up to the heating pad. The cold socket has a small night table lamp in one outlet and my "chiller" in the other. So when the light goes on I know that the chiller is also on. You set a "set temp" and then a plus minus range. So I might set the temp for 25C plus or minus 1 degree C.

I've got two photos of this - front end and back.

Then I've got a photo of my fresh air fan set-up. It's made of a small fan I had around, the cut off top of a plastic beer or root beer bottle - held together with cable ties. I've got some 1/2" PVC components to link the unit to the healing chamber when needed It's manually controlled with a line or cord switch.

I made my chiller out of an old computer fan that happens to fit perfectly into a plastic seedling pot I had around. I found an old 12 V DC to 110 AC power adapter and we cut off the plug end and wired it to the fan. The main body is another plastic bottle that again, happens to fit about perfectly, onto the end of the seedling pot. I just used clear tape to join the two and make it pretty much air tight. In the center is a hole to accommodate a bottle or can filled with ice. My brother is learning crocheting and had made a "coke-can cozy" that was perfect for the top of the bottle to slow down the ice melting. The end of the bottle has snug PVC fittings at the end that lead to the healing chamber. I also have a cut section of plastic left over from my fresh air fan bottle, that I can use to cover the hole for the ice bottle, if that's necessary for some reason.

I've got a photo of how both the fan and chiller can fit onto the chamber at one, but right now, I'm not using the fan (any open holes are fitted with rubber stoppers).

Then I've got some photos of the electronics area and a pic showing the humidifier tube lifted off temporarily so that the chamber can be opened, I also have a photo of everything set up for a dry run. Included in the photo is a breathing tube (plugged when not in use), to blow some CO2 rich air into the chamber a couple times a day.

Then I've got some photos of the cuttings I harvested for grafting, the new grafts in the chamber, and, finally (I think) the whole thing covered. The grafts will be in darkness for 2 days but I'll be peeking in the assess their condition and humidity requirements.

My only purchases were the humidifier (on sale for $15), the STC-1000 controller ($20) and the digital timer ($10-15). The whole set-up is in our family room where we spend most of our time and right now, the heating pad and chiller are cycling on and off about every every 20 minutes to half hour or so. I've got it set to 25 plus or minus 1.

I still want to get a temperature and humidity meter I can read from the outside (oh, forgot to mention, my SCT-1000 probe is poked into small hole I created in the center of the dome with a soldering iron - and the main control unit reads out the current temp, but would like to know the humidity inside without peeking in).

Guess that's about all for now. Whew! Hope I haven't made too many typos or screwed up my photos!

In about a week I'll report back on how the chamber works out in practice.

Anne

[JamesL]

Anne,
Very cool! I love your ingenuity.

[rwsacto]

Anne,

You are really getting into this.

Mr. Goldberg is very proud of you. (and I am too!)

Rick

[Salsacharley]

Now there is some serious engineering! You and your brother should feel great satisfaction from building that unit. I hope you get great performance out of it.

Charley

[aclum]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the comments!

Here are some new photos of the "refinements" I made, my new "shade dome," and the general state of the grafts.

Some changes I've made include adding valves for the "chiller" and its fan and arranging things so that the fan blows on the dropping cold air towards the center of the chamber so I don't have a cold spot on one poor plant. I plan the same sort of thing for the fogger, replacing the breathing tube with the fan shown (still have to find a power source) and running the fan through an elbow when I run the fogger. As you can see, I've made a little box "caddy" for my 2 bottles so they're quite a bit more stable. I also put together the shade dome. The main covering is that rubbery mesh type mat for shelving, etc. and the second layer is just some black fiberglass window screen material I had around.

Since I closed our window near the set-up and turned the house thermostat down a degree, the chiller rarely cycles on - so I've been closing the values when it's not being used. I can tell when it does come on when the little lamp lights up.

I've got 2 domes, so when it's time to change out, I just remove the dome attachments (they all just lift out of the holes), remove the "dark" dome,put on the shade dome, and replace the fixtures.

I didn't have the right materials (like threaded pipe and nuts) to secure the pvc elbows so that they don't fall out when changing domes, so I used a bit of electrical tape to make for a tighter fit and used tomato clips in 1/2" pvc pipe. Works fine!

First, I've got a photo of the little fan for the fogger awaiting a power source.

Then I've got a photo of the whole "dark" set-up. The covering is a 30 Gal Hefty cinch-sack trash bag with holes for the fittings cut in the top.

Next a photo with the black plastic lifted up showing the grafts (that had recently been fogged) and the fittings inside the dome. Except for occasional peeks, the grafts had been in total darkness for 48 hrs.

Then a detail of the grafts - one of them (without a clip) is not actually a graft (ran out of rootstock materials) but just a cutting, which I guess sort of serves as a control. All the grafts, BTW, were done doing the "Delerium No Root" method.

The grafts wilted a bit the first day, but they've popped back up and doing much better so far than my usual grafts (knock on wood!!). I've sort of been randomly breathing CO2 into the chamber and turning on the fogger (not at the same time) during the day.

According to the schedule I have, if all is going well, I remove the fiberglass screen from the dome and just do the fogger a couple of times tomorrow. Then day after tomorrow, I replace the shade dome with a clear dome and discontinue the fogger. Then gradually vent more often and increase light until maybe day 7 when they should all be healed. Fingers crossed that things continue to progress well!

Oh, almost forgot.... I was looking online for an indoor/outdoor humidity monitor so I could tell what was going on with the chamber without peeking in or lifting the cover, and since it wasn't THAT much more, I went ahead and ordered a little digital humidity controller. It that functions like our temperature one, only for humidity.

Anne

[aclum]

A P.S......

Although the electronic controllers seem a bit extravagant (at least for my budget - have to save some money for seeds), they are multi-purpose for us. They are also used for sous vide cooking and cheese and sausage making - which we have been known to indulge in .

Anne

[Worth1]

Wild!!

Great stuff.

Now I dont feel so crazy about my idea of using small Bombay Sapphire Gin bottles for low voltage lighting along my driveway with blue LED's inside.
I have dozens of them from all of my plane rides home.
Worth

[aclum]

LOL Worth!

I love your gin bottle lighting idea - so unassuming and quaint yet sophisticated at the same time (sort of like a fine wine )! Seriously, it does sound cool and actually quite beautiful - blue's my favorite color (although the thought of gin sort of makes me want to vomit due to one bad experience years ago ).

While I'm writing, I'll post a couple more photos.... this time of the new fogger fan. I found a power source, and decided on a less clumsy design using a smaller fan and the bottom of one of the plastic bottles I'd used in the chiller set up. As you can see, I attached the fan to the bottle base using rubber bands held in place by the fan guard screws. Due to the grooves in the bottom of the bottle, they stay in place (wouldn't work as well with a regular bottle).

Anne

[Delerium]

Some serious grafting gear you have there Anne! How is your fall garden coming along? So i have been playing with trying to graft Cauliflower/Broccoli and as far as i can tell it worked as far as the graft healing. Now the question is - how well will they produce. Since we all love grafting i thought I'd mention it here in case you want to try it. Oh right next to the cauli/broc's is one of the 40+ tomato plants i have grafted without any grafting equipment. See the potato leaf / Regular leaf combo. Anyhow i planted the Broc/Cauli grafts outside and so far they look okay. Can update you again later if your interested.

[aclum]

Hi Delerium,

Yeah, I'm sort of compulsive/obsessive about this grafting thing - if you know what I mean (and I think you do ). Yes, please do keep everyone updated on your grafting projects. The broccoli/cauliflower combination sounds interesting - if it works it'll be one huge plant! Your combo tomato graft is looking good. As I mentioned in our private messaging, I think I've figured out at least part of you new "no grafting equipment" procedure. Soon I'll run a comparision between that and my "chamber grafts."

The fall garden's doing great with the exception of a couple of plants. I'll post photos to my fall garden thread later today.

In the meantime.....

Here's the latest on my experimental grafts on day 5 - now with the shade cloth off, the fogger off, and increase in CO2 (which I guess the plants only take in during daylight), and starting to vent some.

I have to say, this is the best bunch of grafts I've ever had - although I'm using the no root method with growing tips and my earlier grafts were mostly the regular type with rooted rootstock. Looking at the grafts with my little 40X magnifier, the grafts look healed and seamless although I can't see much of a callus forming.

Here are a few photos - the grafts yesterday, the grafts after shade cloth removed this morning, and a close-up of the grafts with the cover temporarily off today...

Anne

[aclum]

Hi Everyone,

A bit of an update.....

First, on the plants.....

- basically nearly all of the grafts took (quite securely as revealed in the post mortem) but the rootstock portion of the rootless grafts never sent out roots before the plants (out of the chamber) began to fade away and die. (Think a problem with the growing medium). The non-grafted control is doing fine (haven't checked its roots). For some reason I've been having problems with rootless grafts.

I'm now doing a rooting experiment in my chamber using suckers from the garden, a rooting agent (Take Root), and Optisorb DE watered with a half strength dose of Miracle Grow. If I can manage to overwinter at least one of my 4 rootstock plants (RST-04-105-T), I'm thinking I can root suckers instead of starting seeds - we'll see.... If these cuttings do well, I'll use them for regular tube grafting with more cuttings from the garden as scions - just for practice before the spring season.

On my healing chamber.....

I've attached some photos of its latest incarnation. I simplified the fan set up on my "chiller" after realizing that the flower pot portion wasn't necessary, I modified and rearranged fittings and components so that they are out of the way and it would be easier to just lift the various components out of their sockets if I wanted to remove the lid. I set up the lights (2 x 2-40 w) and we added our digital humidity controller to the system. The ultrasonic humidifier and fan are attached to the humidity controller. On the digital temperature controller, I have the heating pad hooked up to the heat portion, and the chiller, chiller fan, and indicator light hooked up to the cold portion.

Another thing I'm trying out (although I'm not sure how I can test it) is to make sort of an imitation "green pad jr" CO2 generator (a pad with some chemicals that are activated by humidity or moisture to produce CO2). I took an empty teabag and filled it with a 1/2 tsp of a mix of bakikng soda and powdered citric acid (2 parts to 3 parts). I have this suspended in the humidity chamber so that the humidifier mist flows over it and, I asuume, generates a small amt of CO2. I did some research and about 1/2 to 1 tsp per day is about right for the chamber size.

The photos here are:

overall view of the set-up -
side view of set-up showing changed chiller end
arrangement of humidifier, chiller fan, and chiller
control units
side view showing humidifier on and humidifier fan blowing vapor over CO2 bag

Anne

[Worth1]

It wouldn't surprise me to see a human brain attached to wires in that contraption.

Worth

[aclum]

Worth!

Don't give me any ideas - I might just try them !

Anne

[Delerium]

Good Morning Anne! Nice grafting setup.

[Heritage]

Anne, that is an amazing setup! It is interesting to watch the workings of a passionate mind.

Steve