Root Riot germination cubes, tray of 24

For a seedling, place one seed in the hole of the cube, or two for the finest seeds, then put the tray somewhere warm until germination. For a cutting, dip the cut end of the stem in a rooting gel, then place it in the pre-formed hole without forcing it, just deep enough for it to stand upright. The 24 cubes come apart one by one, so you can start a batch of seedlings today and another 14 days later, keeping the remaining cubes in their resealed packaging. A full tray will, for example, fill a salad planter or a first growing row, with some margin for seeds that fail to germinate.

The peat in these cubes stays stable in a hydroponic system, which means you can transplant the plant with its cube into a net pot, without removing it from the cube. A 5 cm net pot takes the 36 mm cube, and the pot is then placed in the hole of a gutter, a raft or a tank lid. In aquaponics, you can thus prepare your plants under cover while the system runs, then the cube goes in whole in its net pot, and the roots reach the pond water through the slots. The guide to succeeding with spring seedlings in aquaponics complements these steps for the season.

In open ground or in a pot, the cube is planted whole, level with the surface, and the roots grow through it to carry on into the soil. Its material is certified biodegradable, so it then breaks down on the spot, leaving nothing to remove. Between sowings, keep your tray in its resealed packaging, at room temperature and out of direct sunlight, so that the cubes keep the moisture they had on delivery. The same tray can therefore be used for seedlings destined for the vegetable patch as well as for those going into an above-ground system.