Hey Tom, as soon as I saw your vibrating seeder, I thought, "Hey! I'm pretty sure I've got one of those engraving gadgets down in MY basement too!" After rooting around in various musty boxes I found it and in about 3 minutes made my own seeder. I was lazy and just taped a V shaped piece of cardstock to the shaft. :)

- Steve

Here is a link that might be useful: Seed Vibrator

Wow, Steve, I thought I made mine fast. I didn't even think about tape and cardboard. Great idea. Would you mind if I put your photo on my blog? Or I could link to your photo if you'd rather?

TM

Tom, you would be welcome to put the photo on your blog.

I thought I could just grab the photo from Flickr, but apparently that's not allowed. If you could email it to me via GardenWeb, I'd appreciate it.

Hey Tom, I gave my vibrating seeder a real world try today. I seeded 2 flats of 6 packs (48 cells per flat) with statice seeds using the gadget and it actually worked pretty good. I discoverd that the trick to controlling the flow is to tilt it slightly up or down. I don't know if a button would be a big help or not. Tilting works pretty good for now. I'll have to try some tinier seeds with it next. I bought some Trachelium seed from GeoSeeds and it's like dust! :( I sure wish it was pelleted.

Trachelium? You too? I started some trachelium seed a week ago, and you aren't kidding about it being like dust. I seeded it just before I made my seeder, and I'm sure I got 10 or 20 seeds in each cell. You are really adventurous, doing trachelium, alstroemeria, and lisianthus!

I did use my seeder to do some pelleted digitalis. I did the same as you, tilting it up and down to try to start and stop the seeds. I still got a fair number of doubles or triples in some cells, but it wasn't bad. I'm going to pursue the thumb button switch. I don't think I have one in my electronics junk box, so I may need a trip to Radio Shack.

>> You are really adventurous, doing trachelium,
>> alstroemeria, and lisianthus!

Ha, ha, ha! BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE!!! A couple days ago my first Agapanthus 'Headbourne Hybrids' seeds sprouted! :) I'm definitely going to be the Mad Flower Gardener this year. I've been trading seeds left and right via the GardenWeb exchange lists requesting only plants that I think might be useful as cut flowers. I even received some Hippeastrum seeds! Those fall into the category of highly experimental along with the 5 Bird of Paradise seeds another GW member sent me as bonus. My cut flower grow list is now over 150 different varieties and still rising. Many of these are new (to me) plants and I only have a few seeds of them but it will be interesting to see how well they do in my climate.

Check the electrical department of your local hardware store for a rocker switch type gadget that you can install on the power cord pretty easily. It would be easier than unplugging. Great idea. If I can find my old engraver I plan to try it!

Hey, farmsteward, nice to hear from you. The switch I want to install is a momentary push button. It's normally off, and pushing the button switches it on for only as long as you hold the button down. It should be just right for starting and stopping the vibrator repeatedly.

Steve, you are indeed the Mad Flower Gardener. I don't think I have even heard of Hippeastrum. Keep us posted. My trachelium has sprouted and I got the seeds so thick that it looks like I have patches of green moss in some of the cells.

Hippeastrum are commonly called Amaryllis and are frequently sold as large potted blooming bulbs at Christmas. Someone sent me some seeds for the cultivar 'Apple Blossom' which is listed as being hardy outdoors in my zone (7a.) I expect it will be 3 years or so before I see it bloom though. :(

I did add a push button switch to my seeder, and you can click on the link below if you'd like to see details.

Seeder.

TM

Hi everyone a vibrating motor with a couple of AA cells would be a cheap option if an engraver isn't available re: http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_sacat=0&_nkw=vibrating+motor&_sop=2

Regards KD