[Hippocrates_Garden]

If you want a seed starting tray / stystem that will last, My suggestion is to go to where the pros go, and get what they get. Few serious professionals buy anything from “Burpee” or a big box store. The customer base is completely different. Try a couple from say Johnny’s or Neversink Farms, or wherever. Once you’ve had that level of quality product in your hands, most of the big box store stuff will feel like saran wrap. Search Results | Johnny’s Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com)

[Hippocrates_Garden]

In general, the larger it is, the larger the air volume, the slower the temp changes are, which is typically good. Depending on where you live. Such as in Arkansas I want it as tall as possible, get that hot air up and away from the plants. Otherwise, if it’s not well ventilated, 30min of direct sun can bake everything in there. Also moisture control. From a temp and humidity control, larger is better.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

sounds easy, but there area a whole lot of “it depends” in there. Everything from maintaining the batteries, using “car batteries” inside the house (off-gassing, potentially explosive gasses), and a lot more.
To be honest, if using components, it needs to be tailored to the specific end use. under sizing can cause as many problems as oversizing.

Without more specific information about what you’re trying to accomplish, it’s hard to give any constructive criticism. Is this something that is dropped off during an emergency for a short period of time, something that would be in the house for unspecified lengths of time, what is it intended to power and for how long, under what circumstances (a cpap used only at night is quite a different story from an oxygen generator that needs to run 24/7 and more).

Wind is only worth it in specific areas.

The best solution, depends on the proposed end use.. simplest, easiest to use and support etc, might be a bulk order of say Anker power stations and solar panels (if the location and weather makes that even useful).

[Hippocrates_Garden]

Cool. re: all the concerns about this or that in the material, I don’t think any place is toxic gick free any more. We do the best with what is available, don’t add to the toxicity and in the end, the proof is in the growing. If everything is growing great, that is about as much as we can hope for.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

I’ve also had a quizzical look when people would say one needed to plant the largest of a harvested potato, from a single plant to get larger potatoes. Umm. aren’t they genetically identical? clones? The more likely explanation for differing sizes is, one tuber was formed earlier and has had more time to grow than the others. I say eat the larger and plant the smaller.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

still reading your reply but want to say this before I forget SQUIRREL!.. sorry.. I’m back. In case I misspoke, my surprise, is actually more correctly my sadness, that much of this info would have been common knowledge to a degree, and I wasn’t a recipient of that knowledge through natural handing down, from generation to generation, and it has been left to Universities, books and social media to even find the rabbit holes to go down. I’m far from an expert, perhaps just now getting to the point I can realize just how far away I am from that, and it makes me sad that so much has been lost (or hidden on purpose), and it seems we also forget that we need not go solely to the system credentialed “experts” with book knowledge, we can (if we can find them) go to the practical experts to learn what should be a birthright.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

It’s a shame the article was from Arkansas (where I live) though it could just as likely be from any state. I’m not sure if I’m surprised, or sad, that not only are many caught off guard, but it’s worthy of a writeup at the university level, on a topic that likely 4 generations or more ago would have been common knowledge by anyone closer to, and observant of the land, nature and such.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Hippocrates_Garden.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

I had one in the backyard of my house that I sold, it was loaded. The next nearest one I am aware of, was several blocks away. Given the option of anything fruit-bearing, I’d prefer at least one other, preferably a different cultivar that flowers at the same time, but the same will work.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

?? Not from cuttings, maybe for pollination and seeds? They are so easy to do from cuttings and that way you know exactly what you’re getting as they are essentially clones.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

And the shipping was how much? I’ve ordered from SanTan three times. Prices are great, but don’t forget to factor in the shipping charges. $79 panels with shipping to Northeast Arkansas ended up right at $100/ea. (still good for 255W panels)

• This reply was modified 1 year, 10 months ago by  Hippocrates_Garden.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

I believe the primary difference in freeze drying vs simple dehydration is the cycling of extremely cold to pretty warm results in cell walls rupturing enabling more of the water to be extracted as the relatively fast cycling results of sublimation of the water from freezing to gas, essentially bypassing the liquid stage, and thus remove almost all the water, while leaving anything less volatile behind, and the product looking essentially the same as before the process.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

Here’s the test. Build your system as proposed, put a load on it equivalent to what you propose to power for at least a month in poor weather conditions, say multiple cloudy days, short day length, and sun at a sub-optimal angle, and report the data. I can easily be convinced, by data. I’ve been doing this Starlink System for almost a year now, and while it seemed simple and small, real-life testing has me using 4x the batteries and at least 2x the panels. Even with that, were I depending on it, I’d be changing behavior by turning it off when not needed, a luxury one dependant on medical devices don’t have. Believe it or not, we are trying to help by giving constructive criticism.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

Curious, how many such systems have you actually built, commissioned and had used for “unspecified lengths of time”? It sounds good and easy, but practical experience may prove it’s much more complicated. I wa building a system just to power a Starlink system, off grid. This thing pulls about 100W or so when starting up and then may range from 20-50watts thereafter. Thus far, I’ve got four Lithium Ion batteries, 12V/100ah in a 24volt configuration (which essentially equals 8 similarly rated lead acid deep cycle batteries) and anywhere from 400-800W of panels spit between two charge controllers. In my location, with our weather, I’m lucky to keep it going 24/7 for maybe 3-4 days depending on the sunshine. In summer this would be way over sized, but one has to design for the worst conditions, not the best. And that’s just for a single Starlink, which is not as important than medical devices.

With all the bits and bobs, dropped off at someone who is relying on a medical device, can they support and troubleshoot it? or would they require you or someone to do that? How many can you support if several had problems essentially at one time. Having worked in I.T. support, one of the big keys to being able to support larger numbers is: standardization and rock solid dependable components. Trying to get inexpensive components to build more systems would end up being a nightmare to support.

It’s a worthy goal for sure, however even with my limited experience.. from a fire safety standpoint (medical devices, especially oxygen generators) inside with batteries that off-gas flammable gases, a system which (to many) would be a complicated combination of mismatched components, trying to charge from solar panels that are likely in far from optimal siteing (it’s not unusual for my peak production from 400W of panels to be 50W and total generation over the day maybe 1/10kw, though again in summer with longer days, less clouds and optimal angles it’s massively more than that). there are just a whole lot of “it depends”. This is my opinion, having at least played with solar for some years, building one small operative system and have about $22K of equipment for a full offgrid system sitting in a trailer waiting for the building to be moved to start the install. Others will have other opinions and much more experience.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

Wish there was a “thumbs up” or “like” for responses and not just posts.

[Hippocrates_Garden]

I’m less concerned about what is sprayed on the roadside that may be taken up by trees that are 20+ years old than that which is sprayed on annuals in a pasture/field. The concentration of any toxic gick would be higher in the annuals, and there is likely a greater variety of sprays and more frequent spraying on the pasture/field.

There is likely no place toxin free anymore, it’s a matter of what and how much.