electric window sill propagator

I received a 7 cell electric window sill propagator from Santa.  Its not thermostatically controlled.  Can anyone give me any advice on what and how to sow.  Can I allow my husband 2 compartments for his Kelsae Onion seeds, or would they be better off in a non heated propagator.  Sorry  this has ended up a 2 part question.

Who's a lucky thing - a nice present!!

I agree with mumostig - I'm not sure you need the extra heat for onions if they are sown when the seed packet says they should be.

Anything that needs extra warmth to germinate can go in the proppathingy...

Take care to remove the seedlings soon after they are up or the extra heat can cause them to become leggy very quickly. Also, I'd avoid over-watering or you could end up with "damping-off".... a type of fungal disease that causes new seedlings to collapse.

Other than that.... it is a Christmas present that will be really useful and give hours of interest. I have a single-tray version - it gets a great deal of use in early spring. 

I got one last Christmas    I did tomatoes, peppers, chillies, cucumbers, melons etc, which all worked brilliantly, however - don't be tempted to start too early because you will need somewhere almost as warm to grow them on afterwards. My tomatoes cropped quite early but the peppers and chillies just stopped growing because it was too cold for them in the greenhouse. So this year I will wait a bit longer.

I find mine excellent at this time of year  for germinating winter lettuce etc (4-6 days). However if used in warmer conditions they can actually reduce germination by making things too hot.  Also seedlings very liable to suffer damping off if they are left covered once started.  I was advised that this was made much worse if rainwater was used and since using only tap water in a mist spray (and removing the plastic lid early on) this  problem does seem to have gone away.  They also give you the chance to experiment with more unusual or non native varieties if you wish (all part of the fun of gardening)  - good luck!

Hi, I'm comparatively new to this site but have been sucessfully germinating veg and flower seeds in NON thermostatic electric propagators for many years. Simple answer is to use a 24hr timer, switching on for longer periods at night. It only takes about 1 hr on at a time to keep the right temperature. This system is far cheaper in initial purchase and running costs.
  I also note  a mention of damping off, I have found a light spraying with Cheshunt compound does the trick.

All useful stuff, thank you.

I use a non-thermostat propagator,. mostly with success, but I do sometimes have problems with leggy seedlings (I saw somewhere else on the forum to use white board to reflect, so I'll try that!) and I'm sure it gets too hot.  Never thought of a timer switch, so that's another thing to try...

I've learned more from these boards in the last couple of weeks than I have in years of reading books.  (Well I admit, I haven't read that many but it seemed like it  )
Penny

Thank you DD.  I shall do that this year.  Bye bye leggy plants!
Penny