Originally published at: How to use an Instant Pot to germinate garden seeds | Boing Boing
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I have avoided that by not having one.
I have far too many meals to make in my multicooker, thankyouverymuch.
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I wish there was a setting for it to “pressure grow” a tomato plant. Imagine being able to have a summer tomato on demand.
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Interestingly counter-intuitive! As pressure cookers are nigh autoclaves which are used for sterilization. That is, a means to kill (all) germ(ination)s big and small (know a surgical nurse who uses it on all her baby items; bottles and what-not)
Next-up: why every kitchen needs a ultracentrifuge.
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I can vouch for the fact that germinating pepper seeds is really slow if you don’t have a heating mat or artificial heat source of some other type. Yes, the sun is hot, but in cold climates (and even in your house) it can take a month or more to germinate pepper seeds without artificial heat, which means replanting the seedlings outside can be delayed and the harvest is delayed.
Why the need for an Instant Pot? If you’re already sandwiching the seeds in damp paper towels and then putting them in plastic bags they’ll probably germinate on your kitchen counter in a few days. I did this with sweet peas and lupines earlier this spring and it only took 4 days to sprout. Some dianthus seeds only took a day.
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I just start my seeds in potting soil in 2" square cells I saved from greenhouse annuals, but we grow a heck of a lot of peppers and tomatoes every year, so I invested in a rack with a clear tent cover years ago. We also have the luxury of being able to move furniture around so the rack sits in a south-facing window next to the wood burner. I had peppers germinating in 7 days, tomatoes in 4 and marigolds in 3. Here are my one month old tomatoes and marigolds (peppers are outside getting hardened):
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This came out of Ottawa, where (I presume) it is cold until its hot, possibly too late in the season to start certain seeds. Lyanne Betit’s situation last year was particularly difficult when seeds arrived late.
Instant Pot gardening hack hurries up Mother Nature | CBC News.
What is the difference between a crock pot and an instapot? I am looking to maybe expand my meal options with a “just one step above a toaster” level of cooking.
An incandescent light bulb in a cardboard box lined with foil will work just as well, might not get perfect temperature control but if you have something to measure the ambient temperature it should be doable to dial in the temp by allowing more or less airflow into the box. It also has the advantage that you’re not putting soil and germs into something you use for cooking
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Instapot is a pressure cooker with an integrated heating element. So it can sautee, pressure cook, or slow cooks.
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This would almost be worth the price just to get okra to germinate. It would lengthen the season here in the South and might make it possible to grow it in areas with a shorter growing season.
Next: Indian vegetables. The managers of the Super 8 Motel here in Little White Sh**hole keep an astounding array of their veggies and spices hidden behind their facility in summer. My motel manager’s wife can barely manage a tomato and forbade me to garden after a water rate increase.
So i can use it like a crock pot, but also have other options if I want to up my lazy cooking game?
It’s way more than lazying your cooking game, it’s upping it considerably. I could rave about the thing all day, but I’ll let Kenji do it for me: Anything Slow Cookers Can Do, Others Can Do Better
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This is my favorite thing you can do with one: https://damndelicious.net/2018/03/21/instant-pot-mushroom-risotto/
It’s not quite as good at slow-cooking as my crockpot was, but I have limited space for two devices and I am happy with the Instapot.
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