Bruster, I was using an old fish tank with plastic on the top. It worked pretty well.

"Germination chamber"! Sounds pretty fancy :)

Seed germination chambers are usually anything that increases humidity, possibly holds in some warmth, and perhaps provides extra light. You don't need anything fancy to do that. Most hardy perennials don't even need the extra heat and won't need the extra humidity much after germination.

Use anything that allows you to cover your seed trays until they germinate. Fishtank plus glass, saran wrap over the trays, plastic bags, etc. One thing you will probably need for sowing now is extra light. Think about a few shelves with shoplights.

Or were you thinking of some kind of "heated coldframe" outdoors? Or even not heated, although you likely wouldn't get germination until the end of winter. Are you aware of those seeds that might need stratification?

Have you considered "winter sowing"? I tried it last year for the first time. It was fun, productive, did not take up indoor space; an altogether good experience. Check out the winter sowing forum. It may be helpful. Jerry

Thanks you guys for the help you have extended to me here. I greatly appreciate it.

Bruce

I do not see that you need a complicated germination chamber. Three years ago I started gardening from scratch and grew 28 trays of perennial seeds on my dining room table. I bought several large flat waterproof trays, that held 4 seed trays in each. I then used very cheap seed trays and the very cheapest plastic tops.

It worked very well. I believe the temperature of the house was all that they needed. And the purpose of the plastic tops was really to prevent them drying out. About 24 out of 28 grew well. Though I had to put the Verbena seed tray in the fridge for 10 days to get them to germinate. The main problem was that they grew towards the light, so I turned the trays every day.

When the seeds were a reasonable size, I potted them up individually and kept them in a well lit summer house till it was warm enough to put them out during the day. I had 700 or 800 plants that summer!

I have ordered another 20+ packets of seed for this winter/spring. The real problem is to have enough friends to give the plants away to!

Cheapest germination chamber is a 13 gal. kitchen garbage bag. They are perfect size for single flat and the bonus is that you don't need to sterilize them and have a second use for them after they serve the primary purpose. I used to tie opening with a twist-tie. Now I just fold open end underneath so progress checks go quicker.

The easiert thing I've found is a plexiglas cover over the pot or flat. Just leave about an inch between the soil and the cover and remove it when the seedlings hit the cover.

If you use 6 inch pots the 50 and 10o CD covers work great too.

John