Areocomb Seed Starter (12 pods)

I designed this reusable seed starter with the health of sensitive young roots in mind. Its unique characteristics aerates the soil, promotes even watering, reduces root bound and minimizes stress during transplanting. 

Features

• A lattice of small holes around the pod allows for gas exchange between the soil and air while reducing the risk of over-watering.
• The corners of the hex-shaped pods discourage seedings from getting root-bound and help the soil plug hold its shape during transplanting. 
• An insert is dropped into the bottom of each pod. When it's time to transplant, the soil plug is pushed out of the pod from the bottom using this insert—no squeezing or loosening required. 
• Between plantings, the seed starter cleans up easily with a little dish soap and warm water.
• The efficient honeycomb design allows for multiple seed starters to sit next to each other. 

See the documentation section for a printable PDF for keeping track of what you plant in each pod. 

Printing Notes: These print great

 across a variety of settings, though you’ll need to have your bed leveling locked in for the tray and the bottom inserts. Adaptive layer height works especially well for the pods in order to give the funneled tops a smoother finish. 
 

Why I Created the Aercomb Seed Starter
 

When I first started gardening, I used peat pots, but soon became frustrated with how poorly they handled water. They dried out too quickly (the peat literally wicks moisture away from the roots) and were overtaken with mold. My roots needed the water, not the pot! So I switched to disposable plastic  seed trays. These held water better, but had their own issues. For slower growing seedlings, the soil would stay too wet and risk drowning my ungerminated seeds and new sprouts. Also, the plastic also didn't allow any gas exchange between the soil and air, the one thing I really liked about peat pots. When it came time to transplant, I had to squeeze the seedlings to get them out of trays, stressing the young plants in the process. Finally, I would try to reuse them, but the flimsy plastic was difficult to clean and deteriorated quickly.

So I decided to create my own reusable seed starter that addressed my frustrations with the current products available and give my garden the best start possible. The Aerocomb Seed Starter is the result of weeks of brainstorming, prototyping and testing. I originally took on this project for my own garden. However, when I showed prototypes to other avid gardeners, they wanted their own and encouraged me to find a way to share it with the wider gardening world. So if you've had similar frustrations with existing seed starting options, I'd love for you to give the Aerocomb a try!
 

I used to sell these on Etsy but ended up not enjoying the ecommerce experience so decided to share the design for others to print. If you would like to sell these, please contact me and I’m sure we can work out something!