This protocol is for growing watercress when there is a limited quantity of seed.

1. Cover the base of a petri dish with filter paper moistened with water.
2. Place any seed that you wish to germinate onto the filter paper.
3. Label the petri dish with at least the:
   1. Name of the seed line being germinated
   2. Person/persons responsible for it
   3. Date started
4. Put the lid on the petri dish and seal it with parafilm to prevent moisture loss.
5. Store in a controlled environment and wait for the seeds to geminate, refreshing the filter paper with more water and reseal with parafilm each week.
6. The controlled environment settings should be as follows:
   1. 20C day
   2. 18C night
   3. 40% humidity
   4. Lights on: 8:00am
   5. Lights off: 11:00pm
   6. 15hr day length
7. When the seeds have developed into seedlings they need to be potted out.
8. Mix Levingtons Seed & Modular Compost with water to moisten the soil.
9. Fill pots of 10cm diameter with the damp soil. Smaller pots may be used if they are being grown for a shorter amount of time.
10. Make a small hole in the soil for the seedlings.
11. Pick up seedlings delicately with forceps and move quickly to the soil.
12. Gently firm the soil around the seedling, making sure the seedling is rooted.
13. Put the pots in the glasshouse on an auto-watering cycle with watering at 7am, 10am, 1pm, and 5pm for 8 minutes filling and 15 minutes holding. Make sure that for the initial growth that they are covered by a propagator lid.
14. As soon as the watercress has become established, bag the pot and use three bamboo sticks in an inverse pyramid shape to keep the plant contained and prevent tangling of the plants.
15. After a few weeks in the glasshouse increase the day length in hourly increments to encourage flowering
16. When the watercress has been growing for three months, begin adding liquid fertilizer fortnightly.