What is Reddit's opinion of BALL MASON JARS Ball Mason Glass Preserving Homemade Jam Gift Jars 240ml (Pack of 6), 23 x 15 x 10 cm?

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I don't have anything in fine detail about my growing process. It's not that uncommon from what I understand but I'll add some details below. I also grow plants in regular pots and soil outside but tend to have some smaller plants in these jars to give me some other options.

The jars I use for this type of growing indoors are even smaller than a pint. It's a 240ml jar. Then I just have a net cup in the mouth of it with either rock wool or clay pebbles around the plant base.

For these plants, I'm only using them as mother plants or as fathers. They are kept small and constrained as I want them to survive on a window sill and their only purpose is for use in crossing. This one has been on a north facing window sill in the northern hemisphere, so it's not even getting a sunny south facing window.

My basic steps are:

• germinate seeds in heated propagator, most often using rock wool
• get the plant established in the rock wool under small T5 fluorescent lights or cheap LED lights
• once the seeding has a set of true leaves transfer into a net cup, stabilise stem with rock wool or pebbles and place net cup into the mouth of the small jar. Cover sides of jar with something to prevent algae growth, also cover top of net cup with something to prevent growth on surface. In my picture you can see I used a neoprene can holder for the jar and tin foil over the top of the net cup
• fill jar with hydroponic nutrients, strength mixed to age of plant, e.g. start weak mix and increase to regular strength over time. Fill level is never above the base of the net cup to avoid drowning the plant.
• I refill with nutrients every 2 weeks or as soon as all nutrient liquid has been consumed. If not all used in 2 weeks then I dump the remainder and refill with fresh. The plant in the photo, which is about 12 inches tall, drinks everything in around a week at the moment. If I'm in a rush or feeling lazy then at minimum I add plain old tap water if the jar has run dry.
• Keep the plant alive and healthy for as long as I need it to produce pollen or pods. Prune to keep it small and remove any buds & flowers that aren't going to be used.

For the actual steps in cross pollination, u/RespectTheTree has started some guides if you need them.

The example plant in the photo has quite a lot of crosses given its size:

• I don't perform all the crosses at once, I do one or two and wait to see if pods set
• As the set pods get to a size where they stand a chance of holding a seed then I'll make more crosses, rinse & repeat. That's my attempt to let pods gain some size before getting it to try and form new pods. I also remove any extra buds and flowers when I'm not going to make use of them. Again, just trying to concentrate where the energy gets used.

There are some risks with the approach I'm using. I'm often only making a cross once, that is I'm aiming to have a single ripe pod for a given cross. If the pod is too small I might get no seeds for that cross. If the cross is something I'm really desperate to achieve then I will of course try and set multiple pods.

The reason I use plants like this is to control the environment more and I find crossing on small indoor plants much easier. You can move them to the best working height when performing the cross and the plant isn't being blown around by the elements. It also means I can have 6-8 plants in these jars without using up much space. I do of course also attempt to make crosses on my outdoor plants when needed.

Tried to cover the types of things you might have wanted to know but ping back more questions if I missed anything.

Of course. These are the exact jars I use: https://www.amazon.co.uk/BALL-MASON-JARS-Preserving-Homemade/dp/B00YSO7WNM/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=ball+mason+jars&qid=1609543121&sr=8-3

One jar holds a 50g/2oz tin of tobacco.

I checked Amazon - these seem to be the right ones, though you're right about the prices! Woof! £2/ea is a bit steep...

Figured as much, thanks. Kind of stuck then.

My only option is to import these from the US:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00YSO7WNM/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=