6,340 Garden Web Discussions | Growing from Seed

I re-planted in the cup, and used the fish emulsion to water them - same day. Didn't hurt them at all. I did try to keep as much of the clod of starter mix that was around the roots with it, to reduce the shock of being transplanted. It's been about 2 weeks since then, and they are all great. You will see an immediate change in them with the fish.

thanks, your tomato plant looks good.I will be planting mine in a cup today and using fish to feed them

Peppers are slow growers but part of your problem would appear to be overly wet soil and pots - which peppers don't like. The peat/cow pots are notorious for moisture control problems at best and peppers prefer to dry out a bit between waterings.

Overly wet soil causes the roots to have difficulty - slow growth, root rot, lack of sufficient air, poor drainage, etc. are all issues that can arise. Try cutting back on the watering and see if they don't perk up quite a bit.

Also with T8 lights - get the plants closer. Just a 1/2" hair above the top of the plants. 2" is definitely too high.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Thanks for your help! I will definitely try that.

For those interested there are lots of other choices out there besides anything from Scotts/MG.

Dave

yep - I do my best to avoid any MG/ Scotts products for the same reasons, so I am with you there.

I tried the Dyna-Grow Fish /Kelp fert that I use in the garden on my indoor seedlings once - nothing quite like walking into a warm humid fishy smelling space - took a week for the smell to dissipate.

You do love to play semantics don't you Brandon? Pulling 1 or 2 words out of context to take issue with them really serves little purpose yet you do it repeatedly here.

The point was the different types of ProMix and yes, ProMix BX is Premier Hort's all-purpose mix (as opposed to their other mixes) or general purpose (which for most mean the same thing). It is and has been used by thousands of amatuer and professional growers alike for both seed starting, growing on with seedlings and yes, even for outdoor nursery stock growing. There are hundreds of discussions here testifying to that.

If you don't care for it or for its use in some cases that is your choice but the history of its and consensus of its value fall heavily in its favor.

Dave

"You do love to play semantics don't you Brandon? Pulling 1 or 2 words out of context to take issue with them really serves little purpose yet you do it repeatedly here."

I don't have time to play anything with you Dave. The comments weren't meant to be in response to anything you said or to solicit a personal attack from you. Professionals use the right media for the right purpose. BX clearly has lots of uses and there are also clearly uses for which it is not the best (that's why there are different mixes out there).

You just want something to argue about, and personally I don't have much more time for it. If you want to give your point of view, give it. Let others give their point of view. If the comments aren't addressed to you, try not to take them personally. Why don't we try to keep the discussion on a little more professional level?

This post was edited by brandon7 on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 23:10

Don't be afraid to separate and transplant them into individual pots once they get large enough to handle. That should be at 1-2 pairs of true leaves (discounting the cotyledons)

You don't have your zone posted, so we don't know when you can plant them out. But if you are up north like me, you can't plant them out for a while. If so they will need to be separated, so they have room to grow.

I am also growing snaps for the first time this year. Mine are in individual pots now and mostly 3" tall. I am just praying I can keep them happy and healthy for another 6 weeks inside. I plan on pinching them back soon to get them to bush out.

Thanks! I can't believe that these tiny things will turn into actual flower bearing plants. I'm in zone 6, so yeah it's going to be a while. I've heard a lot about "bushing out" Lets keep our fingers crossed.

"One the main (reasons to transplant seedlings) is that many seedlings require at least 1 transplanting to trigger the development of feeder roots."

Seedlings will develop feeder roots either way (and possibly even more, by volume, if not transplanted), but transplantation produced a more branched root system, which is beneficial when the plants are replanted / planted out. Instead of a few longer roots, you get multiple shorter/more-branched roots.

A few other important reasons to transplant seedlings are related to space and effort. By staring multiple seeds in one container, required space is minimized, at least until the seedlings have to be potted up. If your germination rate is 60%, 40% of the required growing area per seed is wasted, and if the growing area per seed is large (as it would be if the seeds were in individual pots or spaced for larger plants) the wasted space would be large. Related to that, your effort to plant each plant in it's own pot is not wasted with less than 100% germination rates.

I germinate and grow in the same pot. Until i am ready to transplant. I have never EVER used sterilized soil...which to me makes NO sense, because there are all sorts of icky things any way. I used jiffy-pots last year... they arent worth it! Ive been digging them out of my beds all day long... >.

I've tried both and much prefer the T5's. I stress prefer purposely because I was able to start seedlings with the T8's. But, no surprise to some, I think the T5's are more effective.

Think extra light in the same space for less power. No leggy seedlings, no need to keep the fixture directly on top of of the plants. More air movement due to more space under the lights. Less stress on the plants - think better light penetration to the lower leaves of taller plants - no phototropism due to insufficient light.

One warning - the t5's get hot. You in fact can't keep the light right on top of the plants. Do so and you will cook yer babies.

Now, I started seedlings for years with a dual T8 fixture. The seedlings were usually leggy - despite having the light low and a fan on the side blowing over the flat. Unless I got them outside under stronger light after the second or third sets of leaves, they were inevitably tall and thin. I live in the Chicago suburbs. Getting them out early is not usually an option.

So, it made sense for me to get the stronger lights. Pricey, but I'm happy with them.

I start just planted under t8s , once I get the first true set of leaves I move them under t5s. To me the comparison is night and day.

last year I was able to grow tomatoes with fruit under the t5 set up, no way this could be done with t8s, that being said for many years I have used a stoplight and fan and gotten adequate seedlings.

For me the I have already gotten the value out of my t5s by growing through the winter , but if I only wanted seedling I would stick with a t8s.

"I read the box that the tubes came in and the spectrum is 4100K"

That type of bulb should work very well (arguably, the best for seedlings).

"Could i move the rest of the seedlings outdoors in a greenhouse?"

Is your greenhouse heated?

No, it isn't heated. I was just thinking about moving the brassicas over there. The window is always openin the room I keep the brassicas so I thought it would be okay.

Just seeing the odd seedling in my greenhouse falling over - given the seedings a good preventative spray with Bordeaux Mixture - hopefully ot will prevent further problems. Is it OK to store unused solutions?

So, I want to throw my own $.02 in here because I think there's a lot of factors to consider here.

Keep in mind the way some do it is not the only way. There are as many ways to grow plants as there are people who do it.

In regards to compost, worm castings, garden soil etc. used in a seed starting cell or tray I do not follow that practice or recommend it to other growers. The main reason is compaction and the other is sterility.

Because this is a thread on DOD we'll discuss the sterility. It is, to me, important to use a "clean" mix when starting seeds indoors rather then one that is rife with microbes. The reason is volume and concentration of those microbes as well as the environment.

You simply cannot compare an indoor seedling "nursery" to your outdoor garden. While all of the above ingredients a happy garden make, in the very different environment of a seed starting tray it has the potential to be very detrimental. The wet, warm soil, combined with low air movement and lack of temperature fluctuations all in a volume of soil that is many times smaller then an outdoor garden can cause an imbalance in the microflora of the soil.

In particular, I think, the overwatering is the largest detriment to seedlings for a myriad of reasons. Specifically for DOD, not only is a warm wet medium especially appealing to most microbes, the lack of air space in the soil in conducive mostly to anaerobic life forms which, generally speaking, pose more of a problem then aerobic ones.

I am not trying to spread doom and gloom, because there are lots and lots people who use straight compost and garden soil to start seeds indoors and have great success. I don't do it and I also have great success. This is simply my reasoning on why I chose to do things this way.