Matt's small garden journal

So I've decided to start my own grow thread. I will be growing tomatoes, sweet peppers and strawberries. I have one tomato plant and one strawberry plant I purchased at Lowe's just bc the weather starting looking really good here and simply just wanted to expirement.

I have small seed starting kit to start some tomatoes and sweet peppers. So far they have been in a dark room for about 5 days now. Some of them have sprouted a little bit and still waiting for some leaves to form, probably have another 5 to 10 days before taking them under a couple small flouros before going outside for the summer. So far here are some of the pics I have.

Tomorrow or Saturday I'm goin to pick up some shit from the gardening store. I really need some good soil...any suggestions? Also, gonna pick up a cople gallons of distilled water to feed them. I dunno, I'm on this distilled water kick, lol. Any ferts or anything come to mind to anybody that maybe I should be thinking about picking up? Thanks for any tips and thanks for visiting. More pics tomorrow.

I think it's been a week since I planted these...tomatoes and sweet peppers...the sweet peppers already started germinating. I think the tomatoes will take a couple more days. Anyway, here are some pics.

why would you buy distilled water?

why would you buy distilled water?

Honestly, just htought it would be better for the plants. I dunno, plus it's only 84 cents at the store so its not bad and I was only planning on doing this when they are young.

In other thoughts, I have this looks to be like burning on one of my leaves, what can this be caused by??

Matt, you are throwing money away. Water straight from the garden hose is all they need.

Ok thanks.

Matt, you are throwing money away. Water straight from the garden hose is all they need.

I disagree. Distilled water has a nuetral Ph. It is free of chlorine and chloramines. The water is soft with very few disolved solids

It's great for houseplants and seedlings. Tap water is ok for rooted plants outdoors

My tap water is hard, high in PH, full of chlorines and full of disolved solids

99 cents does a lot, really

Edited by TexRx, 24 March 2012 - 05:48 PM.

Thanks for the advice Tex, I knew I was doing something right...lol. I like using distilled water. Pics later today.

Just some pics from today.

Nice start! I'm horrible at starting from seed! I almost always buy young plants and skip the seedling stage! It's good growing experience to know how to start seedlings

I use well water to irrigate my landscaping, and water my garden. Because I live on a barrier island, the water has a fairly high salt content (not to mention sulphur and iron, and god knows what else). I water the flowers, hanging baskets, and container plants on the porch and deck with expensive city water straight from the tap because they're not salt tolerant. But my tomato plants (currently four feet tall, reaching for the sky with a rocket, and starting to fruit) are thriving on the well water.

The well water thing is pretty interesting, and cool.

Yea Tex, I'm excited about the seedlings too! The tomato ones haven't popped up yet.

The tomato...it hasn't been too sunny the past couple of days.....

...and also some pepper seedlings..

Edited by ruh roh, 26 March 2012 - 01:29 AM.

I bulit myself I little grow box out of an old dog crate, I wanted to line it with foil but not sure if that is a great idea yet...plus I have to go to the store. So maybe later. It's getting a little chilly around here so I didn't want the seedlings outside. I think the towels are good for now, keeping the heat in. I'm trying to reach 75 degrees in there. I have 4 flouros putting out 8,000 lumens in a small place, I think I can accomplish 75 degress. How long should I keep the light on? 12/12??

I'm going to put my seed tray in there later also, some of the seedling are getting bigger and think they may need a little light. And I want to keep them in the peat moss a little longer than the 8 I pulled, just to see if there is a difference.

I also have a question about my strawberry plant, a couple of the leaves aren't looking to healthy. I was wondering what that could be from and should I be worried about it??

And then just one pic of the tomato plant...looking very healthy!

Edited by ruh roh, 26 March 2012 - 09:17 PM.
added more content

I got the grow cage to about 78 degrees with about 70% humidity...exactly what I was looking for...perfect.

Well the small dog cage/grow room is working pretty good for the baby tomato plants. I have them on a 12/12 cycle. The baby peppers are still in the peat moss and I'm gonna keep them there and in the peat moss for a week or so and let them devolope a little bit stronger root system before transplanting them.

More random pics from today. It's a nice 70 degrees outside today, I'm not sure the temp tonight but I bring the in the garage anyway. I'm still a little worried about the red leaf on my strawberries. Tex? You got any suggestions or soultions? You seem to be the only one follwing this thread lol. But anyway, here are some new pics. More later tonight in the grow closet.

Question about the light cycle on my indoor grow, as seedlings is 12/12 ok?

Edited by ruh roh, 29 March 2012 - 05:17 PM.

Just figured it was time for an update. It's going pretty well for me indoors and out. Outside, on the tomato plant I have about 4 little fruit buds on there. And the strawberry has new leaves and flowers coming each day. I'm a little worried about the one leaf still on the strawberry. I have it in my previous post, I was wondering if I should yank it, I don't want it to fuck up my whole plant. Let me know what you guys think. Seedlings are looking pretty good too. I have them on 12/12. I'm not sure which ones are peppers and which ones are tomatoes yet...lol. They kinda got mixed up. But here some pics......

More random pics from today. It's a nice 70 degrees outside today, I'm not sure the temp tonight but I bring the in the garage anyway. I'm still a little worried about the red leaf on my strawberries. Tex? You got any suggestions or soultions? You seem to be the only one follwing this thread lol.

Question about the light cycle on my indoor grow, as seedlings is 12/12 ok?

Give the strawberry time to grow some more. It could be the temperaure or maybe too much food, IDK

It's still earlly in the season....I would expect better growth outdoors in mid April and into May

I like 14/10 better than 12/12 for lighting seedlings

good luck!

Edited by TexRx, 30 March 2012 - 09:29 AM.