Myself, Waktoo and others have had problems with fresh VC in mixes, especially seed starting mixes. This was entirely due to the ratio of VC used, not the quality. The normal 1/3-1/3-1/3 ratio of SPM-Aeration-EWC was just too "rich" when made with fresh VC. GiMiK reported good results using a 9 parts SPM to 1 part VC and a small amount of kelp meal. This ratio sounded much more realistic to me, so I made a small batch. Using a 2cup measuring cup as a 'part': 9 parts (18 cups) Spagnum Peat Moss 1 part (2 cups) VC Harvested last Oct. 2 parts (4 cups) Perlite light 1/4 cup kelp meal 1/4 cup dolomite lime Dry mixed everything in a 5gal bucket, then added water to totally saturate. let sit long enough to drink a beer and then moved it to another 5gal bucket with drainage holes. Ended up with about 2 1/2 gallons of mix. It will sit for a few days to a week. Not so much to cycle, but to let the microbes get going. I do this with any mix that has dried out. Plus there are a few things I need to do before planting seeds anyway. Mostly for veggie seeds, but there is also some F4 seeds to pop for a F5 cross. The clones are rooted and waiting on a male. Will update on all of it. Wet
I dig it! I'm using something very similar, just starting with pre-bagged seedling starter (peat, vermiculite, lime) and adding kelp, buffaloam compost tea (dry), and EWC. I haven't really got ratios figured out...I was really just planning on using the pre-bagged seedling starter for my veggies but then I was like well, I bet they'd like a little kelp and why not some EWC. At a guess, for a gallon of mix I added around 3/4-1 cup of EWC and I remember it being about 2 tbsp each of the kelp and buffaloam. I'm having good results with it so far.
Why the dolomite lime? As time goes by I have realized my best seed starter, it's soaking my seeds in kelp tea and then putting them in anything I feel like, hell they sprout on my concrete floor without issue. Only problems I ever encounter now is Dampening Off and with the kelp tea, it's been pretty much eliminated.
The lime is to offset the acidity of peat. It's common in most peat-based seedling mixes, commercial or personal. My best germination success, so far, has been to rehydrate rapidrooters with a kelp+aloe tea and put my seeds directly in that, no presoak or anything. It doesn't serve well to keep buying (premade) things, so I'm interested in this mix. I already have about 3 gallons of 1/3, 1/3, 1/3, but to it i'll add some peat moss to bring up that ratio a bit closer to what GiMiK's doing.
BP, That's just it. I normally use the bagged stuff since I mainly work with clones a small bag lasts for several years. I also mainly use depleted mix for both clones and seeds, but it's kinda chunky for anything smaller than a solo cup. This year I bought a heat mat and have the tray and small pots to fit frrrom past plant purchases, so .... Plus, GiMiK's use of small amounts of kelp and VC made total sense to me. Not for nutrition, but the bit of microbe activity and trace they provide. SB ... You'll get to the ratio's that work best for you. It's not that the higher ratio of VC didn't work, but when a very plain Jane bagged starting mix works better it gets you thinking. The best way to describe it is being too *rich*. Not hot or burning anything, just too rich. Aside from the vermiculite, which got left out and IMO is only useful in starting mixes, I also went kinda light on the perlite (~25%), again trying to duplicate the bagged mix. I use closer to 40% in my regular mix, but figured a bit more moisture retention for seeds. Now to get the seedsss started! Wet
Ah reason I asked about the DL is because it's so damn long to acting. Gypsum flour would serve you well and it's a hell of a flocking agent to boot that or oyster shell flour. Both are flocking great.
Beg to disagree a bit. Gypsum doesn't do much of anything for pH. I have it and use it, but not for any buffering ability. The speed of DL or OSF is entirely dependant on the mesh size. I do have some calcitic lime, but it is pelletizd and in this instance it would be slower than the DL. The DL I have is super fine, like flour and you could see it coat the peat moss when I dry mixed it. Turned it sorta grey. It was a concious choice on my part. Wet
Well yeah true the gypsum form being a sulfate and the other a carbonate but it's more funner to use I think.
I am more than impressed with this mix. With the weather/temps, I was caught by surprise by the speed of germination. Planted the seeds on 4-7-15, a mix of 12 mj seeds and 20 veggie seeds. Standard nursery flat that holds 32-2" pots. Left it outside in the driveway. Daytime temps varied from low 60's to a couple days in the low 80's, but mostly in the upper 60's-low 70's. Nightime from mid 40'''s to mid 50's, but mostly upper 40's. With these temps I figured the seeds would just stay in stasis till brought in and on the heat mat. That was the reasoning anyway and they sat outside for 5 days or so. They got brought in when several days oof rain was forcast in a very cool part of the house that stays in the 60's. Imagine my surprise when not quite 2 days later, on the 14th, 1 week from planting, the mj, tomato, and some of the zukes were well above the surface!!! I've never had stuff pop quite that fast before, especially with temps that cool. For the moment everything got moved back outside to get AM sun till I figure out just what I want to do. IDK just how much of a part this mix played in all this, just know I've never had results quite this rapid. Wet
Well I went digging for the original post that inspired me to try the ratios listed above but couldn't find it. LD was the one who suggested a 9 parts peat - 1 part EWC/compost seed mix way back when, so kudos to him. All I did different from his original post was adding a bit of kelp and aeration. Glad to hear it works as well for you as it does for myself. I use this same mix for clones and it works pretty decent ime.
IDK about the original post, but you mentioned it in a convo you were having with WAK not that long ago. It concerned PGR's and things and you had pics of seedlings. Thought it was in the kelp tea thread, but couldn't find it. Seems it was one of those side trips that often happen in threads that are about something completely different. I was just totally stunned at seeds popping so quickly in such cool temps. It just doesn't happen. Or at least hasn't happened before. I want to say it was the enzymes from the kelp and microbe activity from the VC, but at best that would be a WAG on my part. But ... I had planned on close to a 2 week germination AFTER going under the lights and on the heat mat. Wet
I just recently started some seeds in a mix of 50% spm, 25% fine pumice and 25% store bought ewc (rocky mountain worm company) with 1 tablespoon oyster shell powder per gallon of mix. Seems to be working well so far! I transfer clones from my aeroponic cloner over to this mix with success as well.
If it works well for you that's pretty much the end of the story. Can't argue with success. Wasn't it you that came up with the clear cup inside the opaque cup? At first I was kinda WTF!? But, upon reflection and the pics you've posted I've come to appreciate the concept. Especially with clones rooted in rockwool and transplanted to solo cups. Like, when are the roots well established? When to upcan? With the clear cup you can tell at a glance. My newest cups are 2 years old and it's time for some fresh. LOL I'll get a pack of each from the same manufacturer and get to drilling holes. Wet
I still haven't tried my homemade compost or vc for starting seeds, so i'm curious how that stuff would compare to what i get from the worm dude. I think that I got the clear solo cup idea from 3deez. It works pretty nicely! I was surprised. The plants can fill out those cups in no time flat with very little (if any) above ground vegetative growth. That last pic was taken like 5 days after being transplanted from the aero cloner over to soil lol.
I've been wondering something about using Solo cups...what kind of dome do you guys use? I've got the tallest one I could find at the stores and it's not really tall enough for most cuttings in Solo cups. Unless u guys aren't filling the cups all the way? I think my dome is 7" or so. I've been using 3" nursery pots as they're pretty short. Solo
[quote name="thomasjefferson" post="21567819" timestamp="1429494974"]I still haven't tried my homemade compost or vc for starting seeds, so i'm curious how that stuff would compare to what i get from the worm dude. I think that I got the clear solo cup idea from 3deez. It works pretty nicely! I was surprised. The plants can fill out those cups in no time flat with very little (if any) above ground vegetative growth. That last pic was taken like 5 days after being transplanted from the aero cloner over to soil lol.[/quote I've never used 'store bought' castings, so IDK. But what I envision is something like 1% skim milk compared to heavy cream, with the heavy cream being the homemade. SOLO I haven't found a solution, yet. But what I do is avoid solo cups in the winter and use RW cubes in clear plastic shoe boxes from the $ store. One with drainage holes, the other as a dome. Cheap and workkks like a champ. The only thing you MUST do is scatter a handful of perlite under thr RW. If not, the RW will suck itself tight against the smooth bottom, cutting off O2 and killing the clone. Probably the #1 reason people have trouble with RW. When it warms up and the humidity rises, I'll do the solo cups with no dome. Never used a dome in SoFl, but never had to contend with dry air. Wet
[quote name="wetdog" post="21568863" timestamp="1429524699"][quote name="thomasjefferson" post="21567819" timestamp="1429494974"]I still haven't tried my homemade compost or vc for starting seeds, so i'm curious how that stuff would compare to what i get from the worm dude. I think that I got the clear solo cup idea from 3deez. It works pretty nicely! I was surprised. The plants can fill out those cups in no time flat with very little (if any) above ground vegetative growth. That last pic was taken like 5 days after being transplanted from the aero cloner over to soil lol.[/quote I've never used 'store bought' castings, so IDK. But what I envision is something like 1% skim milk compared to heavy cream, with the heavy cream being the homemade. SOLO I haven't found a solution, yet. But what I do is avoid solo cups in the winter and use RW cubes in clear plastic shoe boxes from the $ store. One with drainage holes, the other as a dome. Cheap and workkks like a champ. The only thing you MUST do is scatter a handful of perlite under thr RW. If not, the RW will suck itself tight against the smooth bottom, cutting off O2 and killing the clone. Probably the #1 reason people have trouble with RW. When it warms up and the humidity rises, I'll do the solo cups with no dome. Never used a dome in SoFl, but never had to contend with dry air. Wet[/quote] Thanks wet. I've done the clear shoe boxes too. Never played around with rockwool. I've been loving not going to the grow store lol. I'm wondering if I really need the dome. I empty my dehumidifier 2-3x a day this time of year and it's set on 65% rh. As long as I mist them a couple times a day I may be ok. I've also played around with the idea of building a simple pvc frame and wrapping it in saran wrap. Solo
Hey man, can you run me through what you do with your outdoor (canabis) plants, ie when do you start them, when do you put outside etc.
[quote name="SoloToker" post="21568814" timestamp="1429522655"]I've been wondering something about using Solo cups...what kind of dome do you guys use? I've got the tallest one I could find at the stores and it's not really tall enough for most cuttings in Solo cups. Unless u guys aren't filling the cups all the way? I think my dome is 7" or so. I've been using 3" nursery pots as they're pretty short. Solo[/quote] I've used solo's for cloning in the past with a regular 7" dome. Just cut them short enough so they fit underneath. Clip some leaves if ya need to. The "store bought" castings I use are the crem de la crem fresh from the local worm guy. Not something that was sitting on the shelf at the hydro shop.