So in honor of today, I started germinating my seeds! This will be my first ever attempt at a grow, and I have about 15 seeds germinating right now. I took a ride down to the local Ace Hardware to browse my soil options, and here's what I have to pick from in terms of organic soil: (1) Quoddy Blend Lobster Compost (2) Miracle-Gro Organic Choice Garden Soil - Scotts Miracle-Gro I thought there were one or two others, maybe not. There were many others that weren't organic, but from reading in the forums, all I have been hearing is go green haha. Anyway, I would like to get a general consensus on which to choose. Thanks folks!
They are both ok, though I've never used either. A lot of people hate MG, as did I at first. After seeing some amazing results with MG (and especially since that's their organic version) it's really not bad. I'd be interested about the Quoddy one though, I'm willing to bet it's a better product and I LOVE the fact that it has a healthy amount of Ca in it. I've had enough Ca problems to really appreciate it as an important nutrient.
to each cubic foot of that soil mix, Add 1 cup of a well rounded fertilizer- like Epsoma's plant tone, DTE's Bio-Live, or DR. Earth's Bud and bloom. There are others but you get the idea.
Option one isn't soil, but it is a kick-ass ingredient. Option two is up for heavy debate. Between a high presence of heavy metals, composted municipal sewage, and giving money to Montsanto, I'm sure you can find plenty of haters. Take it with a grain of salt, but this is my advice to you. Buy the Coast of Maine Lobster compost. Then go down to the big box hardware store and drop $25 for a bail of Canadian sphagnum peat moss, a bag of lava rocks (If it's big pieces, get your hammer), and the well rounded fertilizer like Hope2Toke mentioned. If they don't have it, go to their website and buy it with the store pickup option. They will have it and you don't have to pay shipping. After that, it's 40% peat, 30% compost, and 30% lava rock. I would throw in 3-4 cups of the fertilizer per cubic foot, which is about 7-8 gallons. That will need to sit for a couple of weeks before it's ready to go, so I would check the website you will be using for some other organic potting mix, just one bag, to hold you off until your ready to transplant into big pots with your newly constructed soil. This thread might help you with that selection: http://forum.grasscity.com/organic-growing/988488-ready-grow-bagged-soil.html If you cracked those seeds today, I would get on this right now.
Haha, no I didn't! However I did discover that my town has an Agway! They carry all Fox Farm products. So if I get Ocean Forest potting soil will that be better/easier?
And I have a couple seeds cracked so I think I'm going to put them in Jiffy Pots for them to start in. How does this sound?
Good to hear, broham! Grab the FFOF and run with that alone for now, but get your soil made for transplanting. What I've suggested to you is a product superior to Fox Farms and about a third of the price. As for the seedlings, sounds good! I run straight peat pellets for my babies. Despite the naysayers with their pH concerns, I have had ZERO problems firing up plants in peat plugs and transferring the seedlings into soil. Just following the instructions on a generic seed starter kit yielded better results than the old paper towel game.
Yea I was looking for peat pellets, however that was pre-agway discovery haha. So with the Jiffy Pots should I make other slits in them other then the little hole at the bottom? When the roots grow out is that when I know its time to transplant into the ground?
I don't want to bore you with the details. Just follow the directions on the package. It should be something like 1.) lid on until most seeds sprout 2.) lid stays partially ajar, then removed when more than just cotyledons are showing 3.) seedlings get transplanted. This is a stage that doesn't benefit from over-complication.
[quote name='"DazedInMaine"']Yea I was looking for peat pellets, however that was pre-agway discovery haha. So with the Jiffy Pots should I make other slits in them other then the little hole at the bottom? When the roots grow out is that when I know its time to transplant into the ground?[/quote] Jiffy pots are horrible for roots from my experiences. I would wait until they form a good root ball and tear away as much of the pot as possible without destroying the root system. The roots busted a bit around the outside though will promote quicker and better root growth. I've seen more than a few plants grow slow and act stunted in jiffy pots. The pellets have gotten me almost 100% success in sprouting and never caused problems with root growth.
Thanks for the input guys. I have never used Jiffy Pots and the ones I bought don't have instructions, haha. Anyway, I'll start them in the pots, then when I notice roots starting to show I'll take it as time to transplant. I have read some pros and cons to the Jiffy Pot method, but I bought them before reading up a bit more. I figure it's a decent starting point at least.