Seedling Fertilizer Experiments

Chucker · June 18, 2013

I started some seeds for seedling fertilizer experiments tonight. I'm bored, and after the wet/cold spring we've had in Illinois, it will be a while before I get any tomatoes. So, why not experiment?

Ask the internet if you should fertilize seedlings, and you will get answers all over the board, from no, you should never give seedlings any fertilizer, to yes, you should give them some phosphorous from fish emulsion, to it's fine to give them a weak amount of the blue stuff. For the past few years, I have fed my seedlings with 1/2 tsp / gallon of the blue stuff, and that seemed to work out ok, but they always looked weak. This year I fed them 5mL/gallon of Dyna Gro Liquid Grow, and that worked out great. They were a nice dark green and very healthy.

So, what will I do next year? My first experiment will be to try homemade Calcium Nitrate and Potassium Nitrate fertilizer. Using these ingredients will leave the phosphorous at zero. My hope is that this will produce shorter seedlings. I plan to grow one seedling in plain distilled water as the control and increasing amounts of the CaNO32 and KNO3 for the other seedlings, probably 1g/gallon, 2g/gallon, etc.

I will try to provide weekly pictures, and if this one fails, try something else.

The seeds of choice will be Burpee Super Beefsteak simply because they were on sale at Menards tonight and I'm not going to waste my saved seeds

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TomNJ · June 19, 2013

Very interesting! I look forward to your weekly pictures!

TomNJ/VA

Chucker · June 27, 2013

I now have 5 healthy seedlings ready for experimentation. I mixed up some fertilizer tonight. Seedling #0 will get distilled water. Seedling #1 will get 500mg calcium nitrate/500mg potassium nitrate/gallon. Seedling #2 will get 1g/1g / gallon, #3 gets 1500mg/1500mg / gallon, and #4 gets 2g/2g / gallon. I will hold off on the pics for now, since they all look the same and are only a week old.

Chucker · July 7, 2013

Well, nothing exciting to report, they look like seedlings. They all seem to be happy and healthy. No significant differences that I can tell. I would say that the one with no fertilizer (far left) and the one with the most fertilizer (far right) are the two smallest/least growth. The middle one looks the best to me at his point.

Chucker · July 14, 2013

Had to take these pictures from above as the seedlings are still not taller than their containers.

Plant zero: Distilled water only, the smallest of them all, but still healthy.

Plant 1: More growth than plant zero, slight yellowing of the leaves.

Plant 2: Most growth of them all, probably twice the size of plant zero, but also the most yellowing of the leaves.

Plant 3: Less growth than plant 2.

Plant 4: My favorite so far. About the size of the plant zero, but looks healthier/greener.

July 14, 2013	#5
Chucker Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 180	July 14 Update Had to take these pictures from above as the seedlings are still not taller than their containers. Plant zero: Distilled water only, the smallest of them all, but still healthy. Plant 1: More growth than plant zero, slight yellowing of the leaves. Plant 2: Most growth of them all, probably twice the size of plant zero, but also the most yellowing of the leaves. Plant 3: Less growth than plant 2. Plant 4: My favorite so far. About the size of the plant zero, but looks healthier/greener.

June 18, 2013	#1
Chucker Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 180	Seedling Fertilizer Experiments I started some seeds for seedling fertilizer experiments tonight. I'm bored, and after the wet/cold spring we've had in Illinois, it will be a while before I get any tomatoes. So, why not experiment? Ask the internet if you should fertilize seedlings, and you will get answers all over the board, from no, you should never give seedlings any fertilizer, to yes, you should give them some phosphorous from fish emulsion, to it's fine to give them a weak amount of the blue stuff. For the past few years, I have fed my seedlings with 1/2 tsp / gallon of the blue stuff, and that seemed to work out ok, but they always looked weak. This year I fed them 5mL/gallon of Dyna Gro Liquid Grow, and that worked out great. They were a nice dark green and very healthy. So, what will I do next year? My first experiment will be to try homemade Calcium Nitrate and Potassium Nitrate fertilizer. Using these ingredients will leave the phosphorous at zero. My hope is that this will produce shorter seedlings. I plan to grow one seedling in plain distilled water as the control and increasing amounts of the CaNO32 and KNO3 for the other seedlings, probably 1g/gallon, 2g/gallon, etc. I will try to provide weekly pictures, and if this one fails, try something else. The seeds of choice will be Burpee Super Beefsteak simply because they were on sale at Menards tonight and I'm not going to waste my saved seeds . Last edited by Chucker; June 18, 2013 at 11:33 PM.

June 19, 2013	#2
TomNJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Floyd VA Posts: 771	Very interesting! I look forward to your weekly pictures! TomNJ/VA

June 27, 2013	#3
Chucker Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 180	I now have 5 healthy seedlings ready for experimentation. I mixed up some fertilizer tonight. Seedling #0 will get distilled water. Seedling #1 will get 500mg calcium nitrate/500mg potassium nitrate/gallon. Seedling #2 will get 1g/1g / gallon, #3 gets 1500mg/1500mg / gallon, and #4 gets 2g/2g / gallon. I will hold off on the pics for now, since they all look the same and are only a week old.

July 7, 2013	#4
Chucker Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Illinois Posts: 180	Well, nothing exciting to report, they look like seedlings. They all seem to be happy and healthy. No significant differences that I can tell. I would say that the one with no fertilizer (far left) and the one with the most fertilizer (far right) are the two smallest/least growth. The middle one looks the best to me at his point.