Do I fertilize seedlings?

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by travis

"Peat pellets" are a soilless mix, usually comprised basically of coconut coir.

I know travis I used to germinate in rockwool first but I find the peat pellets much better for moisture retension. (this was for hydroponic applications of course)

[Ricky Shaw]

New best ever seedlings, planted 28 days ago they're 6 inches tall and 1/4 inch stems with suckers forming on the regular leaf.

ProMixHP, Hydro Gardens 4-18-38 and Cal & Mag at 1200ppm starting the 3rd week. No PH adjustment needed at 6.2

The 1200ppm is the recommended seedling dose and represents 3/4 of standard mixture strength. I'll be doing this in the future.

[ramapojoe]

nice plants Rick. hope you have a warm green house to keep them going

[pecker88]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

New best ever seedlings, planted 28 days ago they're 6 inches tall and 1/4 inch stems with suckers forming on the regular leaf.

ProMixHP, Hydro Gardens 4-18-38 and Cal & Mag at 1200ppm starting the 3rd week. No PH adjustment needed at 6.2

The 1200ppm is the recommended seedling dose and represents 3/4 of standard mixture strength. I'll be doing this in the future.

holy smokes, 1200ppm for 2-3 wk seedlings?

I'm using Masterblend (same as hydro gardens from what I understand), Cal & Mag and my 2 mo. old plants got toasted at full strength. Medium was peat based, minimal dry fert. added 2 months ago.

[Ricky Shaw]

Seemed stiff to me, but I've got nothing on line and it's all in the name of science right now. Upon transplant Oct 19th plain watered, and all subsequent waterings have been with ferts.

Within hours of that first feeding the potato leaf slumped and I was thinking 'goodnite Irene'. The next morning they both looked fine and have been in high gear since.

Instructions, suckers forming to the 3rd branch, canopy.

[Ricky Shaw]

Originally Posted by ramapojoe

nice plants Rick. hope you have a warm green house to keep them going

Some guilt, it doesn't haunt me, but the thought of wasting seed has crossed my mind. Outside of developing proficiency I'm already seeing there's a discovery component to heirlooms that I didn't get with BigBeef seedlings.

The potato leaf in the pics is from Paul Robeson seed via Cole Robbie, germinated two more and they were potato leaf also. Stoked now to grow a couple next season and see what turns up. Cole said potato leafs that were near would have been Linda's Faux, Ania, and Yellow Brandywine Platfoot.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

New best ever seedlings, planted 28 days ago they're 6 inches tall and 1/4 inch stems with suckers forming on the regular leaf.

ProMixHP, Hydro Gardens 4-18-38 and Cal & Mag at 1200ppm starting the 3rd week. No PH adjustment needed at 6.2

The 1200ppm is the recommended seedling dose and represents 3/4 of standard mixture strength. I'll be doing this in the future.

They look the best they could be.
I would continue doing whatever you have been doing.

Gardeneer

[RayR]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Seemed stiff to me, but I've got nothing on line and it's all in the name of science right now. Upon transplant Oct 19th plain watered, and all subsequent waterings have been with ferts.

Within hours of that first feeding the potato leaf slumped and I was thinking 'goodnite Irene'. The next morning they both looked fine and have been in high gear since.

Instructions, suckers forming to the 3rd branch, canopy.

1200ppm doesn't make any sense, way too hot. What meter do you have? Are you sure you're talking ppm? An EC of 1200µs/cm would sound right, that would come out to 600ppm on the 500 scale.

[Ricky Shaw]

RayR,

Thank you Ray, that's what I'm here for, to check my work. So, I have two Hanna testers, both calibrated recently. The PPM reading is 1266 on one and 1256 on the other, and my source water is 50-60. They each have PH at ~ 6.2 and the uS values are 2530 and 2540.

What checks is that I'm using the small batch measuring directions which say, "For 1 gallon, swap out the “pound” for “tsp” below. Meaning 1/2 tsp 4-18-38, 1/4 tsp each Mag&Cal and it comes out close on the meters. Matter of fact I have to add a pinch of fert to get it up to strength.

I think I'm using the meter correctly. If not, why would would the reading be close when I follow mixing directions and not way off? The user videos for the Hanna are not very in depth and I want to get this right. Comment are welcome.

[pecker88]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

RayR,

Thank you Ray, that's what I'm here for, to check my work. So, I have two Hanna testers, both calibrated recently. The PPM reading is 1266 on one and 1256 on the other, and my source water is 50-60. They each have PH at ~ 6.2 and the uS values are 2530 and 2540.

What checks is that I'm using the small batch measuring directions which say, "For 1 gallon, swap out the “pound” for “tsp” below. Meaning 1/2 tsp 4-18-38, 1/4 tsp each Mag&Cal and it comes out close on the meters. Matter of fact I have to add a pinch of fert to get it up to strength.

I think I'm using the meter correctly. If not, why would would the reading be close when I follow mixing directions and not way off? The user videos for the Hanna are not very in depth and I want to get this right. Comment are welcome.

I have no doubt your meters are correct, I use the same formula, but in 5 gallon batches. For 5 Gal, it's 12 grams 4-18-38, 6 grams Cal & Mag. I've mixed a few of these up and its 1100-1200, just like what your directions say for the 100 gal batch. FYI: just divide the 100 gal batch by a factor of 20 for 5 gal.

I'll give this s shot also, but from my recent experiments, it really depends on the variety of seedling.

From Tomato Growers Supply I got:
Bush Beefsteak
Better Bush VFN Hybrid

I have each of them, side-by-side in Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil + dried chicken manure fabric shopping bags and Krakty hydro 1200ppm solutions. In both cases the Better Bush VFN Hybrid is limp, crispy lower leaves, downward curled crab-claw like leaves and generally looks sick. The Bush Beefsteak in both setups is doing great, especially the Krakty hydro; flowering like crazy after 4 weeks.

So, in my case, I found that one variety reacts very differently to high ferts.
I have also found this with New Big Dwarf, very sensitive to fert. and easily get burned and are stunted forever.

[Ricky Shaw]

Excellent info pecker. A T8 florescent will be on all Winter and I'll continue to tinker with varieties. A bush hybrid or a dwarf would be nice and compact to work with, I will look for seed and try that out too.

Torn on what to do with the two seedlings in the pics, they'll be too big for these pots soon. I could leave them in the 4" pots or maybe replant them in a 1 gallon fabric pot and see how far they go in those. Even if I had grow lights, these would be too big to take to maturity I'd think.

[pecker88]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Excellent info pecker. A T8 florescent will be on all Winter and I'll continue to tinker with varieties. A bush hybrid or a dwarf would be nice and compact to work with, I will look for seed and try that out too.

Torn on what to do with the two seedlings in the pics, they'll be too big for these pots soon. I could leave them in the 4" pots or maybe replant them in a 1 gallon fabric pot and see how far they go in those. Even if I had grow lights, these would be too big to take to maturity I'd think.

heck, if you have 9ft ceilings, plenty of space! Pickup a 400w HID light off Amazon/Ebay; the kit is only $100 shipped: reflector, rope hangers, ballast, bulb, timer.

So addicting; I have 2 400w setups now, tons of experiments. I've found peppers are way easier.

[AKmark]

Ricky, I see you jumped on board, and you see why I have preached those products. Your PPM is just fine, I would not bat an eye. Also note, I have used much more than is recommended, but length of day up here seems to call for it. The highest PPM I ran is 1900 on mature plants, THEY LOVED ME. Also, if you divide your uS value/ microsiemens by 1000 you will get your EC value.

[Ricky Shaw]

Amen Mark. When I saw your pictures, I knew I would be memorialized and celebrated in song by my family with half those results. I will try to pay attention and thank you.

[Zenbaas]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Amen Mark. When I saw your pictures, I knew I would be memorialized and celebrated in song by my family with half those results. I will try to pay attention and thank you.

Love those comments Ricky.