How do YOU start?

When you start seeds, what soil do you prefer before moving to Fox Farm Ocean Forest or the like? No hydro or aero.

Using Black Gold seedling mix right now and I'm not happy with it. I can't help but think its causing some of my issues. It holds water like a sponge, not needing watered for 10+ days. Which became a breeding ground for fungus gnats. In turn giving me extremely slow growth and even killing one of my seedlings.

Also, I'm not sure if there are any nutrients or if I need to start feeding.

That seedling in your avi only needs a tablespoon a day or every other day. If you have higher humidity it might take double the time before watering.

B&g potting is actually not bad at all, personally i prefere staring in peat/perlite mixes as i usually find some pretty fast root growth.

I used to get light warrior if youre looking for a bagged product. Anything thing light a fluffy with decent drainage will do.

When i stopped buying light warrior and had a bunch of amendments sitting around i started using 25% coco chunks 25%spagnum peat 50% perilite. I also would add in a bit of dolemite lime, rock dust, de, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, sumatran guano(or any veg guano), and worm castings.

Ffof is too hot for seeds

Fflw (light warrior) is what I use. And works perfect.

I'm a shot glass kinda guy, then into cups

Promix for all stages

FriendlyPharmacist said:

When you start seeds, what soil do you prefer before moving to Fox Farm Ocean Forest or the like? No hydro or aero.

Using Black Gold seedling mix right now and I'm not happy with it. I can't help but think its causing some of my issues. It holds water like a sponge, not needing watered for 10+ days. Which became a breeding ground for fungus gnats. In turn giving me extremely slow growth and even killing one of my seedlings.

Also, I'm not sure if there are any nutrients or if I need to start feeding.

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If it's taking that long to dry you probably need better air circulation.

i start a sprouted seed in coco coir, don't feed anything till the cotyledon leaves start to yellow, then 200 ppm till they get 4 or 5 sets of regular leaves, then they go into soil or w/e and start increasing the ppm by about 50-75 a week for a couple of weeks, unless its amended soil, then its when they start to look like they need it

Never used anything but the cheapest, large, 7 dollar bag of Miracle Grow. Never had a problem.

Soak rockwool cube in 5.5PH RO Water, drop seed. Wait 5 days. 98% success rate.

I use recycled unamended soil from an old root ball of a previously harvested plant which works great. I used to get cheapo starter mix potting soil; whatever they had at Walmart but with no fertilizer added which is just as good. If you just add some extra perlite ao your black gold it should improve drainage; that is a good quality base soil but maybe too heavy for delicate seedlings.
I drop them in a solo cup and cover with a ziplock bag until they sprout and then the bag is no longer needed; sometimes I will use a seed blanket if temps are cool. Usually takes 4-7 days and a new baby pot plant is born. I water them only every few days using a hand mister to keep the soil moist but not soaking wet. Your seedlings will grow slowly if there's bad drainage and keeping the soil wet will make things worse. Let it dry out a bit & once they've got a few nodes you should consider adding perlite and maybe even some coco to your black gold which should help with drainage and cut the mix down for your tender young plants.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Air circulation could be a factor with my soil staying moist too long. Tomorrow I'm going to add an air circulation fan to ensure it isn't a continuing problem.

Honestly the issue is probably me as a gardener. When I added the germinated seeds to the solo cups I saturated the soil until the cup drained from the bottom. I was afraid of the seed drying out not realizing the soil held water extremely well. I should have given them 30ml quantities at a time.

Lack of circulating air along with saturating the soil too soon... But its a learning experience.

The seedlings are about 3 weeks old today. Maybe too soon to be transplanted but progress seemed stagnant and I couldn't sit still any longer. Despite short stature, minimal growth and wilting leaves each seedling had healthy white fuzzy roots that circled the cups. I'm hopeful these girls find a second wind and start growing with a vengeance!!

Put mine straight into Solo cups with Promix or soil and place sandwich bag over the top to keep in moisture till it pops and place under T5's....These were started Sept-19th.. The Purple Trainwreck and Fuel Can bean is in a soil mix I had around.

i start in soil blocks!. there either 100% vermicastings or 50% vermicastings and 50% forest peat. i get them well saturated and press them using a mold/blocker. then i transplant to solo cups or liter size pots depending on space.

Krippled said:

Put mine straight into Solo cups with Promix or soil and place sandwich bag over the top to keep in moisture till it pops and place under T5's....These were started Sept-19th.. The Purple Trainwreck and Fuel Can bean is in a soil mix I had around.View attachment 3790860

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We demand a continental breakfast bar of all that when you're done.

I was using happy frog. Have since gone to Roots Original soil. Have had better luck all around, start to finish. I germinate seeds before hitting the soil. Also - roots soil doesnt need added perlite like fox farms which was a plus for me.

i literally just planted this full garden into a chinese foot container and it's lid. straight worm poo and some accidental debris
kale, chard, lettuce types, beats, radishes, dill, cauliflower, etc etc etc

Start in turbo cloner then happy frog that's been cooked a few months with lime....to finish.

I use my own soil recipe. After two atempts I was able to trasplant three day old seedlings into the soil without burning them and still get enough nutrients to finish it. I only use a powdered kelp meal with loads of micro and macro nutrients and molasses.

For sprout I just use a moist tissue within a glass box. After three days all seedlings usually have long White roots sticking out.

Peace

I do a card board box with a few holes punched in the sides of it then I drop my seeds in tiny seed starter containers line the bottom of the box with the seed containers ...fill with light warrior seed mix use a spray bottle to water just a few pumps every now and then ....once they pop I use a small water bottle with small holes poked in the cap so when I squeeze it ...it acts like a mini sprinkler again not very often ....I also cover the top of my box with clear plastic inbetween waterings until the babies are well established .......easy peasy ,cheap and is super successful for me

Before I go to sprout my beans I put them in a pill jar lined with 150 grit sandpaper and shake them back and forth gently for a full minute. This nicely scuffs up the outside of them and lets them absorb moisture evenly and pdq.

I used to soak my beans until they cracked but found that often gave iffy results. Now I put them in fine promix I have run through a 1mm mesh screen. Same mesh as mosquito netting on the old screen door. I like these flimsy 9-hole seed starter pots that I lay a piece of plastic like a ziplock loosely over to keep moisture in. Keep a 23W CFL close to the top and let them germ in the bedroom closet.