Jiffy Peat Pellet Cubes for seedlings..

Has anyone used the jiffy cubes to grow in? I've been thru about 24 cubes and i still dont know what the problem is, but i think i may beplanting seedlings too far down. Attached I have pic examples of the different ways to plant, but i dunno which way is the correct way, so if anyone could point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.




1 taproot stuck into hole, seedling on surface

2. taproot buried, seed rests ontop of surface

3 everything stuck into hole, but nothing on surface and nothing buried

4 taproot buried, seed rests in hole



Im currently doin number 4, but i havent had anything break soil...anyone know why?

Yeah i'd say number 4 was about right. People always say put the seed about 5mm down in to the soil/cube, Were are you keeping them, Are they warm enought.. Might sound like a stupid question but are you germinating them be for you stick them in the cube, how long are you waiting for them to shoot..

I always germinate mine first then put them into soil/cube then after about one to two weeks i can see it shooting out the top

Jiffy peats are a bad idea to use.They seem like they would be good but they often rot easily and when you go to transplant your roots grow into the jiffy pot making you have to break roots and stress the plants and if you leave them in the pots and bury the pots it slows root growth and can root bind your plant causing very slow or little growth.Plant directly in soil or get some rockwool.Stay away from peat cubes they suck...

FilthyFletch said:

Jiffy peats are a bad idea to use.They seem like they would be good but they often rot easily and when you go to transplant your roots grow into the jiffy pot making you have to break roots and stress the plants and if you leave them in the pots and bury the pots it slows root growth and can root bind your plant causing very slow or little growth.Plant directly in soil or get some rockwool.Stay away from peat cubes they suck...

Click to expand...

I have heard that specifically Jiffy Cubes were BAD for the exact same reason

I don't agree with that. There are billions of them sold. Sorry, its not the product. You dont have to break roots out of a jiffy pot. just plant the pot.
could you describe what you did spittin. Ive planted in peat everyone of the ways you show above and gotten plants all of those ways.

Erowid's Cannibis Vault quote
Erowid Cannabis Vault : Cultivation #10

Germinate seeds in sterile soil (for planting outdoors) or a hydroponic
medium of rockwool or vermiculite. DO NOT (!) use a Jiffy cube #7 to
germinate seeds. Informal tests and experience show these peat cubes do
not work well and stunt the plants growth. (perhaps this peson was doing something wrong like not realizing that PEAT does change PH?)

end quote

This is not to say that I disagreee with VV, I simply wish to present the other side of the coin.

nope, all of those methods should work.

OK then you convinced ME, lol, but would you not agree then that the problem here is Heat, or rather lack of it?

Perhaps. I think it may have made a difference in my case. I am using hydro with coco coir as the medium and I do an EC reading on my nute tanks every day, so any effect it had on ph would have been minimized. I did have plants 6' tall so I am having a little trouble believing I had stunted growth but maybe I did. By the way I'm not using them now, I like the Rapid Rooters. 50 for $17.00 in my area including a tray. Refill plugs at $12.00. They are ready to plant in without doing any thing. I'll try and post a pic I have of them.

VictorVIcious said:

Perhaps. I think it may have made a difference in my case. I am using hydro with coco coir as the medium and I do an EC reading on my nute tanks every day, so any effect it had on ph would have been minimized. I did have plants 6' tall so I am having a little trouble believing I had stunted growth but maybe I did. By the way I'm not using them now, I like the Rapid Rooters. 50 for $17.00 in my area including a tray. Refill plugs at $12.00. They are ready to plant in without doing any thing. I'll try and post a pic I have of them.

Click to expand...

Wow ONLY 6 feet LOL... I'm lucky I get 6 inches HA. This person has not mentioned medium, but if it's Hydro then EC should alert you to PH levels that are off. If it's soil (have a sneaking suspicion it is) could be that the PH is stunting growth. Or not enough heat to warm seedlings.

sorry folks, stoned again. The widow seems to be getting stronger the longer it cures...Duhh.

he has a picture of a heat mat I assumed he was using it. I have done it with and without a heat mat. Without was in the summer though.

I missed that. Then PH i would guess

Jiffy 7s work ok, but are hardly optimum. I use them mostly for non cannabis crops....zinnias, cosmos, tomatoes etc.
They are designed to be placed directly in soil, leaving roots intact.
They should be transplanted soon after the cotyledons unfurl.
They can dry out very quickly, and have to be watched carefuly.

I use # 4 above and it works fine.
I prefer 16oz white styrofoam cups for starting cannabis seeds.

all of these things are possible. The only way to find out what could be wrong is to find out what has been done. I have tried to make it a habit to go look at a persons profile before I give any opinions. I didn't do that this time. After I jumped in like that I looked at the profile. Could be many things but he is trying and I really want to help. If your interested I posted pics pf the rapid rooters ans a pic of clones in RR after 10 days. The RR pic says about a week after gernmination. I checked my log, its 5 days. If I knew how I'd post them here, but you know how old people are.

Morning wavels, like that avatar a lot better. I'm so far behind I didn't even now there were differences.

Mornin VV...thanks for noticing.

I have heard nothing but good things about rapid rooters....have to check 'em out!

I am starting my non cannabis plants for summer this week....Coleus and Torrenia yesterday.....

there should be a forum here for general gardening.....what fun growing things from seed can be!

speaking of which, I have 6 roma tomato plants in my grow show right now. Planted around 11/27, flowering for a few weeks now. Any ides on pruning would be helpful.

Man I was wrong about this widow. This stuff is kicking my ass. gotta go do some work. I'll check back later today.

I soak them in rain water (melted snow) until they sink and then i put them in a paper towel to germ,

once they crack and the root gets about 1/4 inch long i plant them in jiffy cubes.

since most of the holes are already made I just stick the seed in there, i usually squeeze the cube so i can create a hole to stick the root down and cover..like pic #4 shows.

i wait and wait, but nothing comes up. maybe im too anxious and keep picking with them too much...well i know i used to, I went from checking on them like 20 times a day to only checking them when i wake up, and before i go to sleep..maybe once or twice between then, but not nearly as much as i used to..

I've even tried to plant them in 6" pots instead of using cubes but that didnt work either.

I dont use the heating pad anymore, now i use an incandescant light to generate heat in the box for me.

i just get kinda upset bcuz i see people who get the seedling to sprout in like 3 days on some of these journals, and from there its golden, i had like 3 sprouts but i think they were too close to the light and the heating pad was on so they fried up, but like i said i dont use the heating pad anymore and i only have them in there with 1 incandescent light.
__________________