Seedling Soil: Side by Side Comparison

Here are some updated photos, no comparison IMO. I will never grow without inoculated soil again. Now I just need a female from each strain, come on ladies!!

Total Head said:

have you used that stuff? there was some discussion on another thread but no one really piped up about using it. i was concerned about the liquid form not being as effective as a granular or dry solution. i'm really not aware of any other liquid brands. i'm thinking if liquid was effective more companies would use it.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I got some samples of the whole new line from a garden party at one of my stores. Free nutes never hurts, so I have been using the whole line since October. Everything looks San Frantastic. I like being able to give repeat applications of beneficials and root stims...
This thread is very cool...I love the difference in results we are seeing.

If you ended up doing it I would love to see comparisons for Hygrozyme. I wish i found this thread before I did my seeds. And yes, I know is 6+ months old.

Thanks TJ

thanks for the interesting read im subbed..

This is an interesting experiment... but... there's always a but..lol. The uncontrolled aspect of this grow is the seeds..the different growth your seeing COULD be genetic... I would want to see 3 or more grows started this way to quantify the results, as well as clones from the same mother used to eliminate any genetic differences.I completely believe in building soil health and root stimulation early on. I used Humbolts Roots and Superthrive, in straight Roots Organic soil, on my plants last yr except for a few and saw what looked to be double the rootmass after 1 month compared to the untreated plants. Again it COULD have been due to genetics(all plants were seed starts), but it's hard to deny the fact only the treated plants had the increased growth.All my veggies I treated also grew faster,bigger,produced more fruit and produced earlier than the untreated ones. I just cut a plant this morning, I'm going to pull the rootmass to inspect it, I don't have a untreated plant to compare it to, so I will be looking at rootmass density and root branching. I'm trying to get my plants to fill a 5 or 10 gal pot almost completely with roots by the end of flowering. Next yr I'll be experimenting with air pruning and trying to figure out a way to baffle the soil to promote the roots to fill the soil rather than grow out to the sides, down and then spiral around the bottom.

Right now I'm an outdoor grower who's trying to keep it mostly organic and I truly believe that soil and root health can contribute more to the plants than almost any other aspect of growing.

Great information.Thanks for posting.

Excellent info! Thanks for posting.

Intresting thread, maybe repeat the experiment to be sure but i use benificials and certainly get great root growth. I have the liquid benificials from Vitalink, got it as a freebie and all i do is add one or two teaspoons to the soil directly under where i pot up my jiffy cubes. Read that if you get the funghi and bacterial developed on a young root they will multiply and spread with the root. Suppose it just keeps it cheap for me too as they also recomend futher soil drenches which i dont do. For me its just one small application to rootzone in the seedling stage and thats it. Roots are like very fuzzy and big, i like. It also contains trichoderma or whatever there called and other benificial bacteria. Either way plants have increased growth and resiliance to disease. Peace

nice that this thread resurfaced. i decided that the plant success granular stuff is the way to go for me. between the micro whatnot and the npk the roots are the best they've ever been. i mix it into the soil before planting and i'm really impressed with what it does for the plants so early on. the stuff is so great that i've been toying with lesser known high quality soil from a local master nursery. it's a lot cheaper and combined with worm castings and and the innoculant it's a real impressive soil. i'm actually so impressed with it that i've now started messing with slow release organic fertilizer(foxfarm peace of mind 5-5-5, also contains assorted micro bugs)+innoculant for the permanent pots and just the inocculant and happy frog for starting seeds. my goal is to make the soil to where i can use plain water throughout the grow if i want, and not have to mix nutes for feeding, and to grow organic without messing with teas or assorted guanos and messy ingredients, and also to save money. i'm going to top dress with the dry fertilizer every 30 days or so. it did wonders for my outdoor tomatoes this year so i'm looking forward to this. if i can actually sustain a heavy feeding plant throughout the whole grow this way i'll never mess with liquid/soluble ferts again.

about the seedling soil, it turns out that happy frog + plant success granular makes an excellent soil for planting seeds, establishing explosive robust roots, and also sustains the plant for a good 3 weeks at least in the starter pots (i use 1.5 liter pots to start). i'm expecting big things from the combo of this starter soil and my new concoction for the permanent pots. gardner's gold organic soil, worm castings, the organic 5-5-5, the granular innoculant, a bit o perlite, and some dolomite. i'm sure there might be hiccups, but i'm really looking forward to this. i have 2 established plants just planted in this soil a week ago and i'm impressed already. the best part is i can grow 10 plants in 3 gallon pots for less than 50 bucks for the soil and fertilizer combined. looking forward to the new thread.

Im not gona beat around the bush because i dont have to. Seedling soil is cool with just perlite and water now and again, enough nutes to start with but after lots of experimenting i find most seedling soils can and want a light fertilize at planting time. They are all a little light on nutes even for new seedlings.

I know this probably goes against the grain but i generally feed from day one in seedling soil and week two in normal soil and works everytime, the fact that i feed small and often and dont follow any fert chart just go by eye should tell you a bit more but trust me almost 100% of seedling soils will need pre fertilizing for good strong growth. Peace