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| My first success at growing from seed. I had tried growing from seed a couple of times by putting them in a south window years ago , of course with no success. Leggy plants that finally fell over and collasped. Newly retired I decided this year I had the time to invest in proper seed starting, with lights. I have accessed all the information I could from this and other sites. It has been a great help. I started seeds a little early for here in zone 6 so I gave them a lot of light and kept the heat out around 60 so they wouldn't get away from me. Alot of them ( the majority) look healthy but are only about 2 in tall and have there second set of true leaves. Today I transplanted several to 8oz cups with Organic Jiffy seed starting mix and 20% sterilized compost. I did this outside as It is 67deg and cloudy. My question is how long can one leave them out on a cloudy warm ( 65 - 70 deg. day. And oh by the way I have some pics of some Black Krims that I started 2 wks after all the others that I started in a mix of 20% sterilized compost. The others were all started inThe Organic Jiify seed starting mix. The Black Krims dwarf all the other plants ( probably 10 times bigger by total size. I just tried this as an experiment to see if there would be a difference as most of the info I read said it is a no-no to add compost . Just wondering too if anybody else starts with compost added ? , |
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| The recommendation against using compost, what you call the no-no - is based on the fact that by using it you increase the chances of damp-off developing and killing the seedlings 10 fold. If you use it and you do NOT get damp-off, great. no problem. However most find the risk to be both unnecessary and unacceptable. But it is your choice of course. Further, not all compost is equal. By nature, it varies greatly. So what compost may work well for one doesn't mean ANY compost will work. Again, an added risk. Then one needs to keep in mind, as is often pointed out here, comparing the performance of different varieties of seedlings can be very misleading. Different genetics = different performance. My question is how long can one leave them out on a cloudy warm ( 65 - 70 deg. day. There is no specific answer to that question. Too many variables. But length of time of exposure correlates to frequency of exposure. First time out is brief, usually leass than an hour. Second time out is a bit longer etc. One suggestion to consider based on your pic - those are all transplanted very shallowly - full cups of mix and lots of exposed stem. Bare stems benefits greatly from being buried and nothing says the plant has to sit at the top rim of the cup. You'll get stronger, healthier plants and longer use out os each size container with deep transplanting. Dave |
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- Posted by Marshallkey none (My Page) on Mon, Apr 8, 13 at 16:12
| Thanks for the info Dave . Very helpful . Greatly appeciated. Thats why I love this site. Never too old to learn . |
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- Posted by Marshallkey none (My Page) on Mon, Apr 8, 13 at 16:21
| Maybe just a 20% mix of the compost, which is the percentage I used. My compost that I sterilized personally would greatly reduce the chances of damping off as opposed to 100% compost.Do you think I should save some of this compost for seed starting next year or would it be usable and beneficial after setting for a year? Sorry, new at composting too ! |
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