Walchit 2019

PaulG · Feb 16, 2019

Here's hoping you get some more
of those to germinate for ya.

DWB · Feb 16, 2019

Walchit said:
Oh and 23.99 for 1.5 cu ft of ocean forest

I imagine that dirt smells real good when it's cooking in the oven :drooling:

Devv · Feb 16, 2019

Looking good

Andy, you cook all the soil before you use it?

Walchit · Feb 16, 2019

I've been cooking this fox farm. Then adding coir, perlite, worm castings and kelp and stuff. Cooked dirt for a few hours today, its a pain in the ass. I will probably just get sticky traps next year. I just know this soil has gnats, either from fox farm or from sitting at the nursery. In my oven at 275 for about 75 mins gets it up to 160. Its probably counter productive, but I just had a bad experience with fungus gnats once, probably because I didn't think they were bothering anything so I let them get out of control.

Walchit · Feb 16, 2019

Sinn said:
Yeah I managed to get 2 but one was a helmet head and he didnt make it out of surgery

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are you out of seeds? I think I saved a couple. I could send them to you

CaneDog · Feb 17, 2019

Walchit said:
I just had a bad experience with fungus gnats once, probably because I didn't think they were bothering anything so I let them get out of control.

Cooking soil is a PITA, but fungus gnats are the worst if they get a foothold. I'd rather have aphids than a gnat infestation; at least I know I can eliminate those.

Walchit · Feb 17, 2019

I've never had aphids, knock on wood.

Cooking soil is a major PITA!

Kennylay · Feb 17, 2019

What does you coir come like? Is it bagged or bricked? I have bricks locally.

I've never added coco and may invest in a little if it helps as a soil building tool.

Sinn · Feb 17, 2019

Walchit said:
are you out of seeds? I think I saved a couple. I could send them to you

I have a couple more hopefully I can get 1 more to pop thank you for the offer appreciate it [emoji41]

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Sinn · Feb 17, 2019

Walchit said:
I've never had aphids, knock on wood.

Cooking soil is a major PITA!

Lol you guys are lucky if I tried to cook soil I’d be on the couch [emoji23]

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nmlarson · Feb 17, 2019

Sinn said:
Yeah I managed to get 2 but one was a helmet head and he didnt make it out of surgery

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I've had some luck dealing with helmet heads by snipping off the corner of a cheap snack size baggie, then spraying the inside of it with water or H2O2, then slipping it over the helmet. Keep it moist without saturating the plant and, eventually, the helmet will pop. Most any lightweight plastic would work, I believe. Also, I believe it was TrentL who made the statement if you see any sign of green sticking out of the helmet, no matter how small, the seed coat will eventually pop by itself. I've found that to be true for the most part.

Walchit · Feb 17, 2019

Kennylay said:
What does you coir come like? Is it bagged or bricked? I have bricks locally.

I've never added coco and may invest in a little if it helps as a soil building tool.

I have the burpee seed starting bricks, I like the way coco sucks up water. Doesn't get hydrophobic like peat. And seems to keep the peat from going hydrophobic too. I just need to start harder withe the nutes I think

Kennylay · Feb 17, 2019

I usually add soil to my helmet heads effectively re-hooking them. Here's a pic of a jalapeno I just topped off. Usually the second fight is enough to do the job.

Walchit · Feb 17, 2019

I just use these little clippers and cut all the way around the seed for helmet heads. I mess some of them up, but always start more than I can handle, so when one dies I usually don't mind

Kennylay · Feb 17, 2019

Sorry for double post!

@walchit I've been fighting getting my medium wet for two weeks, I think I'm gonna grab some as well. And don't kill those things!!

Walchit · Feb 17, 2019

I have some raised beds in gonna add coco to this year, they wouldn't accept water at all last season after they got dried out.

PaulG · Feb 17, 2019

Coco is definitely more sustainable, and from
you folks it sounds like it works better in the
garden as well.

@Andy - your nail(?) clipper method sounds
great - you must have a steady hand and a
good eye!

PtMD989 · Feb 17, 2019

Have you tried dumping boiling water over your soil, I think Edmick does this, to kill any nasties.

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CDNmatt · Feb 17, 2019

All my soil sits outside till I need it..like most of the bags have gone through a few bouts of -40c so wondering if that extreme cold would help with that type of stuff??

stc3248 · Feb 17, 2019

Glad I found this! Looks like the lights are working well. I have better luck getting the plants into larger containers early on as well. Some do OK in the starter cells, but most of them like to let their roots have room to spread out a bit I think. Will be following along. Best of luck!

Walchit 2019

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