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Arthropods 2019

I started soaking some seeds on about December 1st, trying to get an early start this year. Grew slooow through December and first week of January and then got some growth. I'll put up some recent pictures later. 
 
I've also started planning for outdoors. Bought some bales of straw for compost making. I'm wondering about herbicide residue in the straw so I threw a seedling in a pot with only straw. It doesn't absorb much water at all so I have it in a double cup, outer pot has no drain holes. Gotta be careful about moisture. 
 
Straw stacked
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Covered
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Seedling test
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I'm interested to see what happens. I hope I don't get any signs of herbicide damage because I'd like to be able to compost all this straw and expand the garden.
 
Walchit said:
Yeah I meant sewing, not seeing lol. I just used the napkins cause I can get them for free. I was gonna do a bunch of them until I saw how much soil they take to fill up lol.
The bright red is nice too. Yeah I hope to make enough compost over this winter to fill at least a few big ones
 
PaulG said:
Those are super-awesome! I'll bet they work great,
and that you can make them last a couple of seasons
if you wanted, considering the work and time you have
invested.  Very pro-looking!  I would probably use a stapler  ;)
 
 
I have used root pouches from 1 gallon to 7 gallons
in size, and found all of them very stable. 
And durable, especially if watering from the top.
Thank you! It was my first time sewing since I was a little kid but I had a pro teaching me and a nice sewing machine. I used some pretty sturdy thread because I figured thats what would give out soonest. Have you had a hard time removing plants for transplant once they get some serious roots going?
 
Arthropods said:
Thank you! It was my first time sewing since I was a little kid but I had a pro teaching me and a nice sewing machine. I used some pretty sturdy thread because I figured thats what would give out soonest. Have you had a hard time removing plants for transplant once they get some serious roots going?
That's one reason I went back to plastic #1 pots, easier
to remove the plants. Your material is kind of slick, so may
not be a problem. Mine were thick, felt-type fabric, so
more difficult to remove.
 
Here's the method I used to get the plants out of the root pouches.
 
Thanks for that method, that is very clever. Id probably have spent a half hour on the first one and then have to figure something else out. It might be harder for me with the square containers, but I designed them to fit in 1020 trays so hopefully that was worth it
 
Does anyone think that canoe leaf and slow growth could have been UNDER watering? Pulled a couple for transplant and they have pretty serious root systems, maybe they were pulling up more water than I thought. They were in tiny cells and I was bottom watering, only letting a bit at the bottom get wet usually
 
That very well could be. It seems to be a mystery to just about everyone when it happens but when I noticed canoes on a couple of my plants the other day when feeding/watering, they were kinda dry due to the heat. It's largely resolved now.
 
Mine are looking better now too. Im thinking the dryness or pH issuestap comes out here really high, and I had to use some a while back. pHed it but then left it in a jug and used more later. Only recently re-tested and saw that it came way back up
 
karoo said:
YBS bottom left corner , just call him Wally.
Good luck on your grow.
 
Wow I didnt even know I threw a red herring in there! I looked back at it and thats a tiny little piece of something that just looks exactly like a hook. Bottom right is a white line that is the real hook, shot from the top so it doesnt look like one. I swear I wasnt trying to be thaaat tricky
 
Oh boy I wish you hadnt asked. Not great, it unfolded one leaf a bit and veeeerrry slowly. I assume its from overwatering because for a while I kept it way over watered, didnt know how effectively straw was holding moisture. Now the straw at the bottom is rotting maybe drawing N out of fert solution... Who knows, inconclusive test.

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Hasnt killed the seedling. I think Im just gonna proceed with compost making and mix it atleast 50-50 with other compost or soil.
 

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Little update with pictures. Lots of plants are growing pretty slow, I'm just showing the pretty ones!
 
Got life on the straw test seedling! I started using distilled water and pHing thoroughly, as well as decreased watering on it and it looks like no herbicide damage!
 
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Goronong is still making me happy with its color. Growth is definitely slower than some other people's but it's going along. 
 
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Fatalii and Orange Manzano doing pretty well in their home-sewn cloth bags. They took a while to start producing new growth so I assume they were putting on some root mass.
 
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Red Dedo de Moca 
 
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Orange Manzano has been flying since it was a seed. It looks great.
 
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Kratky in perlite for this growdown SL Red. I just wanted to see its growth in hydroponics, it's definitely outperforming the coir grown seedlings. Unfortunately it looks like the wrong pheno, but I'll keep it around anyway.
 
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This cutting from the Aji Ahuachapan has rooted well and is now growing hydroponically in a big shot glass.
 
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And I started a bunch of Anuums March 1st, they're getting off to a good start now.
 
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Beautiful start to your grow, Thomas.
From cotys to apical nodes, everything
looks perfect!
 
Really glad to see your straw test work-
ed out. That's a healthy seedling!
 
Thanks Paul! Of course that's cause I'm hiding the bad parts, but I'm happy with what I've got that's working well! That's as long as I don't watch you all too closely and see how quickly your plants grow compared to mine. 
 
But from tips on this site I've started to see better growth with freshly started seeds.
 
For future me, here are a couple things that I have learned that seem to have contributed to better results recently:
  • Rinsing coco coir thoroughly and using a mild fert solution for the last rinse
  • Fertilizing early when growing in only coco coir and perlite (like, right when they sprout)
  • Making sure fert water is around the right pH and not full of things like sodium and chloride
 
Just want to show off a few plant pictures. The ones in the smaller cells have taken off way more quickly since I switched water sources. I had been using my city tap water before, which comes out with weirdly high levels of sodium, calcium, and chloramine as well as some other stuff—altogether it's at about 350 ppm and 9.2 pH... Before adding any nutrients. I think the bad stuff like sodium built up in the media, and the smaller cells have had it washed out more easily since I switched to distilled water. It costs a little per gallon, but I only use around a gallon or two a week.
 
They had been growing very slowly and the larger leaves had turned yellow. I also was having a lot of leaf cupping. All of that stuff seems to have stopped in the small cells but not totally in the bigger pots. Just thoroughly watered all the 3.5" pots today to runoff, trying to wash out the bad stuff, with 1/4 tsp per gallon dynagro foliage pro which I recently bought.
 
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Clockwise from top right: unidentified because of lost tag but those very round leaves are looking great, orange manzano, and chocolate brainstrain
 
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