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First year using horticubes

W

wordwiz

I don't have many seeds sown yet, it's still early for toms and except for 122 peppers, they are mostly sown in potting mix. But I did start 208 maters (Early Wonder) and 104 of the peppers recently in Oasis Horticubes. The peppers have been slower (as expected) to germinate but all but one variety has some up and soaking up light. Of the 208 maters I sowed last Saturday, 178 have poked their head through the cubes so far.

This winter, I played with the cubes enough to see that they will grow healthy seedlings to transplant size without a problem. Easy to care for, I keep water in the trays, adding a couple of quarts every three-four days. It's impossible to add too much water which is good. They are a bit pricey - about 5.4¢ per cell though the smaller ones are only 3¢/cell but there is no cost for potting mix, no need to pot-up and they induce fantastic roots. By comparison, a 40-cell plastic nursery flat is about 2.5¢ per cell though with care, they can be used more than once. But, if you add in the cost of good potting mix, the total cost is about the same or maybe a bit lower for the horticubes.

My plan is to start 200 more tomatoes each week for two weeks, then start some serious sowing in the middle of March!

Mike
 
This is my first year using the rapid rooter grow plugs, absolutely love them and will never go back.
I have over 600 plants going with just a handful left to go.
 
I tried the RR but found three negatives:

They were expensive, whether I bought the trays or just the inserts
Not biodegradable - I guess they are almost like a sponge
All the ones I transplanted to hydro systems ended up either dying or simply not growing - it was like the roots were locked into the cubes.

Glad you are having luck with them. I did like the fact I didn't need to water them very often!

Mike
 
The roots are already shooting out of the bottom; need to start transplanting this week.
They do seem like a sponge, but doesn't seem to hold the moisture as well as I would like.

I don't work with the hydroponics systems yet, not sure if it in the cards either.

So far much better than using the MG seed starter mix of last season.

Jack
 
I could be wrong, but I think Oasis is a synthetic foam and definately not biodegradable. I like what I've read about the physical properties and the price is right, but I don't think I'd want it ending up in my soil or compost. I hope I'm wrong on this and if so I'd give them a try next year.
 
are these horticubes peat based like the rapid rooters?

wordwiz,
i use something similar to rapid rooters, and alot of times i see a tap root shooting out the bottom before i even see true leaves. maby you had a a stroke of bad luck?
 
The horticube wedges were beomcing expensive so I decided I might as well try something similar but far less expensive. These seems even better than the wedges and are a lot less expensive. The seeds germinate a day or two quicker, they do not dry out as fast. I don't know how they will turn out when it comes to growing seedlings large enough to transplant, but so far, I like them.

Mike
 
On the ones I bought from Lucky Dreamer Herb Farm, nothing! If I do a mega-garden next year, I'll buy all my trays from Cheryl.

Mike
 
It's been nearly a month since I sowed the seeds in the smaller horticubes. These are 1 1/4 wide by one inch tall ones. The tomatoes really grow great in them, plus they are easy to transplant into either 40, 36 or 18-cell nursery flats. Some of the seedlings I have transplanted have roots growing out the sides and/or bottom of the cubes. So far, they have been taking to being up-potted very nicely.

goliath417.jpg


These are Early Wonder toms that were sown a month earlier but in the wedges. I like the cubes better!

earlywonders417.jpg


Mike
 
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