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soil Jiffy pellet to what soil mixture.

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Deano86

Hi all so i have some chilli seedlings in some jiffy pellets that need to be repotted. Do i wait for roots to emerge from the sides or pot before they appear. Secondly what would be the ideal mixture to plant into? I have vermiculite, perlite, worm castings, bone meal, potting mix, compost and coco peat to make a mixture.

Will then also fertize with a water based nitrogen fert once 3 to 4 sets of true leaves appear.

Thanks in advance. .
 
Hi. You can wait for roots to emerge, but you don't have to, in my experience it doesn't make much difference either way.

Is the "potting mix" composted pine bark? (like it is in Australia), or else what is in that?

I assume you're planting them into a container?

The idea of the "soil mixture" is to provide structure and a balance of water and air, you won't want it to hold too much water, or not enough air, not much fine stuff.

From my horticulture training it's ideal to have 25% air, 25% water, and 50% 'stuff'.

I use commercial composted pine bark because it's easy, if it's too heavy I amend it with perlite, and / or sift out the really fine stuff too.

Personally I wouldn't use worm castings, bone meal, or compost.

If there's no fertiliser in the potting mix then you will need to apply a complete liquid fertiliser, at a low rate, to begin with.

Sorry it's not a very direct answer but I'm sure others will chime in, it might make for an interresting discussion.
 
@Deano86 if you can get it in GP, then try & get some Freedom Farms premium potting soil & grow with that only. I'm growing in a 2:1 mix of coco:freedom farms as an experiment, but I fully intend to run liquid fertilizer after the 1st month. Otherwise, a decent mix that a buddy of mine is using is 2:1 coco:compost, you can maybe eyeball the rest of the amendments & skip the potting mix.
 
johnwilliamhunter said:
Hi. You can wait for roots to emerge, but you don't have to, in my experience it doesn't make much difference either way.

Is the "potting mix" composted pine bark? (like it is in Australia), or else what is in that?

I assume you're planting them into a container?

The idea of the "soil mixture" is to provide structure and a balance of water and air, you won't want it to hold too much water, or not enough air, not much fine stuff.

From my horticulture training it's ideal to have 25% air, 25% water, and 50% 'stuff'.

I use commercial composted pine bark because it's easy, if it's too heavy I amend it with perlite, and / or sift out the really fine stuff too.

Personally I wouldn't use worm castings, bone meal, or compost.

If there's no fertiliser in the potting mix then you will need to apply a complete liquid fertiliser, at a low rate, to begin with.

Sorry it's not a very direct answer but I'm sure others will chime in, it might make for an interresting discussion.
Click to expand...
Hi @johnwilliamhunter thaks for the reply and advise.
Here in South Africa you can get premium potting soil as @Jimmy-Z mentioned above but at a premium price.
My last mix was coco/compost not bad but too a while for seedlings to grow bigger.
The hardware bought potting soil as well as nursery bought mostly have bark in that i remove when i make my mixes.

Main thing is i don't want to give the seedling too much of a good thing as this is normally bad.. dont want to stunt growth or burn the plant.
On some of the worm castings bags it says you can use it with out any risk of burning the plant??
 
The Freedom Farms premium potting soil is aimed at 'organic' growing. You'll have to decide if you want an organic mix like that, which in my opinion is complicated in a container, or a true soilless mix, which in my opinion is much simpler.

It's true that worm castings won't burn a plant, but will they feed it without bacteria to break it down further? and will they provide good structure and air filled porosity in a container?

Not giving too much of a good thing is why people use a low rate of fertiliser for seedlings.
 
johnwilliamhunter said:
The Freedom Farms premium potting soil is aimed at 'organic' growing. You'll have to decide if you want an organic mix like that, which in my opinion is complicated in a container, or a true soilless mix, which in my opinion is much simpler.

It's true that worm castings won't burn a plant, but will they feed it without bacteria to break it down further? and will they provide good structure and air filled porosity in a container?

Not giving too much of a good thing is why people use a low rate of fertiliser for seedlings.
Click to expand...
That's very true, the easiest mix is simply coco with perlite. I use a buffered 90/10 for cannabis & one of the cheapest salt based fertilizers around. I've used the same stuff for tobacco & a few loquat trees I started. With the birdseye I have going, I used some old recycled coco & I'm growing a few in some clay soil I had.

There is a bit of a learning curve with feeding in coco & that's something I'm looking forward to when it comes to peppers.
 
HellfireFarm said:
Curious why not? (especially compost)
Click to expand...
A few reasons, because compost doesn't maintain a good structure in a container, it can compact and hold too much water reducing the oxygen available to the roots, it requires microbes to break it down into elements the plant can use, which it's difficult to maintain a good environment for in a container (outdoor at least), and to avoid risk of pathogens. It can be used successfully but I find it unnecessarily complicated. The same reasons for worm castings. Bone meal because it's not a complete fertiliser and will require adding more ingredients, again just more complicated in my opinion. Of course I use lots of compost in my garden soil, just not containers.
 
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Deano86 said:
Hi all so i have some chilli seedlings in some jiffy pellets that need to be repotted. Do i wait for roots to emerge from the sides or pot before they appear. Secondly what would be the ideal mixture to plant into? I have vermiculite, perlite, worm castings, bone meal, potting mix, compost and coco peat to make a mixture.

Will then also fertize with a water based nitrogen fert once 3 to 4 sets of true leaves appear.

Thanks in advance. .
Click to expand...
Hello, DeanO,
I personally never had experience with Jiffys but I'd get them into potting soil as soon as I had nice cotys.

WIth only those ingredients I'd simulate sphagnum moss by mix addind vermiculite to the coco peat. Coco peat drains a little to quickly to be my main water retainer though I've used it as a more or less pure hydroponic media similar to @Blister. So the vermiculite becomes the water retaining ingredient. I'd start at 50/50 and make sure it was good and damp after a few days but not soggy and adjust as needed. This will be 50% of your base mix.

Next, you need a nutrient base at 25% of the final base. You could just use your straight compost straight up assuming it's half way decent but hedging with 50/50 of worm casting is what I'd probably do. If you don't use the worm stuff here at least put a cup or two per cu ft into the final base mix as a nutrient.

Finally the base mix has to breath. Use 25% perilte and you're base is done. If the mix feels mucky, add a little more perlite or even coir. If it feels too fluffy, add more compost or worm poo. Those percentages are ballpark numbers, varying some won't hurt.

I'd stay away from the potting mix unless it was a highend mix, like $20US per 2cf bag, with good reveiws.
The cheap stuff at the big box stores in the US is usually garbage and should be tested before committing a season to it.

I don't use bone meal much, but a few tablespoons per cf should be plenty.
I tend to use Epsoma Plantone, kelp, or alfalfa pellets these days to add fertility to a base mix, but it takes a while to "cook" these into the mix. The worm poo is an EXCELLENT amendment, but a liltte variety is best. If you need to plant right away maybe some liquid organic product a little heavy on the nitrogen side is the way to go.

Good Luck!
 
@Deano86 - Might be a little late, but if you used Jiffy #7's, you might want to remove the net prior to planting.

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