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soil Moving to Red Solo cups, what soil to use?

Hello...this is my first time growing. i recently have been inspired to grow. So i bought some from PepperLover.com Growth ratio seems to be doing pretty well.. Plants are beginning to hook and I'm just trying to prepare on what to do next. I plan on letting the roots fill out the Jiffy Pellets before transplanting. What soil do you recommend using when I transplant to the Solo cups? And when should i remove the dome completely?
 
I transplanted mine into a mixture of ProMix, maybe 10-15% worm castings and Fox Farms Marine Cuisine (2tsp per gallon instead of the recommended 1tbsp). All my seedlings have tripled in size in the past 8 days since transplanting and have the darkest, healthiest looking green leaves of any of my plants I've had yet.

The Marine Cuisine is great. It's mostly time release and like 80% organic. At $20 a bag I can make hundreds of gallons of soil and not have to worry about fertilizing at all for at least 3 months. It's probably been my favorite win of this growing season.
 
I transplanted mine into a mixture of ProMix, maybe 10-15% worm castings and Fox Farms Marine Cuisine (2tsp per gallon instead of the recommended 1tbsp). All my seedlings have tripled in size in the past 8 days since transplanting and have the darkest, healthiest looking green leaves of any of my plants I've had yet.

The Marine Cuisine is great. It's mostly time release and like 80% organic. At $20 a bag I can make hundreds of gallons of soil and not have to worry about fertilizing at all for at least 3 months. It's probably been my favorite win of this growing season.

do you think i could find the Marine Cuisine in town? I'm trying to go with things i can pick up locally
 
Not sure about Lafayette but online runs a bit cheaper and shipping should be really fast in the states. I was lucky enough to find it at a backdoor hydroshop near me, otherwise I was gonna order it from Progressivegrowth I think.
 
these things are growing faster than i thought. i need to do something soon. i got about 15 i pulled from the dome to start them on some light..and its only been 1 week since i put them in the jiffy pellets.

And honestly I'm pretty much just winging this stuff. I never grew peppers before. I feel like the peppers are growing more than the information i can absorb. I'm trying to use this site to gain the knowledge on what i need to do. I thought these seeds would take a while and i would have time to read up on what i need to do next. Either I'm not reading quick enough, or these plants are growing too fast, haha. I got most of them under the Jiffy dome right now with no light and i got about 15 i pulled out today to put under light because they are about an inch to two inches above soil. So, i guess ill let yall know my next move. When i feel these have gotten big enough or i start seeing roots on the side of these jiffy pellets, i will transfer them over to the solo cups. I'm still trying to gain knowledge on what soil i should mix up. Someone recommended throwing some Marine Cuisine into the soil mix. Doesn't look like a bad idea from what i read. So, i think if i can find some of that in-town i will throw that into the mix. I think between now and then, I will continue to read on here to see what people are doing(a lot of information scattered everywhere on this site) and maybe stop at a few feed stores to see what they have to say or recommend.

:confused: I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum. I wanted to put it in Growing Hot Peppers. Sorry:-/
 
While amps is making a good recommendation, if I were you I would avoid trying to mix something together myself for now. I made things too complicated at the beginning, and that was one of the ways. I ended up spending more time and money trying to get the mix right than I would have on quality soil, then all the plants looked like hell anyway. After I re-potted them in quality soil it made all the difference. I would go to a nursery or a hydroponics store and get something good that is mixed well. I've had really good luck with Happy Frog and Roots Organic. Fox Farms is supposed to be good too.

Now that I know a little more I'm experimenting a bit with the mixes, but I also know what to look for a little better when something goes wrong.
 
While amps is making a good recommendation, if I were you I would avoid trying to mix something together myself for now. I made things too complicated at the beginning, and that was one of the ways. I ended up spending more time and money trying to get the mix right than I would have on quality soil, then all the plants looked like hell anyway. After I re-potted them in quality soil it made all the difference. I would go to a nursery or a hydroponics store and get something good that is mixed well. I've had really good luck with Happy Frog and Roots Organic. Fox Farms is supposed to be good too.

Now that I know a little more I'm experimenting a bit with the mixes, but I also know what to look for a little better when something goes wrong.

Ok, sounds good. I'll stop by a local nursery and see what they got to say. Or see what I can pick up mixed already.
 
I'm using plain old MG potting mix with some vermiculite mixed in. This is my first year germinating but have been growing from starts for about 3 years. Everything is looking good so far. I will mix in more stuff (promix, composted manure, perlite) when they get into 3-5 lb pouch/pots later this spring.
 
I'm right behind you Dj. Hooping for some hooks within the week.
I'm mixing about 50/50 coir and vermiculite with General Organics nutrients.

Remember this...
Dj, keep it simple....Out in the untamed wilderness, they get dirt, sun and rain and they do just fine.

...Brilliant! The trouble is when you start recreating that wilderness in controlled environs, the simplicity all of the sudden starts to look very, very,very complex. The orchestration of microbes, nutrients, mineral substrates, air, water, heat, light is not only complex but downright daunting. The good news is you can get close enough to make good pepper juju. You just have to learn the system, or follow those that all ready know it until you do. Once you decide on your dirt of choice, start collecting rainwater. Rainwater is priceless. Also check out the AACT thead -now we're talkin' real wilderness. Good Luck!

Ohh, one more thing. I'm using clear cups instead of red with a wad of medium that is roughly equi-distance from a center point instead just filling it to the top. Clear so you can see the root hit the boundary -indicating the time to pot up to the next container. A "spherical" lump for efficiency sake I guess. I haven't done this yet but I'm convinced it comes from someone who knows the system.
 
the clear cups are a good idea...I'll do that
I agree, keeping it simple will be the best idea for me this year starting out. I think all i need is to transfer when they get bigger and just use some regular potting soil mix, put them outside, and just let nature take its course, with regular watering of course
 
While amps is making a good recommendation, if I were you I would avoid trying to mix something together myself for now. I made things too complicated at the beginning, and that was one of the ways. I ended up spending more time and money trying to get the mix right than I would have on quality soil, then all the plants looked like hell anyway. After I re-potted them in quality soil it made all the difference. I would go to a nursery or a hydroponics store and get something good that is mixed well. I've had really good luck with Happy Frog and Roots Organic. Fox Farms is supposed to be good too.

Now that I know a little more I'm experimenting a bit with the mixes, but I also know what to look for a little better when something goes wrong.

+1 If your roots are in coming out of the pellets you can probably go to a rich soil.
 
Lambert potting mix is good and readily available at most Home Depot stores (at least down here). It does not contain any fertilizers so you can choose what you want to add. It's also OMRI listed if you care about that.


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Some say not to use clear cups as light will reach the roots and roots do not care for light. I don't know enough about it - that's just what I've heard.
 
Some say not to use clear cups as light will reach the roots and roots do not care for light. I don't know enough about it - that's just what I've heard.

You can also develop algae in your cups with clear cups. I originally used clear and wouldn't recommend it.
 
I use white foam 16 to 20 oz cups, when I used clear plastic I had problems with algae, so I quit using them.
I use a Coir mix and add some composted cow manure to it, the cups are fairly large and take up quite a bit of space,
but from there they can go into pots or in the ground.
I keep the lights right down on them for about 16 to 20 hours the main reason is I have to use what fluorescents bulbs I can get with out traveling 75 miles to the nearest big city. I really need to get better lighting but for now they are working pretty good so long as I don't grow more than fifty plants.
 
i've been using fox farms 'ocean forest' this year.....


i transplanted into solo cups 3-4 weeks ago......growth has been excellent, and i really like it's properties r.e. watering......it retains moisture well, but also doesn't stay 'wet'


plants are thriving compared to last years use of promix


just my .02
 
i've been using fox farms 'ocean forest' this year.....


i transplanted into solo cups 3-4 weeks ago......growth has been excellent, and i really like it's properties r.e. watering......it retains moisture well, but also doesn't stay 'wet'


plants are thriving compared to last years use of promix


just my .02
Did you add anything to the promix?
 
Pot em in some very light, airy, potting mix. I don't recommend Fox Farm Happy Frog right out of jiffy pellets. I used it for the first time this year and don't like it at all. Get some nice organic soil, perlite, and vermiculite. I usally mix 3 parts soil, 1 part vermiculite, 1 part perlite. Worked really good for me in the past, and I don't know why I switched this year.
 
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