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new grower, need transplant advice

M

magius231

hi all, I'm new here (obviously :) ) and pretty excited about all this so far! I've been searching the forum for the last week or so trying to read everything I can about this new hobby of mine and I have lots if information, but some of it is conflicting so I'm hoping you guys can clear some stuff up for me.

I have 66 Jiffy seed pods with Cayenne red that I started pretty much right before I found this site. I have no growth yet but at some point i'm going to need to transplant these. I have 9oz clear cups that I'm going to use, and I'm probably going to set up a wick watering system on them with more 9oz cups. I have purchased topsoil with a 10/5/5 mixture (yes I now know fertilizer is bad) at wally world, and I have some pearlite and maybe some peat hanging around. I'm thinking about mixing these for the transplant, would this work ok?

For watering, is regular tap water OK (assuming the PH is 6.0 -6.5 or so) or should I add liquid fertilzer to it?

thanks for any help I can get.
Gary
 
Welcome!
I wouldn't add any more fertilizer anytime soon.

Clear cups are evidently bad for roots. Red or Blue ones are cheap.

The soil mix sounds fine to me, are you eventually going outside with these? And also are you putting them in the ground?
 
You've already got fertilizer in the potting soil, don't add more in the water!



Oh, and Welcome!
 
I always use clear cups, and haven't had a problem in years. I especially like them for rooting, because I can see how far along the rooting process is.
 
these are likely going to be indoor plants, they will never see the ground outside. Currently i'm growing them on my desk at work actually :)
 
that's cool...you can watch the root growth and know when you need to transplant to a larger container...and I agree with Potawie to about the theory part...so I don't know whats up with that..

:lol: @ cheezy.... (grinning here)
 
Welcome to THP...

I use a mixture of Red Party Cups along with the clear ones. I really like the clear cups because of what was already mentioned, I can see the roots. I also think that growing them on your desk is a wonderful idea. That way you can sit and daydream about them as they grow and mature. ;)
 
everyone at work thinks i'm nuts :) I'm just dying to see something come up though...I swear I check them about every 10 minutes! They will thank me when I come in one day with some homeade hotsauce :D
 
Welcome Gary. Like Pam said do not add any more fertilizer. Read the bag if it what I think it is your good for three months , the fertilizer is time released
DN



LET IT BURN
 
wow great thanks!

Another question...the plants pretty much see 24x7 light since they are in the office, otherwise I would have to kill the light when I leave which means they would probably only see any decent light for 9 hours a day...should I just leave the light on?

im thinking about buying a timer for my work light, but I'm sure someone there would flip :)
 
i have had problems with roots being exposed to light, but never in cups. i donno you don't need to look at the roots to tell if you should pot up really.. if the soil drys out too fast you prolly need to transplant it. in fact for people like myself who are too involved ( like everyone i supposed ) it's better if i don't see roots because then i would most likely be wanting to transplant once I saw them lol.
 
i wait until they start growing out the holes in the bottom of the cup to transplant.
 
i like that method, but at the same time, if you water your plants then 24 hours later they are wilting and falling over and bone dry but no roots out the bottom, i figure time to go up.
 
when i had some hydroponic okra and tomatoes, they were very slow in growth comapired to ones that never saw light that were grown in the same container or with the exact same nutes, water, everything. and i noticed a brown color on a few of the roots even before nutrients were added. some research i did i found that sun or light exposure ( not sure if flouro is penetrating enough for this ) can cause the roots to turn brown, and uptake less nutes. but i can't be sure of their scientific process. and from the looks of the plants grown in clear plastic cups it also makes me skeptical about it.. but from my experience which is limited, that's what i noticed. some also turned very pale green and dropped leaves
 
understand about the wilting and falling over...my largest seedlings need water every day with the 9 oz cups but I am remedying that by transplanting today....got 30 transplanted into 5 gallon cntainers today...only 195 more to go... :lol:
 
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