Newspaper for a Capillary mat

[parker49]

Has anyone ever tried this.  Here is the link where i first came across it. http://www.ag.auburn.edu/adm/comm/news/1991/recycled.htm  The reason i was wanting to try this is i am going out of town this upcoming weekend and won't be back until Monday.  I am using peat pellets (i know some people love them some hate them-but it's my first time from seed and decided to try it this way) which definitely seem to dry out quickly.  I have a tray of bhuts, 7 pods and african birds eye seedlings on a heat mat and under t8 lights that i don't want to die. One article i read mentioned that the newspaper is slightly acidic if that makes a difference.  I am trying to do this for free with stuff i have around the house since i have already spent too much on my new found hobby    . Any advice is appreciated.

 

[juanitos]

if they are germinating aka no sprouts / leaves up. You can seal the tray with them in it with saran wrap that way nothing dries out at all.

 
To keep others wet i just fill up the tray i have halfway with water that will keep them from drying out too much for ~3 days. aka bottom watering, cups / containers need to have some holes in them. If pellets still that works as they will just absorb whatever.

 

[parker49]

They have all germinated and are approximately 2-3 inches in height. I had thought about doing what you said or putting them in pie pans and putting water in them, but i wasn't sure if they would stay too wet and cause problems.

 

[juanitos]

only bottom inch will be really wet, rest will be watever is wicked up and soil can hold. No idea if the pellets will fall apart, (just go ahead and put in cups 
 
being wet for a long time can be breeding ground for disease / fungus. But they will only be really wet for 1or2 days at most, 3rd day they will just be damp / dry. Does it ever rain over 2 days where you live? same difference..
 
 

They have all germinated and are approximately 2-3 inches in height. I had thought about doing what you said or putting them in pie pans and putting water in them, but i wasn't sure if they would stay too wet and cause problems.

 

 

[parker49]

 
only bottom inch will be really wet, rest will be watever is wicked up and soil can hold. No idea if the pellets will fall apart, (just go ahead and put in cups 
 
being wet for a long time can be breeding ground for disease / fungus. But they will only be really wet for 1or2 days at most, 3rd day they will just be damp / dry. Does it ever rain over 2 days where you live? same difference..
 
 
 

 If the pellets do fall apart should i put them in cups when i get back or do you really think i should go ahead and put them in cups?  Most of them have started to get their first set of leaves, but not all.  i have jiffy starter soil that i will transfer them to in the solo cups.

 

[juanitos]

you can put the whole pellet in the cup and surround it with soil to fill the rest of the cup up. That's the "cool" thing about the peat pellets, it's not a "hard transplant". it doesn't hurt them at all so you can do it now or later doesn't matter either way usually.

 

[parker49]

you can put the whole pellet in the cup and surround it with soil to fill the rest of the cup up. That's the "cool" thing about the peat pellets, it's not a "hard transplant". it doesn't hurt them at all so you can do it now or later doesn't matter either way usually.

 
Awesome, thanks for the info, that's twice you've helped me out. i will just water them and pour some water in the tray before i leave.

 

[juanitos]

 
Awesome, thanks for the info, that's twice you've helped me out. i will just water them and pour some water in the tray before i leave.

some people say to cut the webbing on the pellet or poke some holes in it to help along the roots breaking out of it when you transplant.
 
Pics or it didn't happen lol
 
 
ps. I dont use pellets cause i just start them in cups to begin with as there is no difference and i will just have to transplant them (as you are doing now) if i did pellets. Saves a lil money too.

 

[parker49]

some people say to cut the webbing on the pellet or poke some holes in it to help along the roots breaking out of it when you transplant.
 
Pics or it didn't happen lol
 
 
ps. I dont use pellets cause i just start them in cups to begin with as there is no difference and i will just have to transplant them (as you are doing now) if i did pellets. Saves a lil money too.

Yeah i have been doing a lot of reading and i gathered that i should cut the netting.  I may wait until i get back next week to transfer to cups, will have to see if i have time before my trip.  So you just put your seeds into some kind of starter soil straight into solo cups, and from there in the ground come spring?  I haven't decided what i will do next year, there is certainly a bit of convenience factor with the pellets but they dry out quickly. I wonder if it makes sense to always water from the bottom when using jiffy pellets? I have seen posters on here talk about after transplanting to cups using two cups to bottom water, not really sure how hard that is either.

 

[juanitos]

i'm growing in containers the whole time but yeah germ ziploc bag > solo > 5gal container (outside).
 
Lots of people like bottom watering over the whole lifecycle, only doing foliage sprays / pest sprays at maturity. If hyrdo can do it and have great results you can do the same thing pretty much in soil. Except we let the soil dry out. 
 
I use the same soil mix for seed starting and mature plants so just 1 mix. 
 
in the end having 1 mix, 1 type of container to worry about, 1 transplant, 1 fert. Is very convenient for me because i just get in the swing of things and do it the same all the time.
 
 
ps. i hope other people comment not just me, lol (dash2 where r u)

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

 
ps. i hope other people comment not just me, lol (dash2 where r u)

     Who you gonna call?! 
     To the OP: If I was in your predicament, I think I would just transplant before leaving. I would be leery about leaving seedlings in a really moist environment for too long. Damping off can happen pretty fast. It would take small seedlings a long time to evapotranspire all the water in a solo cup - I'm sure they'd be fine over a weekend in their new homes. As OKgrowin said potting up from pellets isn't a "hard transplant" - little risk of damage to young roots. I've had good luck potting up very young seedlings in pellets in years past.
     If you do decide to leave them in pellets, maybe you could help conserve water by decreasing supplemental heat for the time you will be gone. Remove heating mat, move to a cooler location… You might also be able to get away with using less light to help keep things cooler while you're gone. Just be aware that too little light might make your plants stretch, although probably not too much over just a couple of days. Good luck!

 

[parker49]

Who you gonna call?! 
     To the OP: If I was in your predicament, I think I would just transplant before leaving. I would be leery about leaving seedlings in a really moist environment for too long. Damping off can happen pretty fast. It would take small seedlings a long time to evapotranspire all the water in a solo cup - I'm sure they'd be fine over a weekend in their new homes. As OKgrowin said potting up from pellets isn't a "hard transplant" - little risk of damage to young roots. I've had good luck potting up very young seedlings in pellets in years past.
     If you do decide to leave them in pellets, maybe you could help conserve water by decreasing supplemental heat for the time you will be gone. Remove heating mat, move to a cooler location… You might also be able to get away with using less light to help keep things cooler while you're gone. Just be aware that too little light might make your plants stretch, although probably not too much over just a couple of days. Good luck!

Thanks Dash. So in your opinion I should transplant to the solo cups and water real well before I leave?

 

[Hybrid Mode 01]

     If you're only going to be gone for the weekend, I don't think it's necessary to really soak them. Just water them in after you transplant and let them drain completely. Keep an eye on them for a few days after transplant to get an idea of how fast they lose water. If they seem to be drying out significanty over the course of two or three days, then it might be a good idea to re-moisten them a little before you leave.
     I germ seeds in paper towels and plant right into 4" pots (about the same size as a solo cup), and I only need to water every week or two when my plants are still small. I just watered today, and I won't even think of checking them (let alone watering) until the weekend. ymmv, of course.
     This is just one of those things where it's difficult to give advice without seeing your growing conditions first hand. Everyone's grow area has a different temperature, light level, humidity etc. so it's hard to say. I just know from personal experience (read failure)  that mold and damping off are probably much bigger threats to seedlings than drying out. 

 

[parker49]

 
 I just know from personal experience (read failure)  that mold and damping off are probably much bigger threats to seedlings than drying out. 
 

Thanks again for the advice. Maybe at some point I will get this figured out . Looks like I need to do some transplanting.