Sev's First Season - 2016

Wicked Mike · Sep 24, 2016

First off, Sev, awesome to have you! You're going to have a blast with this. Happy to help with any advice I can.

moruga welder · Sep 24, 2016

! Good luck with your grow ! :onfire:

Sev · Sep 24, 2016

Thanks Both.

I've added some photos, a couple of the repotted seedlings (one with yellow cotyledons...not sure if I've overwatered it) and the others as well. The mix is just pure seedling mix...I'm thinking about repotting them into a 1/3 garden soil, 1/3 compost, 1/3 Perilite/Vermiculite mix but given they've just been moved into these larger containers not sure if disturbing them is the right thing. I am worried that they aren't getting enough light or the seed raising mix is to compact.

Beginner worries!

http://imgur.com/a/WAE67

Feel free to comment!

ps: how do you post images from Imgur direct into the body? I tried the image thing and the link and it said that it wasn't allowed....

Jubnat · Sep 25, 2016

You have to put [ img ] and [ /img ] before and after each image link. And you have to link to the direct image, not just the page with the image. So I don't think there's a way to do the whole album at once. It's a little tedious.

And don't put spaces between img and the brackets, I just had to do it that way so it would show up on the post.

Wicked Mike · Sep 25, 2016

Sev said:
Thanks Both.

I've added some photos, a couple of the repotted seedlings (one with yellow cotyledons...not sure if I've overwatered it) and the others as well. The mix is just pure seedling mix...I'm thinking about repotting them into a 1/3 garden soil, 1/3 compost, 1/3 Perilite/Vermiculite mix but given they've just been moved into these larger containers not sure if disturbing them is the right thing. I am worried that they aren't getting enough light or the seed raising mix is to compact.

Beginner worries!

http://imgur.com/a/WAE67

Feel free to comment!

ps: how do you post images from Imgur direct into the body? I tried the image thing and the link and it said that it wasn't allowed....

Doesn't look too dry at all. Between the air circulation and sunlight, it'll tend to dry from the surface down. I usually caution people against deciding whether or not it's time to water based on what it looks like on the surface. Let's say I get a really long, heavy rain. The next day, it's intensely sunny. By noon, the top half inch may look dry as a bone, while the rest of it is sitting in water. It's only something you can easily do with plants that have already rooted out into the pot, but I usually suggest gently popping one out of the pot and having a look at what's going on beneath the surface. Plants are like icebergs that way. Thick, vigorous, fuzzy white roots and no odd smells, you're doing great. Withered, shriveled brown roots, often with a slight sour or funky smell, too much water. It's a bit blurry, but here's a pic of what you want to see:

While you're at it, you might want to start paying attention to how heavy a pot of a given size is when you lift it. As you get more of a sense what "moist but not wet" means, you'll eventually be able to correlate it with the weight of a plant that needs water vs. one that doesn't. In other words, you'll be able to instinctively tell that the one-gallon pot you just picked up doesn't need water, even though the surface looks dry, because it's heavyish.

Also, I didn't realize you were using garden soil. If things are labeled the same as they are here in the US (and they probably are), you don't want to use garden soil for that. It's dense and doesn't drain well, leading to all kinds of problems. What you want is a potting mix, which is made with peat and/or coco coir, and doesn't contain any actual soil. Garden soil, you'd only really use for garden beds (and even then, I usually cut it heavily with potting mix to lighten it up, although it's more expensive).

Generally speaking, I'd wait until the seedlings have their first set of true leaves before transplanting them. They'll have a more established root mass at that point and you'll be less likely to lose them to transplant shock.

Also, germination mixes generally don't have any fertilizer added to them, so they're a lot less than ideal for anything more than germinating seeds or rooting cuttings, although it can be done. They'll probably start to show some nutrient deficiencies by the time they've filled the cups with roots, but you can easily adjust for that by fertilizing once they're more established. For now, though, I wouldn't give them anything. They're pretty fragile when they're that small, and you don't want to cook 'em. Just stand back and watch the magic. :whistle:

Sev · Sep 25, 2016

Jubnat thanks alot - really appreciate.

Testing [ img ] http://imgur.com/zI2Tdpn [ /img ]

Hmm...I added spaces in above, but when I did it without the spaces it said "an error occurred - you are not allowed to use that image extension in the community".

Mike - thanks for the help and the image - makes alot of sense. I've got another couple of babies sprouting up and I gave everything a good water today (weighted the pots before and after to help me keep track!)

Cheers,

Sev

Jubnat · Sep 25, 2016

Just sent you a pm

And you just want

Sev · Oct 3, 2016

03rd October 2016.

A fairly eventful week. As from the first entry you'll know that I've been re potting them as soon as they sprout into cups, and starting to give them outside sun light. However some heavy wind last week on the 27th upended my entire tray of seedlings. My wife, bless her heart went out and tried to put everything back into containers for me as I was on the way home. Ended up getting home and cleaning everything up. I think I lost two to the accident, out of ten plants total. Anyway, seven days later, and the ones that have survived (barring two) are doing fairly well. We've had a couple of new comers move off the heat pad as well. They all received a water today so they soil is darker then normal..but as they say a pictures worth a thousand words so....

My top four performers...getting true leaves!

Next ones coming along well....

However these ones below don't seem to be doing great. The first has always been a bit runty and never really grown. The second has never had any colour at all. He's been white permanently. Also both of these look like they may have some mold on them as well. Are they worth keeping?

Lastly I had a surprise casualty one morning..I had a runty three cotyledon...I woke up one morning and his top had just come off and the stalk was a little black on both sides. It was like his head had just fallen off. Nothing was in the soil, and it happened inside so I'm assuming some type of mold?

So, 26 seeds planted in the first batch and 9 in the second batch (after the wind upended everything). So far, 17 from the first batch and 3 from the second batch (with 2 more coming up here). So 11 going strong, and 2 weak, with around a 50% mortallity rate unfortunately. But I've learnt heaps and had a blast. I'm investigating lights now to help the grow, so I can try and get some other plants going quickly.

Cheers,

Sev

Sev · Oct 11, 2016

My regular weekly update.

Things are going reasonably well, as you can see with my star seedling (I think he's a Scorpion - not sure). The only downside is we seem to have picked up a fungus gnat infection since they're outside in the sun lots now. I've picked up some 3% hydrogen peroxide, I'll let them have one more day of no water to dry the soil out and then give them a 1:4 h2o2 to water mix to kill the little buggers.

Started giving a weak mix of Seasol and water to the ones that have true leaves and will start giving a light epsom salts spray in the off weeks. As soon as they're around 2-3 inches tall I'll pot them up into 2.8l pots with a custom soil mix. Probably around four inches I'll top them to encourage stem thickening and bushiness.

mrwrx · Oct 12, 2016

Hi I'm from Sydney too good luck with your grow.

Sev · Oct 14, 2016

Reasonably interesting week. Dealt with a small fungus gnat incursion on my seedlings with some H2O2 (3 percent Hydrogen Peroxide mix from my local chemist) mixed 1:4 with water - seems to have sorted them out nicely.

Went to Bunnings the other day to stock up on some things for the garden, and pick up some soil and swung through the plants section. They had a variety of specialist hot chillis, so whilst I'd only been planning to grow from seed I thought I'd jump start with some more babies straight away

. I grabbed, two Trinidad Butch T's, three Brain Killers, four Bhut Jolokia (one red, three white) and two habaneros (standard). Shot below (they look pretty healthy I think);

Whilst most look alright, the two habaneros look a little yellowish - I'm planning to re-pot all of them into three litre pots this weekend with a proper compost/coco/perilite/vermiculite mix and give them all an epsom salt hit and some seasol to help the transition. I'm going to assume the yellow was potentially over watering as they were indoors and see if they bounce back in a new pot. I was able to bag them all at half price for $2 each so I'm pretty chuffed with that. I've took pictures of the habanero's below. Lastly, underneath the habs, one of the Trinidad's appears to have some type of brown spotting - don't worry, or remove the leaf?

General Pruning: I'm actually thinking to prune some of the bottom leaves that are on the ground, and was also thinking of topping - should i wait for them to get over the stress of moving into a new pot or do it all at once? I'm thinking to thin some of the leaves as well, but might do that later after they recover from the topping. As always - appreciate you're perspectives.

MrWrx - good luck with your grow too mate

pps: my seedlings are coming along well, and my fan arrived for my indoor grow - will post something on that soon.

Cheers,

Sev

Shorerider · Oct 14, 2016

Nice score on those plants Sev, they are a bargain at that price.

The yellowing is most likely just a nutrient deficiency. Being reduced in price shows that they were run out items, and have most likely run out of nutrients in the soil. A good feed, and a re-pot in some decent soil and I'm sure they'll green up.

I use Powerfeed with great results, from the first set of true leaves, all the way up to the end of the season (along with other fertilizers).

Those brown spots don't look like much to worry about, possibly just old leaf damage. If they spread to newer growth, then they could be an issue.

Here's a useful chart to help in diagnosing any concerns you may encounter.

I look forward to seeing the progress of your season.

SR.

mrwrx · Oct 14, 2016

Sev said:
Reasonably interesting week. Dealt with a small fungus gnat incursion on my seedlings with some H2O2 (3 percent Hydrogen Peroxide mix from my local chemist) mixed 1:4 with water - seems to have sorted them out nicely.

Went to Bunnings the other day to stock up on some things for the garden, and pick up some soil and swung through the plants section. They had a variety of specialist hot chillis, so whilst I'd only been planning to grow from seed I thought I'd jump start with some more babies straight away . I grabbed, two Trinidad Butch T's, three Brain Killers, four Bhut Jolokia (one red, three white) and two habaneros (standard). Shot below (they look pretty healthy I think);

Whilst most look alright, the two habaneros look a little yellowish - I'm planning to re-pot all of them into three litre pots this weekend with a proper compost/coco/perilite/vermiculite mix and give them all an epsom salt hit and some seasol to help the transition. I'm going to assume the yellow was potentially over watering as they were indoors and see if they bounce back in a new pot. I was able to bag them all at half price for $2 each so I'm pretty chuffed with that. I've took pictures of the habanero's below. Lastly, underneath the habs, one of the Trinidad's appears to have some type of brown spotting - don't worry, or remove the leaf?

General Pruning: I'm actually thinking to prune some of the bottom leaves that are on the ground, and was also thinking of topping - should i wait for them to get over the stress of moving into a new pot or do it all at once? I'm thinking to thin some of the leaves as well, but might do that later after they recover from the topping. As always - appreciate you're perspectives.

MrWrx - good luck with your grow too mate

pps: my seedlings are coming along well, and my fan arrived for my indoor grow - will post something on that soon.

Cheers,

Sev

Wow nice score with the seedlings. Which Bunnings store was this & any more left?

Sev · Oct 14, 2016

Mrwrx - I grabbed them from my local Bunnings in Mascot. They were $4.00 but I said they looked a bit water logged and made a few disparaging comments (I was fishing for a bargain

). There were definitely some left when I took off. I'm going back today to get my mix to up pot so I'll let you know if there are still some there.

Shorerider - Cheers mate - that diagram is perfect - I've saved it to my computer for reference.

Will take some pictures of everything in the next day or two after I've transferred them into bigger pots.

Cheers,

Sev

Devv · Oct 14, 2016

Good luck on your grow!

I like to bottom water the young plants. Example: plants are 2-3"s tall in 4" square pots, set them in a pan with 2"s (50mm?) of water. You don't want to keep the stems wet of young plants or they tend to damp off. You described that earlier....

Once they get larger and the stems get a bit "woody" it's not quite as important, but you never want them always wet.

Once again, good luck! A lot is learned the first year

As for images, the easiest way is second row down, # 11 just to the left of the <> icon, click that, and add the full URL. Example: http://www.mypic.com/123.jpg<--bogus URL

Have fun!

Sev · Oct 15, 2016

So ended up repotting everything today with a mix of a few things:

1 x 25L Osmacote Vegetable, Herb and Tomato Mix
1 x 25L Scotts Pure Organic Compost
4 x 5L Perilite
2 x 5L Vermiculite

Mixed everything into two sixty litre bins and gave it a good mix.

Gave the plants a good drink a couple of hours before I started and boy was I glad. The damp mix stayed together much better then a dry mix, and after taking the plants out they were all majorly root bound. Required heavy teasing to break up the root balls before I put them into their new pots (3L pots). Afterwards gave a good water in with 1 x cap Seasol to 5L water. Lastly, because they'd been poorly potted (covering up low leaves) I topped the plants and cleared away low hanging leaves to create better air flow and open up new nodes. Hopefully the topping and repotting won't overly stress the plant over the next couple of days - will just give them light sunlight and keep them in the shade for most of the day if they aren't looking great.

Re-potted:

Topped / Pruned:

Close up in the afternoon sun (2/3 White Bhut Jolokia's):

Mrwrx: I picked them up from Mascot Bunnings - they were all out today when I went back. However, supposedly Alexandria got an order of super hots in (havent been there though).

Cheers,

Sev

mrwrx · Oct 15, 2016

Nice one. I went to Seven Hills Bunnings today & I found these two gems.

I need to start my own glog

PaulG · Oct 18, 2016

Sev, those topped and leaf-pruned plants are going to
explode with lateral branches once they get established!

You're off to a good start!

Oh, yeah, :welcome:

mrwrx said:
I need to start my own glog

Yes!

Devv · Oct 19, 2016

+1 on #19!

Liking those babies!