Pam said:I soak mine in hot tap water until they won't soak up any more water.
POTAWIE said:I've never adjusted ph for jiffies, but I do for rockwool
imaguitargod said:I'm anti-jiffy so I can't comment.
Hotpeppa said:do you ph balance the tap water at all Pam ?
imaguitargod said:I'm anti-jiffy so I can't comment.
Hotpeppa said:Hi everyone,
well i am ready to start my seeds and decided to go with the jiffy pellets in a dome ontop of a heat mat...
i only have one question :
do i have to soak the pellets in ph balanced water first ? and if so, how long and at what ph reading ?
thanks
naganero said:no take them out they will get to leggy if you leave them in.
i set them on a plate or something simular and in a place that gets a lot of sun. once the second set of leaves grow i tear the netting off and plant them still in the jiffy just minus the net. pm me if you need more info
PrairieChilihead said:Once the seeds have germinated do you immediately move them into pots or can you leave them in the peat until the first real leaves develop? Is it a question of the roots becoming "bound"..? And would it help to leave the pots on the heating mat even after germinated...or is the temperature of the soil only important during the germination stage?
My first time germinating seeds...can you tell?
Pam said:How warm do you keep your house? I leave my peppers on heat until I'm ready to move them outside. I don't want the plants to get below 60F degrees at night, and I prefer that they stay around 70F.
As to transplanting, the problem is not so much that they will be come root bound that early, the problem is that peppers send out a decent tap root when they sprout, and you don't want to unduly disturb that when transplanting. The roots will grow right through the webbing on the peat pellet, so you want to be very gentle when removing the webbing and transplanting the seedling.
Honestly, I don't start my peppers in peat pellets because I don't want to have to fuss with transplanting that early. I'm basically lazy, and try to time things so I only have to transplant the peppers once, straight into the ground. I save the peat pellets for tomatoes, herbs, and flowers that aren't as root fussy as some peppers are.