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seeds What kind of soil to put the seedlings in?

N-hexane

N-hexane

I'm getting close to the point where I should transplant my seedlings to something a little bigger. I have the pots, but I don't know what I should use for soil. I still have a few quarts of miracle grow seed starter, but I don't think it'll be enough for 10 or so plants each in their own pot. What do you all recommend?

Trinidad Moruga Scorpions, by the way. You can look at my previous thread to see what I've done so far.
 
If you really want to be more aware of what a good mix contains then read this thread http://thehotpepper.com/topic/10245-all-about-soil-a-great-resource-i-thought-i-would-share/
 
Every time I ask what kind of soil to use at different stages I never get the same answer twice :/

I hear these plants (at least later on) like a pretty low ph, like 5.5 or something. Is that true?
 
It's like asking "What's your favorite pepper" you are going to get a different answer every time. 3/5king said it best:

3/5King said:
The question you need to ask yourself when thinking about seed starts (all the way up to plant out) is; what is going to allow for a strong, vigorous root system? What you are trying to do is produce a big, healthy base of roots, so that when plant out comes, the plants will have a big "engine" to go screaming down the proverbial track. Next, you want to make sure that you understand how that type of medium is going to react to the conditions you give it. Will it dry up quickly? Is it so porous that nutrients are going to wash out quickly? Make sure you have those areas covered and understood.

In the end, you want a light fluffy medium that doesn't compact easily and provides the plant roots with easy mobility and access to nutrients.
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lol. Yeah. I know too much is bad and too little is also bad. Probably especially true for beginners that are likely to do other things like overwater.
 
I just put together a 1/3 perlite mix for my final transfer soil (1/3 topsoil, 1/3 peat, 1/3 perlite). Found that in a lot of soil recipes. I'm trying Espoma cactus/Citrus soil for my smaller transfers right now, has mycos and stuff in it, so hopefully it works out.
 
I went to Bachman's (garden store(only in MN?)) and got 8 quarts of perlite and 8 quarts of peat moss. I figure I can mix that with my seed starter soil and get more than enough.
 
Rather than starting a new thread I think I'll put this here.

I've been told on here that the closer you come to killing your peppers, the hotter they turn out. What exactly does this involve other than underwatering? I heard something about using a lot of high nitrogen fertilizer?
 
N-hexane said:
Rather than starting a new thread I think I'll put this here.

I've been told on here that the closer you come to killing your peppers, the hotter they turn out. What exactly does this involve other than underwatering? I heard something about using a lot of high nitrogen fertilizer?
Click to expand...

It's called "stressing" and there many articles on the web and even here at THP on it. It's not necessarily letting your plant get to near death. It just requires some wilting. For the most part if you live in a hot,sunny, area you're going to get some fire in those peppers. It's not really tough. Just don't water everyday if you don't have to and let your peppers go as long as they can stand it before watering again.

In the summer here for me I have to water almost every day so the leaves wont fall off due to wilting. That's with 100+ weather though. If you live in a 95 or under climate you can probably get away with less watering than that. Just read your plant. If it's begging for water then give it to them. If it looks fine and healthy then leave it alone. The heat will take care of itself.
 
If I were you I would worry more about keeping them healthy than stressing them for heat. You'll get more bang for your buck if you just try to grow healthy vigorous plants. If you want hotter pods, go for hotter varieties.
 
Lol it's the hottest pepper in the world. I don't know what you mean by hotter varieties.

Anyway, The seedlings have 2 "big (half inch at most)" leaves and most of them also have 2 tiny little milimeter long leaves starting to grow out now. And on several of the larger-leafed seedlings, the leaves are almost making a V shape as if they're closing, and I'm no expert but they're a little yellow, too. Not the deep green I see from most plants on here. They're still growing, but what am I doing wrong?
 
I am big on organic, but when it comes to seed starting, I have to use a sterile medium. I don't care if its jiffy, peat, coar, promix, hell I have microwaved old potting soil. I just make sure no creatures are munch'n on my babies. Once I get about 2 sets then I start incorporating life in to the soil with some Tea.

As much as I hate MiracleSlow, a lot of people have good luck with their seed starting mix.
 
MRKjF5A.jpg

wtf?
I have no idea what the hell my phone's problem is when it takes pictures, so that's the best I could do. I'm pretty sure leaves aren't supposed to look like that.
 
N-hexane said:
Lol it's the hottest pepper in the world. I don't know what you mean by hotter varieties.

Anyway, The seedlings have 2 "big (half inch at most)" leaves and most of them also have 2 tiny little milimeter long leaves starting to grow out now. And on several of the larger-leafed seedlings, the leaves are almost making a V shape as if they're closing, and I'm no expert but they're a little yellow, too. Not the deep green I see from most plants on here. They're still growing, but what am I doing wrong?
Click to expand...

I didn't notice that you mentioned them being morouga scorpions. I still wouldn't attempt to stress them, you're more likely to have less pepper production than your are to squeeze out a few more scoville units. Basics first.

Also, that soil looks too wet. Those dark stems make me think you might be about to dampen off. You could put a fan on them and maybe spray with a water/peroxide mixture, but you might want to start over. Those big leaves aren't actual leaves, they are called cotelydons. They provide nutrients until they fall off. The new ones are what we call true leaves.
 
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