When to fertilize seedlings? *** Now with pics ***

soil · Sun Sep 25, 2011 6:14 pm

you risk having nice big plants that don't bear fruit. JMO.

you do not run this risk with wormcastings.

mcubb · Sun Sep 25, 2011 7:52 pm

I'll definitely post up some pics within the next few days. My room is somewhat always moving around but under the bed is constant. I also have an avocado in the corner under a light and an apple and pineapple on the windowsill.

jal_ut · Mon Sep 26, 2011 1:00 am

Yes, I would fertilize. Ever heard of Miracle Grow? It is great for use in your type of setup with potting soil or peat moss. Of course most potting soils are heavy with peat moss which has no nutritional value. Follow the directions on the package.

I am sorry to disagree with those who say fertilizer makes big plants and no fruit. It has been my pleasure to see that fertilizer makes large plants with more and larger fruit. This on all garden varieties I have grown.

mcubb · Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:25 am

I've used iracle grow on my basil before and I guess it was too strong because it killed about 12 plants within 2 days after I applied it. So I assume I should dilute it? By how much?

rainbowgardener · Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:38 am

I'm not saying don't use Miracle Grow on your potted plants. I'm saying be sure to check because you most likely are already using it, it is built in to the potting soil. That's probably why you had trouble before, you added MG to soil that was already loaded with it. And seedlings need only a little. If you were fertilizing seedlings that were not in MG soil, you would want to make it no more than half the strength of the directions, probably a bit less. You can easily burn little seedlings or force them to grow faster than than they have resources to handle or set them up to be vulnerable to other problems.

TheWaterbug · Mon Sep 26, 2011 12:10 pm

Heh. Most times I read about students in apartments growing things under their beds with fluorescent lighting, they're not growing vegetables!

mcubb · Mon Sep 26, 2011 7:46 pm

Waterbug,

I've read tons of your posts (my fave was the bees). But yeah, I got a tone of weird looks and the cashier at the local hardware store assumed some things. I joked and tole her "oh yeah!" and then admitted I was growing veggies but I think she still thought I was growing pot. I'm here in Boulder CO and thats HUGE. Tons of people and places get shut down right and left and I'm just waiting for the police to see my apartment's energy usage and then raid and see tomatoes, melons and fruit trees. haha I'd love it

soil · Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:43 pm

I'm just waiting for the police to see my apartment's energy usage and then raid and see tomatoes, melons and fruit trees. haha I'd love it

I knew a guy who grew tomatoes indoors, he had really good lights that would take lots of power, well one day ( actually night) the police came, pretty much knocked down his door, asking wheres the drugs, only to find some tomatoes and other veggies. they were pissed and felt like idiots.

DoubleDogFarm · Mon Sep 26, 2011 8:49 pm

soil wrote:
I'm just waiting for the police to see my apartment's energy usage and then raid and see tomatoes, melons and fruit trees. haha I'd love it
I knew a guy who grew tomatoes indoors, he had really good lights that would take lots of power, well one day ( actually night) the police came, pretty much knocked down his door, asking wheres the drugs, only to find some tomatoes and other veggies. they were pissed and felt like idiots.

Yeah, but the guy had the last laugh. The real produce is behind the false wall.

soil · Mon Sep 26, 2011 9:47 pm

Yeah, but the guy had the last laugh. The real produce is behind the false wall. Razz Cool

lol shhhhhhh

PunkRotten · Wed Sep 28, 2011 11:20 pm

Did you get a chance to get some pics of your set up?

mcubb · Thu Sep 29, 2011 2:12 am

ahh I'm sorry. Very busy here. I'm switching around the setup within the next few days (raising the light, potting up) so after I do that I'll be sure to upload some pics. def by this weekend

mcubb · Sat Oct 01, 2011 9:04 pm

alright I just up-potted everything and set up the whole system. here it is under my bed. 5 micro tom tomatoes, 1 sugar baby watermelon and one minnesotta midget melon. also, my beautiful avocado tree that I started from a pit on June 7th, 2011

some images are better than other:

[img]https://I.imgur.com/ub5yP.jpg[/img]

[img]https://I.imgur.com/aCLaa.jpg[/img]

the glow...

[img]https://I.imgur.com/kY90k.jpg[/img]

and my fave plant in the room... avocado
[img]https://I.imgur.com/BlgtS.jpg[/img]

PunkRotten · Sun Oct 02, 2011 2:19 am

Nice pics man. Hey did you get those Micro toms just recently? I looked through an old thread of mine and you were asking for them, and I linked you to a site. Just wondering if you got them from there. My Micro tom is smaller than yours. But I had a few failed germinations prior. But now I have a pretty good sprout. Its got it first set of true leaves and another coming in.

That avocado is gonna take forever to grow. I started one once from a seed and it got about 2 foot before it died. Another I had just buried a seed in my back yard. And one day I was looking around and found a plant about 1 1/2 foot tall. I tried transplanting but it died.

I wanted to try it again but it takes years before they get any fruit. And from what I hear they need lots of cross pollination or grafts from other trees. But it still is nice to care for a tree/plant and grow it for fun, and down the line you can try to get it to become a fruit bearing tree.

mcubb · Sun Oct 02, 2011 4:16 am

Yeah I got the micro tom seeds about a month ago.. I remember posting in your thread so I probably bought them from the site you gave me. Out of 6 cells each with 1 seed I had 5 cells sprout. so 5/6 germ not bad I'm thinking. those are not very old either. max of probably 3weeks. what was strange was that one of the plants came up and had 3 initial leaves. all the others had a normal 2 but one had a little mutation I guess and caused it to have 3 leaves. all the more photo. for him them lol