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treehopper
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Not sure about GardenGnome, but this is actually what I'm going to be doing; I bought a lot of extra pots today to move the non-leggy seedlings over this weekend, and am going to see how they manage/if I can get some food, or flowers, from themtreehopper wrote:I'd suggest if you cannot afford crop failure, keep the leggy ones, study how they do and start another planting...What do you have to lose? throwing 'em doesn't do much good.
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GardenGnome
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applestar
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Top soil alone will be too heavy for container growing. It should be mixed with something like 2 part top soil to 1 part shredded coir (I usually mix some compost... Maybe 1/2 part~1 part) and 1 part sharp sand or maybe perlite.
Some people mix 1/2 soil with 1/2 perlite. Some people go completely soilless and mix 1/2 coir to 1/2 perlite for starting seeds. I prefer sand.
Some people mix 1/2 soil with 1/2 perlite. Some people go completely soilless and mix 1/2 coir to 1/2 perlite for starting seeds. I prefer sand.
Ah! I didn't realize this. Should I just spread it out across my garden, then? I have some of the original Osmocote potting soil I bought, so I suppose I should use that instead.applestar wrote:Top soil alone will be too heavy for container growing. It should be mixed with something like 2 part top soil to 1 part shredded coir (I usually mix some compost... Maybe 1/2 part~1 part) and 1 part sharp sand or maybe perlite.
Some people mix 1/2 soil with 1/2 perlite. Some people go completely soilless and mix 1/2 coir to 1/2 perlite for starting seeds. I prefer sand.
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rainbowgardener
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GardenGnome
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I went back and looked at RG pic of his set up. I redid my lights and filled in some soil.
Pull any plants that look bad. And I'm going to go buy one more light today. To cover my last row of plants. The room that the lights are in is warmer then my house. I'm hoping it will make the plants grow better. I got my stuff under control and and learned most of the stuff I needed for now.
Once you harden your plants if you had a bad storm for a week or so and had to keep your plants inside would you have to harden them again. Or is once all you need?
Pull any plants that look bad. And I'm going to go buy one more light today. To cover my last row of plants. The room that the lights are in is warmer then my house. I'm hoping it will make the plants grow better. I got my stuff under control and and learned most of the stuff I needed for now.
Once you harden your plants if you had a bad storm for a week or so and had to keep your plants inside would you have to harden them again. Or is once all you need?
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rainbowgardener
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If RG is me, rainbowgardener, I'm not a him
If you harden your plants and then bring them back in for significant amounts of time (a week would count), then you need to do at least a bit of hardening to put them back out.
Depending on how much time they had been out vs back in, how well the weather cooperates, etc, the second time hardening might not have to be quite as gentle, but don't just plop them back out in to full sun.
If you harden your plants and then bring them back in for significant amounts of time (a week would count), then you need to do at least a bit of hardening to put them back out.
Depending on how much time they had been out vs back in, how well the weather cooperates, etc, the second time hardening might not have to be quite as gentle, but don't just plop them back out in to full sun.
Last edited by rainbowgardener on Sun Feb 26, 2012 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
and, for all those that probably knew the answer already, I need the pots for other starts, so all the leggy plants just went and was (gently) tossed into my in-ground garden; hopefully when the snow melts and it rains or something, everything will just go right back into the ground so I don't feel guilty for throwing them out!
On the other hand, I've saved as many as I can- and I finally have some sweet banana pepper plants that are starting to come through the soil! woo hoo! So I can only look forward to the future, not back to my mistakes I suppose ;D
On the other hand, I've saved as many as I can- and I finally have some sweet banana pepper plants that are starting to come through the soil! woo hoo! So I can only look forward to the future, not back to my mistakes I suppose ;D
I know, but I still feel guilty for tossing them! Alas, though, lesson learned. I don't know how I didn't make that mistake last year!applestar wrote:That's how we all started out.
As for comparisions.. the shorter plants are, by far, doing better than the leggy ones in terms of true leaf development, so it was time to let them go. I also hate, with a passion, the type of soil I choose this year to start my plants in. I'll be switching back to my Farfard potting soil as soon as it comes in to the stores! Bleh- this new stuff dries out so quickly and gets really crumbly. Do. Not. Like!
on that note, though, the seedlings I have going right now (lettuce, my squashes yes I started too early, peppers, brussels sprouts, and peppers) are doing really well so far, so I have a feeling it's going to be a good year!
