Currently have zero money for nutrients but I started a seed anyways. Is there anything around the house I can use until I can afford to buy nutrients ? Like a mineral mix of sorts. Something I can find around the house please if it exists. Thx. I’ll get the real stuff asap
No nutes until they’re tall enough to start vegetative growth. At least a couple of weeks at my house, not sure how fast they’ll mature for you. I let them grow until I have 3 sets of “branches” opposite each other not including the first little round seed leaves.
Then, if your soil doesn’t already have nutrients in it, you’ll want to add a very, very, very small amount of anything while they’re small. NPK Nitrogen, Phosphate, (K)Potassium are the three big ones.
One human tendency is to “make up” for lost time when we finally get the nutrients and that can do way more damage than good. Up to and including killing the plant.
I would research the internet to see what kind of stuff I have around the house that might provide a little of the three N-P-K. I regularly hunt down information on tomato grower websites and websites that talk about DIY (Do it yourself) ways of providing what your plants might need.
Again, be careful when adding nutrients. The plants don’t need them for a while after you plant the seeds. If your soil already has nutrients in it, such as bat guano, worm casings, etc, you won’t need to add nutes for much longer.
Avoid adding any kind of unprocessed manure to your plants. I use goat manure for some of my outside projects, but that’s been sitting in a compost pile with other organic materials and just looks, feels, and smells pretty much like that musty earth odor. If it smells like poop, it’s not ready for your plants yet.
Just my nickel, but these guys can give you much better advice than I can. Good luck.
Relax, breathe, it’s going to be all right.
After it has a few sets of true leaves and alternating branches (pretty much the same thing Old Goat was saying), if there is not enough nutrients in the soil the plant will start to lighten up in the green color and maybe start to turn yellow because of the lack of nutrients. If caught early enough this shouldn’t harm the plant. Nutrients from your local big box store can be made to work until you order the type you want to use on your plant. There isn’t anything wrong with using a little miracle gro cactus drops, as recommended by the directions on the bottle. This is only a couple of bucks most places and will hold you over until you get the nutrients you would prefer to use. Some people even use miracle gro for tomatoes for an entire grow with great success, although the recommended concentration might need to be toyed with for best results and you certainly want to do a good flush towards the end.
Thank you guys so very much. I’ll pick up some affordable stuff until I can afford your nutrients and I’ll hold off until the right times. Thanks !