Can someone please recommend a good seed starting soil for canna babies that is a bit easier to get commercially, like at Lowe’s? I paid about $20 a cube for HF and Lowe’s got 3 cube veggie soil for $10. What makes this dirt cost double when they both have bat dookie in em?
I used peat pellets 1st run and it nearly killed everyone. Then my 2nd batch just flopped after they got leggy and I barely misted the edges of the soil when they got super dry. There’s just nothing for the seedling to hold on to in HF.
When I start my next batch, I’m thinking about 1/3 sand in 2/3 FFHF to a condiment cup, with holes on the bottom to water by dunking the cup instead of top watering. Then I’ll move to a pint of all FFHF when the bean gets a bit leggy. I could plant her a little deep to add more structure to her stem at that point. You think they’d dampen off if I did that? I’m working with photos, so they really don’t really mind a healthy aeration. I just don’t want to buy anymore fox farm.
Do you have a walmart near?
They just started offering an organic seed starting mix that looks promising.
It does have added food which is usually bad for cannabis, but it looks to be very mild.
I am gonna give it a shot.
Sometimes I screen the Happy Frog so as to have a finer grain for seedlings.
But no more than the top 2 or 3 inches of a solo cup. Just enough so I dont have large chunks over the seed.
straight coco is the easiest way in my opinion. it drains good, and you control the nutes. best of both worlds, no guess work. i have seen coco bricks in lowes near me.
good luck!
GaryGreen I’ve been trying to solve that same problem and I’m always looking for a new remedy, I haven’t heard or read about the sand I’m thinking of trying that. Any input please
For me, since switched to jacks nutes and coco i have had harvest after harvest of great grows. Just keep ph of nutes in the zone, with good lights and BAM great weed.
Do y’all think this would be a good
starter mix for cells? It’s an NPK of .05 - .04 - .03 which seems super gentle. I’ve been thinking about how I could amend my own soil with bat poop or horse doodoo. Can u just buy that literal sh*t or do u have to buy it mixed in dirt?
I would look at soils that are pH buffered for cannabis. You have to be careful and avoid soils that say anything like “time release nutrients,” as these soils are terrible for cannabis. You can buy various soils that have animal poop in them. We see a few growers using things like bat guano. I’ve always used FF HF and have at times added worm castings, but I’ve never noticed that it had made a difference in results. Keep the PPM of your grow in check and you don’t really need any of these various poops.
In short, forget about these items (IMHO) and focus on managing nutrients properly in a good, buffered soil. Keep it simple for success.
3 cube for $10 at my Lowe’s last weekend. Lowe’s has free gardening seminars in April, live feed and in-store. They’re not for hemp, but still might learn something about gardening for cannabis.
I like Mother Earths Coco/Peat blend. I might be the only grower here using it because I don’t hear much about it here.
It’s 30% coco, 30% peat with the rest of the mix being comprised of perlite, pumice stone and some natural amendments. It’s lite and airy straight out of the bag doesn’t pack down and drains awesomely.
When I start seedling I’ll pre-soak the cup with some microbes mixed with 50% strength Jacks 321 and drop in the sprout. I do them in clear Solos inside of red Solos to monitor root growth. I dome them until the second set of serrated leaves start to emerge.
And here is where I differ from pretty much everybody else growing as I completely, gently soak the entire medium from the top edges of the cup to the bottom. I don’t mist or spritz or anything like that I just water them every 4 days COMPLETELY. I allow them to drain and have a bottle cap in the bottom of the red cup to give a little extra room in case something needs to drain after I put it back into the outer cup.
All these were started within the last month this way…
I think roots organics original blend is a much better soil all the way around, but you won’t find it at lowes.
If you’re looking for something specifically to start seeds in would agree that coco is a great choice, mixed with something like 30% perlite even better. Promix hp also good, already has healthy amount of perlite mixed in. Npk ratio is last thing you should be worried about for starting seeds. No fertilizer is probably ideal for most, but richest soil out there can also be used. People who struggle getting plants going is usually more of an issue with watering and environmental conditions, and there’s no soil out there that can make either foolproof. Certainly some that give you better chances at being successful though.
G, the pics that you are showing pretty lil starts to me. But that don’t mean alot! Lol i’ve been growing for 40 years. But have just in the last 3 years started buying fem/auto seeds. It’s alot more work than old school seeds. I mix miracle-gro garden soil, add perlite, and use organic fertilizer. But like i said your pics look good to me. Hope any of this helps? Good Luck hoss.
