stonewolf

Hi, we recently set up a closet and we have 16 little plants growing, but we don't think we made a good soil selection. I started them in little Jiffy pots that I am going to put in big pots (I hope this wasn't a bad thing to do.) Anyway, since we aren't so sure our dirt selection was good I thought it would be best to ask and change it if necessary before we put our babies in them. I see people reccommending a particular brand in California...but we aren't in California. I can't remember the name brand anymore, I mixed a potting soil that had vermiculite and an organic soil and a fertilizer with cow manure. The organic soil has wood chips though and that is why we are thinking we made a bad choice. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

stonewolf

I am still looking at this site (just found it tonight.) I have another question too. We have been leaving the water sitting for 24hrs before using it. I was thinking maybe we should use bottled water but the idea has also occured to us that maybe using water from our fish tank would be good for our babies?

Oh and one more question. (I may find the answers as I keep going over the site here, but I figure it can't hurt to ask while I am here Right now, well tomorrow will be one week since I put the seeds in the little Jiffy pots. I think we did the germination phase wrong but it's kinda a moot issue at this point. (We put them in the Jiffy pots in a tray to hold the water and they have been under 24 hour lighting since.) Anyway, the question is what is the proper distance above them that the light should be? Right now lights are 9 1/2 inches above the top of the pots and the tallest baby is 2 1/2 inches. Should the lights be higher or lower or are they okay?

I don't know if it matters what kind of lights we are using to answer but I will tell you in case. We have 2 shop lights that hold 2 flourescent tubes each. Both have one Daylight tube and one cool white tube (oh geez it might be soft light and not cool light I can't remember right now -- which ever has the highest light output.) These are hanging above the babies and then there are 4 fixtures holding plant light bulbs placed one in each corner of the closet below the plants and shining up.

If you need any more measurements or info to be able to offer advice, let me know.

Thanks again in advance for your advice!

TonDerudesKa

I am a newbie,too, but I've been doing a lot of reading and might be able to shed some light for ya.

I think the soil your thinking of is Supersoil brand. I couldn't find it around my house, so I just went with topsoil from Home Depot.

Good idea to let the water sit. It allows the chorine to evaporate. Also shake the bottle real good when you water, the plants love the O2. I've heard that water from the fish tank is excellent to water with....all that fish poop and stuff floating around in there is good nutrients.
The jiffy pots are used by a lot of people, but are not highly recommended....the roots have a hard time breaking through the cup and I think the pH may be wrong.
If your jiffy pots are sitting in a pan of water....they might be waterlogged.
If you have fluorescents....they don't get that hot, so you could put them much closer to your plants. Like 1-2 inches. Just keep an eye on 'em and don't let them hit the bulb...they could burn. Putting the light closer reduces the amount that your plants have to 'stretch ' for the light, which will lead to tall,gangly plants.

How big is your closet? This will determine how much light you need. But for 16 plants, I'm pretty sure you need a lot more light.

Hope I helped a little. I'm sure someone with more experience will have something to add.

cy

stonewolf

It's 3'10" by 5ft closet. The 2 shop light fixtures with 2 tubes each are 4' long. We are going to go to Home Depot in a bit to look for a ph thingie and I will look at how many lumens these bulbs have again. *sigh* this is so much different from the way my mom did it...she just threw the seeds in the garden and let them grow. Of course...she grew the stuff that gave "homegrown" a bad name and this was back in the 70's.

I have a ton of books. I tried this once before, they were about 14 inches tall and my hubby took over and killed them all. :/ I know I should have done a lot more reading up on what to do before I started again, but at least this time they get a whole closet and much better lighting.

A friend gave us 5 seeds. 4 Fruity Pebbles and 1 Purple Haze (but he mixed them up and didn't know which one was the Purple Haze...I guess we'll find out) and the rest are just ones I have saved from unknown sources.

If the Jiffy pots are hard for them to break their roots through when I translant them should I just tear away the Jiffy pots?

ButterflyDreams

It's 3'10" by 5ft closet

That's roughly 20 sq/ft. Flo's "should" provide @ 150W/sq.Ft. You have 160W in 20 which is 8W/ sq.ft. Much more light is needed for the space. When you go shopping look for HID security lights. The initial cost may be a problem, but the savings in efficiency will out weigh that quickly.

. We have been leaving the water sitting for 24hrs before using it. I was thinking maybe we should use bottled water but the idea has also occured to us that maybe using water from our fish tank would be good for our babies?


Great Idea. If you clean the tank, let the water sit in an open 5 gal bucket (as long as you can stand the smell). As it evaporates you will have more and more concentrated fish emulsion. You know, the stuff they ask big $$ for in the store.

If the Jiffy pots are hard for them to break their roots through when I translant them should I just tear away the Jiffy pots?


I don't like the Jiffy's personally just because the size and the peat make things strange sometimes. I'd recommend cutting the netting off before transplanting. It's supposed to be biodegradable, but it takes longer than they say. More than a year usually, outdoors.

The organic soil has wood chips though and that is why we are thinking we made a bad choice. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.

The thing about woodchips and saw dust in the mix is that they will cause the soil to retain a LOT of water. You have to be very careful with it. Adding more Perlite will help with drainage.

Live, Learn, Grow.
BD

__________________
She stood beside him like a rainbow braided.
~ P.B. Shelley

stonewolf

I know the more expensive lights are better, but right now money is somewhat of a problem and we just can't afford them. We did get another shop light and 2 more flourescent tubes tonight...and spent forever figuring out how many lumens the bulbs had before we decided which to get. With the new light, the closet now has 19,360 lumens...which still isnt enough is it? From what I am reading we should want 31,000 - 38,750 optimally.

Hmmm...maybe we could get one HID light come payday instead of 3 more flourescent fixtures and 6 more bulbs. That would cost about $50, how much do HID lights cost? Are there a particular brand you would recommend?

Okay about the dirt...here is what I have: I mixed 2 bags of Earthgro All Purpose Potting Soil with one bag of Miracle grow (I think they were all 40 pound bags?) and then added fertilizer with cow manure and mixed it all up.

Here is the breakdown and ingredients on the soil:

Earthgro contains 1 or more of the following (hypnum peat, forest products or compost), sand, perlite and a wetting agent.

Miracle-Gro contains 1 or more of the following (peat, forest products or compost), sphagnum Peat Moss, manure fertilizer and a wetting agent.
Nitrogen 10%
phosphate .05%
soluable potash 10%

there are 2 other dirts I can choose from. They are:

Schultz Moisture Plus Potting Mix contains sphagnum peat, perlite and moisture plus water holding crystals.
Nitrogen .08%
phosphate .12%
soluable potash .08%

and

ProGro
contains a horticultural grade canadian sphagnum peat moss, vermiculite, composted bark and a wetting agent.

Now, is the dirt I mixed good, or should I get different dirt, or should I add anything to what I have or...?

We also bought blood meal tonight, but we shouldn't make that tea and use it until the babies are older right?

Is the fish water good to use now? Or should we wait until they are older? I also bought mineral water tonight?

I will keep checking back for answers and thanks ButterflyDreams and Cajunyank for answering me. I sincerely appreciate all the help and advice I can get.

ButterflyDreams

. With the new light, the closet now has 19,360 lumens...which still isnt enough is it? From what I am reading we should want 31,000 - 38,750 optimally.


Have you considered making the grow area smaller for now?
Placing a temporary wall in to divide it in half would make the lights you have now almost right. (1900 lumen/ft²)


Hmmm...maybe we could get one HID light come payday instead of 3 more flourescent fixtures and 6 more bulbs. That would cost about $50, how much do HID lights cost? Are there a particular brand you would recommend?


Lowes, Home dePot and a lot of general hardware store sell HID's as security lights. Call around and ask for something to light up the back yard or in front of the garage. Small HPS is what you'll be looking for to start.

Okay about the dirt...here is what I have: I mixed 2 bags of Earthgro All Purpose Potting Soil with one bag of Miracle grow (I think they were all 40 pound bags?) and then added fertilizer with cow manure and mixed it all up

What you have will work. Don't use any additional ferts until they become established. They may show signs of root burn if the manure is still hot. If so you'll have to transplant. The peat and pre-fertilized soil may cause your pH to get wacky so you'll need to check it as well.

To check pH take a small sample from the soil. I use a drinking straw to get an overall look at the soil. Mix the sample with 10 parts water. Make sure you adjust the pH of the water to 7. Mix the sample in the water vigourously for several minutes. I use a bamboo skewer. I'm not sure if a metal implement would alter the reading, but...

Let the mixture settle for ten minutes or longer. Carefully take the resulting clear liquid from the top of the dish without disturbing the sediment. Use the pH tester from your fishtank. I like to keep mine between 6.3 and 6.8.

Is the fish water good to use now? Or should we wait until they are older? I also bought mineral water tonight?


I'd use it. The straight un-condensed version will help stabilize the soil and the roots through the additional bacteria. Check the pH of the mineral water before you use it. Also remember some mineral water is high in sodium which can cause problems for the plant as well.

Thanks for picking my brain. I needed the exercise.

Live, Learn, Grow.
BD

__________________
She stood beside him like a rainbow braided.
~ P.B. Shelley

stonewolf

ACK! What do I do what do I do? Checked the babies just now and several of them are shriveled. I think the new lights made it too hot. Is there something I can do to save them?? They are still green and standing but several of them have shriveled leaves.