This is my first year growing, and i'm doing it outside. My first few sets of seedlings died but I think I am on the right track now.
All but 2 of my seedlings are 9 days old, and 2 are around 14 days I believe. About half of them have 1 pair of leaves starting the 2nd, a few have 2 pairs of leaves, a few have 2 pairs with 4 new ones starting, and my 2 oldest have two leaves and then 2 nodes of 3 leaves with new nodes forming. The starter leaves are dying now. I hit them with neem oil on sunday i believe. They are in either 1 quart or 1 gallon pots which i surrounded with dead grass for light protection/camoflauge. I am going to add some small white pebbles to the soil surface to reflect light and prevent the soil from heating up. The soil in the pots is organic sunshine mix without ferts, mixed with about 15% worm castings. I have been watering with distilled water mixed with 1ml superthrive and 10ml biobizz root juice per gallon. I mix roughly 1/4 well water with the distilled to bring the PH up... i know it is very high in calcium and magnesium. My PH ranges from 6.0-6.4 of the final solution.
I also have 4 holes. The soil is a 1:1 ratio of composted cow manure, perlite, vermiculite, top soil, and spagnhum peat moss. Each holes is 5 cubic feet. All 4 holes got 100ml mychorrizol and 1 cup pennington fast acting lime and 2 of the holes got 1/2 cup bone meal, 1 cup blood meal, and 1 cup 10-2-1 bat guano. The native soil PH is 5.9 if that matters at all. Each hole has been composting for about a month. I planted 2 of the 9 day old seedlings on day 5 and they seem to be doing good, but one's leaves are curling up on the outside.
Now, I made bat guano tea a couple days ago. I used 30ml bat guano per 8 ounces in one batch and 60ml per 8 ounces in the 2nd. I was unaware of the anaerobic bacteria problems I might be facing... is this a concern? Would aerating the mix with a water pump the night prior to watering be just as good as a fresh tea, and is it really that much better to aerate it when using a freshly made tea? How long do you think I can keep this stuff?
I was planning on starting off with 10ml tea per gallon (about 1ml bat guano.. cut that in half because 50% of the nitrogen is water soluble) and increasing by 10-30ml each watering until i get to 120 ml of the 60m per 8 oz at a time. Or would it be better to use a low concentration of bat guano/worm casting tea occasionally for aerobic bacteria and use a commercial organic fertilizer?
Any reccomendations on when to transplant my best plants to the other 2 holes (or 3 if this one stays unhealthy or dies..). The healthy one in the hole seems to be doing better than most of it's peers in pots... and i havent even been watering it lol.
All but 2 of my seedlings are 9 days old, and 2 are around 14 days I believe. About half of them have 1 pair of leaves starting the 2nd, a few have 2 pairs of leaves, a few have 2 pairs with 4 new ones starting, and my 2 oldest have two leaves and then 2 nodes of 3 leaves with new nodes forming. The starter leaves are dying now. I hit them with neem oil on sunday i believe. They are in either 1 quart or 1 gallon pots which i surrounded with dead grass for light protection/camoflauge. I am going to add some small white pebbles to the soil surface to reflect light and prevent the soil from heating up. The soil in the pots is organic sunshine mix without ferts, mixed with about 15% worm castings. I have been watering with distilled water mixed with 1ml superthrive and 10ml biobizz root juice per gallon. I mix roughly 1/4 well water with the distilled to bring the PH up... i know it is very high in calcium and magnesium. My PH ranges from 6.0-6.4 of the final solution.
I also have 4 holes. The soil is a 1:1 ratio of composted cow manure, perlite, vermiculite, top soil, and spagnhum peat moss. Each holes is 5 cubic feet. All 4 holes got 100ml mychorrizol and 1 cup pennington fast acting lime and 2 of the holes got 1/2 cup bone meal, 1 cup blood meal, and 1 cup 10-2-1 bat guano. The native soil PH is 5.9 if that matters at all. Each hole has been composting for about a month. I planted 2 of the 9 day old seedlings on day 5 and they seem to be doing good, but one's leaves are curling up on the outside.
Now, I made bat guano tea a couple days ago. I used 30ml bat guano per 8 ounces in one batch and 60ml per 8 ounces in the 2nd. I was unaware of the anaerobic bacteria problems I might be facing... is this a concern? Would aerating the mix with a water pump the night prior to watering be just as good as a fresh tea, and is it really that much better to aerate it when using a freshly made tea? How long do you think I can keep this stuff?
I was planning on starting off with 10ml tea per gallon (about 1ml bat guano.. cut that in half because 50% of the nitrogen is water soluble) and increasing by 10-30ml each watering until i get to 120 ml of the 60m per 8 oz at a time. Or would it be better to use a low concentration of bat guano/worm casting tea occasionally for aerobic bacteria and use a commercial organic fertilizer?
Any reccomendations on when to transplant my best plants to the other 2 holes (or 3 if this one stays unhealthy or dies..). The healthy one in the hole seems to be doing better than most of it's peers in pots... and i havent even been watering it lol.