WHEN TO START FERTILIZING SEEDLINGS?

and what should I use? They don't seem to be doing anything now that they've come up.

I don't start fertilizing mine until they have 2-4 true leaves and then I only give them half strength until they start showing strength in the trunk. Once they are well rooted in their little pots and looking strong, they will grow like crazy with some full strength fertilizer. Warm temps and sunshine help too and boy are we having some crazy weather here. Warm and no sun with high humidity. Crossing my fingers for some nice days soon.

Thanks Brugie. I have noticed they are growing "taller" in their new sunroom upstairs (more day heat from the sunny windows) but they still don't have the true leaves.

Karrie, when I start brug seeds, I put them right under lights. About two inches from the top of the pot and keep them close without burning as they come up. I don't get a lot of stretching by doing it this way. I'd die to have your sunroom though. Wow, but larger brugs would love it.

I still have the seedlings in the greenhouse, its been too windy to put them out in the elements. Thanks for the answer (and thanks, Karrie for asking) because I had been wondering the same thing.

I followed Shirley's advice and kept mine as close as possible under the lights until they had between 5 - 10 leaves each, and I ended up with some awesome looking seedlings. Thick trunks, compact plants with humongous leaves. I moved them out to the greenhouse about a month ago and most are over a foot tall, and had to be moved up to one-gallon containers a few days ago. These were seeds planted on 1/28/04. I attribute this to Brugie's advice on the lights -- thank you, Brugie :)

You are welcome Gretchen. I haven't been here much tonight. Have a project going on in the kitchen and I can barely get out of there. Catch ya all tomorrow.

Oops, I forgot to add that once a week they are being fed my grow tonic:

one gallon of water
one tbs of liquid seaweed
one tbs H202
two tbs of agricultural molasses
1/4 tsp of Super Thrive
1 - 2 drops of pure tea tree oil...

I'm back!! Wow, that is quite a recipe. I might have to try that. Your brug babies are awesome looking. Getting as many buds as you have on your Frosty in such a short amount of time tells me that something you are doing is really pushing them along. Thanks for posting it. We should have started a thread a long time ago, not for chatting, but for putting all of the recipes that people use for brugs and dats, for feeding and for bugs as well as quick fixes for different problems on the leaves, etc. It sure would be easier to find if all were in one thread.

Do you continue feeding that formula after they are large?

I feed it once a week, every week to all my plants...all year long. I only started using it on my brugs when I obtained the first ones (January), but they are obviously loving it. I have discontinued using chemical fertilizers. And, as long as you don't use this in the heat of the day, there is no way you can burn your plants. Also, its effective as a foliar and/or soil food, and it smells good!

Edited to add: The tea tree oil and H202 are an addition I made to it a while back, after reading a post from Ma Vie Rose. I have noticed that I no longer have fungus gnats in the GH since those additions.

This message was edited Mar 26, 2004 10:09 PM

What is H202 and where do you get it? Also are the rest of the ingrediants readily available?

H2O2 is hydrogen peroxide, probably the 3% from the supermarket.

Gretchen, where did you get the rest of this recipe? I remember someone posting a similar recipe months ago. Was it Larry? I think it was on a different forum. His sounded good also. Anyone know where it is?

I've never even heard of agricultural molasses. Off to search.....

Liz,
...........Ag Molasses is the newer form of molasses used for mixing sweet feeds for horses, etc. It is not as syrupy as regular molasses and the feed stays freer flowing. I would guess the feed mills prefer it because it does not clog up the grain mixers.
.............We used to get big chunks of hardened grain/molasses in the sweet feed, when we used the real molasses. This is what would break loose from the accumulations in the mixer . The kids called them candy bars for the horses and they loved them. I can imagine what this did to the mixers.


This message was edited Mar 27, 2004 12:39 PM

My hubby set up a little grow station down in the basement with florescent lights. It is next to the furnace so it is warm. Unfortunately, there is no "actual" light from windows down there. Should I keep them up in the sun room or should I put them downstairs under that light? (It's a double light, and would cover the flat)

Personally, I would put them under the light because you can adjust it and also time it for the number of hours you want it on. I try to keep mine on at least the number of daylight hours we have. On cloudy days your seedlings would still get strong light and I don't think they will stretch as bad.

Hmmmm - so even though it is dark down there, I should go ahead and move them there, under that light?

Karrie, I just have better luck with seedlings under lights than by window light. It would be my preference, but if you have concerns about having them down there, I'd do what you feel most comfortable with. One nice thing about brug babies, if they do get a little tall, you can transplant them a little deeper. I just like to keep the trunk strong and by using the artificial light, I have better luck. Once I can get them into the greenhouse so they get light from all sides, they do well out there. Most of my babies were 8-10 inches tall before I could move them out and they have trunks as big as my little finger or bigger. Most are already looking woody.

I do what Brugie does and it works great. The brug babies love it! The room mine are in is somewhat dark as th ewindow is openng ot my backporch which is under a lathe. And the bnrugs do not seem to mind a bit the dark. I use one cool light and one warm one. Good Luck!!

You know I have been trying to remember where I saw that post of fertilizer made at home. It had such interesting ingredients. I wonder if it was Horseshoe that posted it. Anyone remember what I am talking about??

Another good reason to have all recipes on one thread. I don't have any recipes for bug sprays or fertilizer, so maybe someone will start one to get the ball rolling.

Kell:

That's a recipe I have concocted myself, based on my plant needs for my growing conditions. I received most of the information a couple of years ago from a local organic gardening store. As I mentioned, I've recently added the H202 and Tea Tree Oil. The really nice thing about it is that it continues to enrich the soil, whereas chemical based, salt fertilizers deplete the soil of its natural nutrients, and the result is that you have to fertilize more often. The salt based fertilizers like MG, Peters, etc. can also destroy the good organisms which live in and enrich the soil. I'll tell you what, my brugs absolutely love it. I have lots of buds on my January cuttings and my seedlings are growing like weeds! You can't hurt the plants with this method either.

Karrie:

My seedlings were in a dark room, under a table:

http://davesgarden.com/t/417595/

and they really did do well. None were leggy! They were ompact, healthy with big, strong stems. It was the first time I'd ever grown under lights, and I'll never do it any other way!
I don't think you'll be disappointed :)

Spelling errors............

This message was edited Mar 27, 2004 2:52 PM

In the St. Pete Times:

Dissolve 1 bar Kirk's Castile soap in 1 gal. very hot water and let it sit for one week, stirring daily. Dissolve 1 cup of the liquid in 1 gal. warm water, shake and pour into a spray bottle. Use for bugs and fungus. This will not hurt the good bugs, but will kill aphids, spider mites, mealy bugs and scale, white flies. Spray until the plants drip. You can also use a heavier concentrate, for harder to kill 'stuff'.

I'm going to start a recipe thread. Gretchen, will you put your recipes in it for us?

Sure thing :)

LOL Gretchen, was that written by the maker of Kirk's Castile soap?

Kell:

I have no idea who wrote it, but my Mother sent it to me. Was in the Gardening section of her paper and she is using it. I haven't yet had a need...hope I don't! LOL

Thanks Gretchen.

Always happy to help in any way, Shirley!