Couldn't talk you outta them red cups there could I Joy?
Some Early Feb Pics
Don't need that many holes? Three per cup will do just fine. You don't want the water to just run through but gently drain along the mix to hold some water. The plants need more water as they get bigger plus you'll not have to water but every third day.
JOY112854
If you can heat the nail first there would be less chance of cracking the cup. I remember them being sort of brittle You will want vise grips to hold hot nail ..Pliers will work but you have to keep squeeze pressure on them all the time..The burn hole will not weaken cup.. Just an idea..I plan on using the solo cups ..I just can't decide on the color. You all got me so confused with if they should be red yellow or blue LOL Have fun tomorrow .Don't poke each other..
Tubby
Joy, take pictures girl.
Hey tubbytee: That is a great idea. I bought 50 16 oz cups, so can only mess up 7. LOL
I got my HE buckets today, my guy brought them over to me, and we drilled all the drain holes in all 18 HEBs and 6 HE buckets, they are ready now, except there are two buckets that the pond basket's holes were too big, so gotta figure out where I can get those plastic ties that were used on the kitty litter HEB this week. That way I can tie the basket up with it and hope it holds.
I talked to the manager at the tractor and farm store about getting in some Epsoma Dolomite Lime also; but, they have 40 lb bags of Dolomite Lime, it's called hydrated lime, is that the stuff I want to stay away from or not? If so, will have to do some more talking to that manager there. I did buy a duster for my dipel dust while I was in there though.
I have a question though about those cups, they won't melt from the grow lights will they?
joy
I've been converted to the church of boca bob (for seed starting, at least), and I have an initial question: Can I sterilize the coir before I use it? I've read the DG article on dampening off - just use that method?
Anything else I need to know before I jump in?
I'd thought about sprinkling something (vermiculite, perlite?) on top of any seed-starting mix for good measure. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
Here's what kind of coconut fiber I'm using:
No need to sprinkle anything on the coir as it does very well on its own. As far as sterilizing it -- I've not had any problems but perhaps you should d-mail Bob and ask or perhaps he'll pick up on this thread. Just now I have pepper seedlings in his planter kit and they are doing very well as they seem to like the coir as it holds the water and loose enough for air penetration. When they are large enough I will plant the whole planter pot into my EB as it sure makes for healthy roots and the plastic pot is supposed to break away as the root grows but I'll not know that till next season which is September. I find the coir to be far superior to anything that I have ever used for container planting. I'll bet it would make a great peat moss in the garden as regular peat does not absorb the water and has a natural PH of 6-6.5.and peat is highly acidic. The 1 cu ft bag that Miracle Gro sells for $10.00 that will absorb water on contact is to expensive compared to a block of coir. That just gave me an idea to use in my garden and mix in my planting holes for my container trees which I shall soon be planting in-ground as the construction here is almost complete?
Hope Bob has enough coir in stock? LOL
Indy: The coconut coir is sterile, I think that is one of the advantages to using it. It also absorbs extra water and so think unless you purposely drown your plants you shouldn't experience any dampening off disease. I had a tendency of watering way too much and lost all my seedlings because of it when I used peat pellets to plant my veggie seeds, haven't had that problem at all with the coconut coir that I'm using this time. Just got back from Ace's and Lowes, got two bags of fertilizer for my corn, got two bags of dolomite lime, got $96 worth of lumber for my EBs to go own after I have them built, and got 15 bags each of compost humus and manure for my canna beds along with the Preen. I'm a happy camper now. Doing the solo cups tonight with my daughter and down loading some pics.
joy
Hey Guys.
I told ya'll ON ANOTHER FORUM that I was collecting 5-gallon buckets from the construction workers on my job. Almost all the buckets contained paint, however, several contained the wallpaper adhesive. The paint is latex and will peel off. Any way I can put the adhesive buckets in the "food" chain, if I clean them out really, really, really good? They're actually a bit taller than the 5-gallons, and would make excellent water reservoirs for the potting buckets.
LMK ASAP!
Thanks,
Your "Please don't squeeze the coir" Friend,
Linda
Thanks guys! The new shelves are set up, lights are hung, haaa!
Gymgirl, I asked my neighbor, who's a chef, for those big food grade drums for rain barrels and she couldn't help me. But she brought home a five-gallon bucket, somewhat like what you're talking about. (Recycle code 2 clearly marked on the bottom and her work just throws them away. Aaah!) I can see lots of uses for it, so check with your friendly neighborhood restaurant workers and see if they can hook you up. I'm not sure what you could do with that paint that would be ok for growing food - and worth the trouble. Maybe someone else will know, though.
these also make great storage for your jiffy mix, lime, fertilizer etc...they have the lid that locks (or at least the ones I've used do) and in SE TX airtight is a wonderful thing when the 100% humidity hits.
Bob
How did you repot your lemon? Did you leave the dirt around the roots when you put it in the coir or what. I have 1 lemon and 2 oranges to repot into coir as soon as the weather is warm.
Gymgirl
really need to know the contents of the adhesive, to give you an answer.
Indy v
I get my 5 gal. buckets from the bakery at krogers. All they have had in them is frosting unfortuntely all the frosting is gone by the time I get them.
Annie
I'm not sure about using the containers you are referring to? Any container used by a restaurant had food in them and they don't sanitize them for you. Salmonella can develop in them and you know what that means? Sometimes saving a buck may kill you? No advertisement but why not just use the five gallon gro bags they are very light and freight is minimal and you know they are safe and have proven to be exceptional. Far better than a contaminated HEB! Don't you think?
Annie,
I just dug a nice big hole (the size of the container the lemon tree was in) and stuck it into the coconut coir. Bingo, that's it. It seems happy. Yes I kept what ever dirt was around the roots.
Bob
"It's time to start growing your own food"
I'll most likely use the buckets for tools and whatnot. But I would sterilize anything I use for gardening, so it wouldn't be an issue.
Reduce, reuse, recycle.There's already enough plastic in the world. Might as well use what's here if we can.
fbded, thanks for the tip. I'll send my friends to Kroger if they're jealous of my free buckets, hee hee.
BocaBob, I've been reading your info. and am interested in trying one of your grow bags, I placed an order on the marketplace a few days ago, please check your dmail. Thanks Laura
bob: I took 15 of the tallest tomato startings ( a mixture of Park's Whopper and Park's Super Bush) and put them in 16 oz solo cups tonight, buring the stem up to the leafs, they are soaking in a solution right now of your fertilizer and sea magic, both weakened with warm water for 20 mins, then I will let them drain and put them under the lights. I only did 15 cause the light I have fixed up for them in rigged just til I can get it hung, I bought two new lights tonight, got a great deal on them. The rest will be done before the end of the week.
Now I know why their stems get thick, they gotta to survive all that. LOL
I got 28 more to go but want them to get a little bigger though first, is it alright to have 15 empty cells in your coconut coir starter kit? Also, my eggplants are getting taller too, should I try burying the stem with them too, or is this just with tomatoes? I put 4 holes in the bottom of the solo cup also, my daughter used a razor and I used a nail.
joy
Joy
This message was edited Feb 17, 2009 12:37 AM
Laura - I sent you a D-mail
Joy- Having empty cells is no problem. Let's ask Tplant about the eggplant
Since its cold out, I have my little cell of plants here at the desk Im messing with. They have been planted five weeks today and Im thinking they are the best Ive ever grown, to this point. They are actually standing up. Not great pictures, I was just about to take one of each variety and put it in a cup, just to see if it makes things any better, I grow in the sponges to eleminate the step, but since I have the seedlings to do it, Im going to try both ways.
a sungold
happy roots, that like floating in their happy water
kellogs breakfast...coming along.
I take them in and out of the blocks so they might be tricked into thinkthing they have been transplanted.
eggplants dont seem to want to transfer.
I just put one of these down in the cup to put the ocir around. Im taking it is ok to set the plant at the very bottom of the cup, othersie its to tall for the cup. I think Im only going to do a couple of these experiments with the cups. Im going strait to the EB when this last ( hopefully) cold weather has past this weekend.
OK, lets here it for the solo cups. The genericts dont have them. The have like a ridge on both sides inside the cup. Depending on how you turn the up, the cups will either stack falt, with the bottoms touching each other OR if you turn it a half turn the cup on top sits up on the ridges and you have yourself a little EB for the seedling. The water and roots stay below and you never have to water from the top. Going to try the double cup method.
I could use an opinion. This is sitting on the bottom of the cup. I cant get it any deeper. There is still a good two inches of stem sticking out. Is that too much. Is this going to be a waste of time?
Garden Glory: Those are some healthy looking startings their stems look thick to me. Is that the Park's bio dome you are using there? And are you using the Park's bio dome sponges or coconut coir? It was tricky transplanting the little baskets with the startings in it from Bob' coconut coir starter kit into the solo cups, I got 15 transplanted yesterday; but something had to be done the stems were getting so tall and they were thin, so I wanted to make the stems thicker, and thought if I transferred them to the cups, burying the stem up to the leafs with coconut coir that would make their root system healthier, we shall see what happens. It's still about 60 degrees here way to cold to put tomatoes outside yet.
joy
As everyone is getting sick of hearing, Im sure.
Transplanting to me, is where the sponges excell. As you see, you can move them around and it doenst even disturb them. It took me all of about 30 seconds to sit that plant in the cup and put the coir around it. These are the thickest stems Ive ever had, at this point. This is usually when I call selected seedlings and tell Daryll to send me some seedlings., and I pitch mine As much as I love the coir, and love it I do. I love these sponges for starting, just as much, They are what has finally made gardening,..at least with seeds,..fun. The coir is also faboulous for my daylilies. I have had no crown rot what so ever growing in it. With the good lilies going for $250 a pop....that is a wonderful thing.
Glory,
You're seedlings are looking GREAT! And, no, the 2" sticking out of the cup won't hurt it at all. When you put it in its final growing place, you'll still bury it up to the leaves then, and will have a good root system below.
Great Job!
Linda
Joy -- LOL You don't try to transplant Bobs coco coir cups by taking the plants out of the cup. You harm the roots and defeat the purpose. With this system you don't use the plastic cups as they are to small. Go online and buy 4.5 or 5" square plastic containers. Then when you are ready for final transplant remove the plant with the cup and plant the whole thing. As the roots grow in the final transplant they will split the cup, as per BocaBob's experience, and continue their natural growth. With this method you will have the best results and the containers are re-usable for many seasons. I still have my originals and carrying trays can also be purchased for them so it makes for easier carrying.
Joy that is what I was going to tell you too. Transplant into the solos keeping the seedling in Bob's baskets. When they outgrow the cups, transplant them into their permanent home also keeping them in their baskets. The baskets will eventually be so filled with roots that it will break apart as the rootball keeps growing.
Oh, Joy!
So how did BocaBob's and Tplant's trip to the green market go this past weekend? Any pictures?
Jerry
Bob had a few and he did very well! I couldn't make it as I completely forgot it to be my son's birthday. He did post a couple but I would like to see them all as you ? He is going to make it a regular market thing.
Here's one with my 85 year old mom
one more
Ya'll I did keep the basket on the plant. What I did was put just a tad of coconut coir in the bottom of the solo cup, then put the plant, basket and all in the solo cup, and buried the stem up to the bottom leaf. Then I let them sit in some of Bob's fertilizer solution and sea magic solution watered down of course, for a little while and then drained them and put them under lights. They are doing just fine. It was tricky getting the coconut coir to slide down the sides of the basket since the bottom of the solo cup is a bit thin. So the whole thing got planted into the solo cup. When it comes time to transplant that, I will cut the solo cup down the sides and it should come right off and plant the whole thing right into the EB or Bob's 5 gallon bags. See, I got it. LOL
joy
Ah, that's good Joy. I hope when you split those Solo cups they are jam pack stuffed with rooties ☺
In my opinion solo cups are to small for the coir pots and a waste of time. They need larger containers like the ones I recommended the other day. Personally, I would use the large five inch square plastic containers for my upcoming peppers as they have far more room. A solo cup is 16 oz but narrow and not meant for coir pots. Using the coir pots make for exceptionally large roots and that is just what I want for my plants. When up potting, the container should be at least two to three times as wide and deep as the original plant or just leave it in the coir pot and use the "additional mix" method as BocaBob has showed us by adding mix as the plant grows in his inexpensive five gallon bags. This way the roots are never disturbed. I'm really looking forward to some healthy peppers using this metod this season and so far have been very fortunate with all my gardening skills inspite of occasional disease and even more so, CONSTRUCTION INTERFERENCE! LOL
Have you guys seen the instructions for making pots out of newspaper? It's quick and easy - and biodegradable! You can make them any size you want. :o)