getting ready for the test in seed starting

in this picture i have labeled all my containers. i will start with my hot peppers. i have 3 different types this year. one is --

7 pot which i have divided like this --
2 park sponges which i put into my 2 inch containers.

1 using boca bob's buckets with the coir

2 using my containers and my own store bought seed starting soil.

bhut jolokia
3 park sponges inside my 2 inch container

3 in BB's bucket with the coir

3 in my two containers with coir

naga morrich
3 in my containers with coir

also starting eggplants

black beauty

2 in my containers with coir and one with my seed starting formula

here are the pictures. the first are the ones with the bhut jolokias etc

note - i edited above to say that i would use the coir in two of my eggplant containers and one with my regular formula










This message was edited Feb 16, 2009 7:43 AM

andthis is the rest of them. i will start planting my seds within the next few days

Herbie - tell me about the labels:
Water/moisture resiatance; ease of removal, anything else?
LOL - the squirrels steal labels from my pots when they go outside for hardening off. Must be a game...This way they'd have to take the whole thing!

can't wait to see the results!!! virginia

katye - here is what i used

once you print out something you remove the backing and stick it wherever you wish. you can remove it and stick it somewhere else. its perfect for gardening cause you can put it whee you start your seeds and then where you repot it and finally when you put it into the garden.

me and some others will be doing this and i'm sure there will be plenty of pictures and comments here.

o.k. i got all the peppers planted as follows

bhut jolokia
3 in the park sponges
3 in my 2 inch container with coir
3 in BB's baskets with coir
1 in my 2 inch container with my regular potting soil
1 4 inch container using my regular potting soil

bushwacker, who we all know starts a ton of hot peppers told me he starts all his seeds in 4 inch containrs and they stay there until it's time to plant out doors so i thought i would try one his way.

i also took critter's advice and soaked the seeds in a cup of warm water and 1 1/2 tsp peroxide.

ref ruffled pimento
1 in BB's bucket with coir
1 in my containe with my regular potting soil

7 pot
1 in BB's basket with coir
2 in park sponges
2 in my containe with my regular potting soil

mega marrich
2 in 2 inch container with coir
1 in 2 inch container with my regular potting soil

i put all the containers using either the park sponges or the coir into one deep plastic tray because from what i underwstand you can put water in them and the coir and the sponges will soak up just what they need. the rest of the containers u sing my regular pottign soil i put into a seperte plastic ciontainer because i will have to carry them over the the kitchin sink to water them.

here is a picture of my mini green house with the two trays inside.

sorry about ther mess inside the green house bjut i have a lot of supplies which i might or muight not be using for this experiment. LOL. you probably can't tell but i am supporting all my containers with old vhs tapes.
on the shelf above i have my regular potting soil and BB's coir. the two shelves below are filled with planting stuff in case i need it.

i unzipped the front to get a picture of the actual containers. this was taken looking down through the top mesh shelf.

i realize this is just the beginning but i found that my regular potting soil and BB's coir absorbed water faster than the sponges. i actually had to take the sponges out and submerge then in water to get them wet enough to plant the seeds. this may improve when i use the sponges with the cell block that came with them. i didn't use the cell block because it has 18 cells and i didn't need that many.

Just remember Herbie, I did not test my net baskets out in the open without the protection of the insert. The coir may dry out to much. I just don't know.

BocaBob

Whoops crossed threads! Great gardeners think alike.....I used containers and not your insert cups Bob so it was a fair experiment. You have my word! Your coir did the job beautifully w/o fertilizer and JG does contain fertilizer so even I was surprised. I think I'd of had a beanstalk if he used fertilizer? This was an school experiment that my grandson had to complete . He used four, four inch containers. One with coir ,one with JG , one with compost and the other plain soil. Coir won in four days -- Jg six days nix on compost and garden soil. Need to say that the coir had no fertilizer while JG has it already added so the coir was the big winner and we planted it in one of my 12" containers. I'll take a picture tomorrow.

This message was edited Feb 16, 2009 8:49 PM

Herbie,

You could even cut up the insert tray like I did into fours and sixes and split it with Sequee. A much better and fairer test.

BocaBob

"It's time to start growing your own foo"

I just love a challenge -- Don't you? Wait till you see with your own eyes the rapid growth with the coir. I've already shown EB pictures of eggplants and cucumbers in the coir which really should not be growing at this time because it has been to cold but they are doing wonderfully. They are normally a summer planting not our winter plants?

Found the pictures. This is Round Mauve eggplant.

Louisianna Longs eggplant.

Hey Herbie - thanks! I thought it was a Dymo labeler, but wasn't sure. Wonder if they'll sell me one with my name on it?
I have one of those mini GH's too, but no VHS tapes... =:0)

bob - i ahve your baskets inside a large plastic clontainer likethe lones you get when you buy grapes from sams club.

I guess I kind of made my own experiment before you guys did as I planted some real old pepper seeds in BocaBobs seed starting kit, at least seven years old, that I found in my drawer in an envelope. I completely forgot about them and they are sprouting after one week of dormancy and now two weeks of sprouting. I'll be amazed if any more come up? There are a couple of varieties that are newer but not by much? How long can you keep pepper seeds under the previous conditions before they are sterile? I threw the packets away but did label the rows so I know what they are. Will use Miracle-gro fertilizer diluted to 1/4 per gallon of water at next watering. Like Bob I keep one empty to lift out to check water level and that is the one you see completely dry at the front row and almost center. Darn, I love this kit although I don't think you need as high a dome cover? Just my thought!

Fuzzy pics so I thought I'd try this one also. Not much different. Sorry!

This message was edited Feb 17, 2009 12:19 PM

tplant - i see a camera in your future. LOL looks good

wow!!! 7 years? that's classic status isn't it? watching this thread with bated breath...good luck tplant...waiting on my own order of coir...stuff is amazing...virginia

Tplant- I agree with you about the 7" dome. Pretty, but not necessary. I now offer a 2" one at a reduced price.

BocaBob

"It's time to start growing your own food"

I recieved the Gurney catolog today and they now sell coco coir. Refer to page 29 top right corner. 16 qt bag for $14.95.

Pricey

Pricey??? Highway Robbery!!!

ultra hot pepper seeds starting to germinate. one is a 7 pot whcih i started in park's sponges and one is a nega morrich which i started in my own 2 inch container and used store bought seed starting forumla.

i made a mistake when i started seeds in bob's buckets with the coir. at first i just put them in a plastic container but when i watered them i didn't realize that the coir would "leak" through the little black basket so i lost some coir. i fixed that but wrapping the basket in celephane (sp) tape to keep the coir inside. i then placed his basket inside my two inch container which i then placed inside the plastic container for watering purposes. hopefully, i didn't run anything but i have a lot of tomatoes to start and i will do better with bob's stuff.

Remember I was doing a test in a Parks Bio Dome 18 cell unit. I put three of my net pots in to compare same conditions, same seeds, same everything. If you can see the picture ok, the seeds are germinating in both the sponges and the net pots. I previewed and saw I put in the wrong picture. Next post down.

That's better.

Frank, did you buy coir to pot up into?

Here are mine.

OOps, sorry I forgot to say what they were. lol

Gold Cross cabbage and Flat Dutch cabbage. I also have Premium Crop and Packman Broccoli, Cold Set tomatoes, Early Girl tomatoe, Bush cukes lots of flowers.

susan - very nice

sequee - no i didn't. got it frm bob when he sent the kit.

What will you use when you you pot them up?

i still have plenty left over

just got back from a littel visit to philly and i will be posting a few pictures of my newly germinated hot pepper seeds later this evening.

here are some picture of the germinating seeds

first up are the bhut jolokia's.
the first container is obviously BB's bucket with the coir. the next two are park sponges in my 2 inch container. the next is my container with my regular potting oil and the last one is my container again with the coir inside it.

this next pictjure are two of the 7 pot seedlings.
the one on he left is my container with a park sponge inside it andthe one on the right is my container again with my regular potting soil.

the next one are the two containers with the nega morrich seedlings.

both of these are in my containers with coir in both.

it looks like all three ways i started these seeds are dosng wello. i still have a bunch more seeds to germinate.

i like the coir and the sponges because you can fill they use the water as needed as opposed to my regular potting soild that needs to be watered now and then.

Herbie43

I'm sending you in the post tomorrow this 6 pack of my seed starting kit. If you are going to compare it to everything else, you need to test it fairly. Wrapping tape around the net pot, not letting the roots grow out of it and not in full darkness is not really testing my product. You have created a new product. You have to agree with me on this. Are you with me?

BocaBob