50/50 Spagnum Peat Moss and Vermiculite

[melodious fellow]

50/50 Spagnum Peat Moss and Vermiculite is the soil mix I have been using.

Germinated seeds in 1/2 gallon pots, been under six 23 watt CFLs for a total of a little over 10,000 Lumens. Running 19 hours a day. Have a nice little fan in cab. Cab is l-12inches by w-12 inches by h-40 inches

4 of the CFLs are the regular yellow and 2 are Daylight.

They get about 15 oz (just enough to make water come out holes in bottom) pure, Brita filtered water with a few drops of Superthrive in it every time I water.

I usually have to water about 3 times a week.

I try to keep temps in the 70-80s, but sometimes they do get to 90 in the afternoons if it is a warm day and I am not home to open cab door.

I know hitting 90 slows growth to almost nill, but this is not the norm. For most of the day, at least 13 or 14 hours of the day, and all day on cool days, temps are in the 70s-80s. And they usually drop to 60s- low 70s at night.

I am getting a window AC soon for the room, hopefully it will cool the closet too.

Anyway, those are my specs and here is the prob. Growth is extremely slow, almost non-existent. Plants look healthy (although one is a pale lime yellowy green) but are just stagnating at a few inches tall.

Is this likely a soil problem using just peat moss and vermiculite?

I really cannot image the problem is the temps, as hitting 90 is rare and besides, plants would experience much worse outside.

I think I should change my medium perhaps? Any known problems with peat moss and vermiculite mix?

I checked Ph with 2 diff meters (a passive one and an electric probe one) and both said between 6.7-7.0 although I have little faith in the accuracy of any Ph test method I have yet to find in any garden or hardware store.


Any diagnosis for this stagnation?

[Weedhound]

just guessing without checking your soil ph.....yes I think the problem is your peat. It's known for it's extremely low ph.

[melodious fellow]

Thanks for the reply.

Perhaps a 50/50 mixture of Organic Miracle Grow and Vermiculite?

[Weedhound]

The soil that was recommended to me was Fox Farm Ocean Forest for seedlings. . Like Dutch Pimp said Miracle grow is tricky and often comes with fertilizer already in it.....as your seedlings have discovered to their detriment.

[melodious fellow]

The soil that was recommended to me was Fox Farm Ocean Forest for seedlings. . Like Dutch Pimp said Miracle grow is tricky and often comes with fertilizer already in it.....as your seedlings have discovered to their detriment.

Neither Lowe's nor Walmart has any special soils like Fox Farm and there is no hydro shop here haha.

The best I could find is some Seed Starting soil. They had a Miracle Grow brand Seed Starting soil, but I chose a different brand for the same price with slightly less peat than the Miracle Grow and prolly less ferts as well.

It is like 80% peat and compost, the rest is Perlite and it has a bit of phosphorus for root growth and some lime for Ph balance. Anyway, it is called Seed Starting, so I am going to be displeased if it kills my seeds.

I think I am going to mix soil with Vermiculite in 70/30 ratio respectively and then put it in Biodegradable transplanting pots that are about the size of Dixie cups.

thoughts?

peace

[katyowns]

You can buy soil online, and often times it's cheaper than at a hydro shop. Check out ebay and google around. I use Bio-Canna medium, which is the best I've ever used. I will say though that my 1st soil grow was a 1/3 mix of perlite, vermiculute, and spagnum moss, and the plants were healthy, so I don't know what to tell you

[melodious fellow]

You can buy soil online, and often times it's cheaper than at a hydro shop. Check out ebay and google around. I use Bio-Canna medium, which is the best I've ever used. I will say though that my 1st soil grow was a 1/3 mix of perlite, vermiculute, and spagnum moss, and the plants were healthy, so I don't know what to tell you

No way am I linking my credit card to anything else in this experiment...lol

Did you see the soil recipe I decided on Kat? It is Seed Starting soil (made by one of those companies 'Ferrymorse seeds?' that sells vegetable seeds in the garden section of walmart.) cut by 1/3 with vermiculite.

I ended up planting them in empty, top cut off, Ocean Spray half gallon rectangle bottles.

Hopefully this soil will work better. The juice bottles were made into hempy buckets by the way (Passive Hydro- and YES, it works. 15inch long roots for a 2 inch tall plant :)



thoughts?

[Weedhound]

Sorry I'm not more help here but I really don't know much about the different soils myself; pretty much only what I've been told by the pros.

[Mr. Clandestine]

Here's a good mix that has worked for me many times in the past. Plus, everything can be found at Wally World & Lowe's/Home Labyrinth.

1 50lb bag sterilized mushroom compost (est. $15)
1 5lb bag black peat moss ($5)
1 box bone/blood meal ($3 a piece)
1 gallon jug worm castings ($8)
1 5lb bag of perlite ($5)

Roughly $36, and you'll have pretty much everything you need to to fill ten 12" containers.

My rough mix:

50% compost
10% peat moss (I mainly use peat to buffer my pH.)
30% perlite
10% amendments (blood/bone meal, castings, etc.)

This is pretty much a universal mix, can be used for veg and flowering, although for a flowering-only soil, I'll usually leave the blood meal out of the mix. The compost contains enough Nitrogen to keep things green throughout most of flowering, usually running low about six weeks. That's right about where you want the plants to start getting Nitrogen deficient.

Hope that helps a little bit. Also, don't forget that many online gardening stores accept money orders. It just takes slightly longer to process and receive the order. Pre-paid Visa cards are also nice and don't leave a paper trail.

[melodious fellow]

I already bought that seed companies Seed Starter, but am planning a journey to a hydro store manana. It is quite a trip as there are no hydro stores in my town or a near town, but I shall bring an apple in the car to pass the time, yeah?

I know they sell Fox Farm Ocean Forest for $23 a bag lol... But I think I am just there for a Ph kit and some other goodies.

Even if the peat moss (which is unfortunately the majority of the Seed Starter mix) brings down the Ph a bit, this is a passive hydro grow, so as longas it does not dip below low 5's I should be straight, yeah?

[Mr. Clandestine]

Even if the peat moss (which is unfortunately the majority of the Seed Starter mix) brings down the Ph a bit, this is a passive hydro grow, so as longas it does not dip below low 5's I should be straight, yeah?

That's a good question. I'm not entirely sure where you'll need to keep your pH for a passive system (wick?)... but if you're using a soil-like medium, and not hydroton or an inert medium, then I'd think you'd be aiming for 6.5-6.8. I'm sure someone will drop by to clear this question up for you. Wish I could be of more assistance here, but I don't know a whole lot about hydro systems... passive or active.

Also, I may have accidentally skipped over it, but will you be adding any perlite to your mix? Peat moss and vermiculite both retain moisture very well, and might stay too saturated for healthy root development to occur. If you're not planning on aerating it any better, I'd go with a pretty coarse vermiculite. Even then, vermiculite breaks down over time... so you may want to seriously consider the perlite. It won't mess with your pH, and definitely helps get oxygen to the roots.

[Mr. Clandestine]

(Sorry... accidentally posted the same response twice.)

[melodious fellow]

The Seed Starting soil is ridiculously lightweight itself, as after cutting it with 25-40% vermiculite, it is extremely well airated and well drained... water easily flows right out bottom hole.

It is a helpy bucket. Container with no drainage holes on bottom. drill a small hole 1-2 inches from bottom of container. This will create a reservoir for the roots to access at all times. 1 inch tall plant developed 12 inch long roots when I transplanted it today.

thnx for all the replies