Overwhelmed by options but I think its time to set them moved. thinking of adding a pinch of blood and bone meal to the bottom of the new containers when I up pot with this. if im correct I need ideally a soilless options for this stage?
by OkRutabagaOk
5 Comments
Coco Loco would be excellent
Are they going to be planted into the ground?
I pot up into a standard all purpose potting mix and throw a bit of pelletized chicken manure in. That works well for me and gets them off to a really good start.
I do also keep my starts outdoors where they get direct sun on and off throughout the day. Mine would not survive in a coconut coir medium as it would dry out too fast. I’d also be concerned they’d run out of nutrients quickly.
Agree that it is time to get these moved. It will be lots of plants. This would be a good time to decide how many tomatoes you have room for under your grow lights and how many you have room for outdoors. Get rid of the surplus now. It won’t get any easier if you wait.
What will you be potting them up into? I use 3.5″ square plastic nursery pots. I buy them by the hundred from Greenhouse Megastore.
As to the growing medium, my advice would be to go easy and simple: Just use some cheap, basic potting soil without any special amendments. You are facing a big job. Don’t make it any more complex than necessary.
Good luck!
> if im correct I need ideally a soilless options for this stage?
I always pot them up into soil. The only reason to use a sterile soil-less medium for starting seeds is because it reduces the chance of the seeds getting moldy or otherwise messed up by fungus/bacteria. Once the plant has roots and true leaves, it needs soil. If you put them in a sterile medium, the roots will be struggling to find nutrients and you’ll see very little top growth until the roots do find nutrients.
Just realized one of my bags is accidently happy frog potting soil with mycorrhizae and humid acid. Hopefully thats a good option too.