Slow Seedling Growth In Coco..

[Redseal]

I thought I'd start a few seeds in coco to compare the growth to those in Light Mix and I think the difference is fairly obvious so far (the stunted coco ones are on the left). I'm using Canna Coco A+B nutes at about 0.2 EC which I thought would be ok for plants a few days old but is that too low or something? Despite the poor leaf growth they seem to have plenty of roots on them.. they're already poking out of the bottom. Spreading out to look for food or something?

Cheers

Edited August 18, 2006 by Redseal

[SnAp CrAcKLe pOp]

Hi there Redseal.

Seedlings look fine simple issue i think ,

there soil your using has food in it coco does not, 0.2 is probally enough for the soil plants but the coco will need alittle more about 0.8ec to 1.0ec dont just hit them with this new strength slowly over next days raise .2 at a day only increasing if improving.

Coco wouldnt be my first choice for raising seed because of the leaching effect from plant when feeding stops. Soil plants dont really need feeding should be enough added for a few weeks. But the coco ones will need daily to second daily feeds.

Try to keep coco medium dry like the soil pots, 50ml of water/nute per day for the coco would be enough for the size of the pot using for next week or so.

10% of pot size = starting seedling feeds roughly.

A root tonic will also feed and help to produce roots faster aiding recovery. the fact that your roots are searching also says something either too much water or looking for food. Same on soilies?

I grow small plants in foam coffee cups upto 3 weeks and roots happily stay inside until full, if water is builing up below pots roots will leave pot in search for food/water.

First pic showing a clone i plain watered too much.

2nd the cup full of roots

Keep a close eye on increase feed tonight and see what happens should get greener and in time do as well as others.

[Redseal]

Thanks for the tips I've read so many contradicting recommended EC levels for seedlings that I thought starting low would be the best idea. They are a bit wet aswell.. I used the wrong coco:perlite ratio so they're not drying out as well as they should be. The soil ones only have the odd root tip out of the bottom and they're just getting rain water at the moment. I did wonder if starting in something else other than coco would have been a better choice.. will know for next time.

Cheers

[SnAp CrAcKLe pOp]

dont worry about coco/perlite mix in days when you have more roots it wont be an issue and can be fixed later when you repot

Starting in Rock wool is my first choice with seeds dont have the yellowing issue as much, and because cube is smaller you water less making it harder to over water.

Let the coco dry out until pot feels light may take days before next feed, said you where using 0.2ec up it to 0.4 then two days later 0.6ec .

coco will hold alot more water than soil so you may not need to water the coco as much. when you do feed measure the amount eg 50ml of mixed nute solution, if water runs from pot lower feed to 35ml in comming days. If no water runs off after a few days at 50ml and pots are dry after 24hours up the feeds to 75ml so on.

Normally seeds need no fert for atleast 2 weeks. In coco though its abit different feeding needs to start as soon as roots are established.