Getting ready for the new growing season. Big Update 4-28-18

[Titan Farm]

Started getting a small batch of soil ready for tomato seeds today.
Its a new mix that I came up with and it should produce some good healthy strong seedlings with a full root system but, time will tell.

Here we see the soilless mix and other amendments in my mixing tub just before mixing.



Here is everything fully mixed together. So far it looks to be a good light airy mix.



Lid on and monitoring soil temperature until I get to filling the pots.



I'll keep you updated on my progress and how this seed medium works.

Ingredients of the above seed medium -

Roots Organic - Micro-Greens
General Organics - Ancient Forest Alaska Humus
Unco Industries - Worm Castings
Perlite
Down To Earth - Alfalfa Meal
Down To Earth - Azomite
Roots Organics - Oregonisum XL
Roots Organics - Essential Earth

Chris

 

[Nyboy]

Welcome Chris post lots of photos

 

[Collector]

Welcome Chris glad you are here. I’ll be following your soil post.

 

[Titan Farm]

Good mornin.

Last night I decided to put a quick grow chamber together and put some seeds in the ground, this system should work fine for a little wile but will most likely need some modifications as the seedlings get older.

The seeds I planted for testing this soil were 3 JTD tomato seeds that I received from Victory Seeds last year and 3 Simpson Elite lettuces seeds that I received from Burpees Seed back in 2012.

The grow chamber is nothing more than a 50 gallon aquarium that I wasn't using turned on it's side with some reflective material around it, a 4 foot shop lamp with two 6500k bulbs in it along with two 2 foot grow light and a simple propagation mat. Later after the seed emerge I'll be using a small fan placed inside the grow chamber to circulate air.



In this pictures we see the pots in a storage tub and there placed in the grow chamber with the propagation mat under them.



Chris

 

[Titan Farm]

Since my last post this morning I planted 6 more test seeds.
These seeds I received last year from Rutgers University and were a part of there Rediscovering the Jersey Tomato program.
3 Rutgers 250 and 3 Ramapo were planted.


https://imgbb.com/

Soil temperature is staying at 76.6 and is right about were I like to see it.


https://imgbb.com/

Chris

 

[Titan Farm]

Quick update, sorry for it being late.
Well the first set of seeds that I planted and started this thread about never germinated and I believe the soil was too wet.
I since started a new batch of seeds on April 7th and they are doing quite well.

The soilless mix I used this time was;
3 parts Roots Organics - Microgreens
2 parts General Organics - Ancient Forest Alaska Humus
1 part Unco Industries - Worm Castings

Tomatoes seeds planted were JTD, Campbells 1327, Ramapo, Rutgers 250, and Marglobe.

Week one and two of rooted seedling feeding was;
2.5ml Bio Thrive
1ml CaMg
2.5ml Bio Root
1ml Bio Weed
5ml Bio Marine
5ml Diamond Black
The above amendments were added to 1qt of distilled water.

The Seedlings were transplanted in to a soilless mix of
Roots Organic - Micro-Greens
General Organics - Ancient Forest Alaska Humus
Unco Industries - Worm Castings
Perlite
Down To Earth - Alfalfa Meal
Down To Earth - Azomite
Roots Organics - Oregonisum XL
Roots Organics - Essential Earth

Seedlings 2 weeks after germination and showing good leaf and rood development.

All potted up.

Chris

 

[ninnymary]

Glad the second round is going well. Plants look nice and healthy.

Mary

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

WOW! my tomato seedlings barely have their second set of leaves and I started in late March! good job!

 

[Titan Farm]

Thank you @ninnymary and @murphysranch

Update on the seedlings.
I fertilized them on Monday the 23rd with a mix of;

2.5ml Bio Thrive
1ml CaMg
2.5ml Bio Root
1ml Bio Weed
2.5ml Bio Marine
2.5ml Diamond Black
The above amendments were added to 1qt of distilled water.

Today we can see the seedlings are looking really good with not signs of transplant shock and even put on some growth since my last post.

Average seedling height is 3.5 inches with good color, leaf size and growth.

 

[Titan Farm]

This year we decided to use the General Organics line of nutrients and I must say that we are quite happy with the results that were seeing.
Here is a breakdown of each nutrient and there ingredients that were will be using this year.


BioThrive Grow -(4-3-3)
Ingredients: Alfalfa meal, cane sugar, copper sulphate, glacial rock powder, iron sulphate, kieserite, manganese sulphate, molasses, plant extracts, potassium sulphate, rock phosphate, sodium borate, sodium molybdenate, soybean meal and zinc phosphate.

Contains Non-Plant Food Ingredients:
2% seaweed derived from Ascophyllum nodosum and Laminaria digitata and 0.2% humic acids derived from leonardite.

BioThrive Bloom - (2-4-4)
Ingredients: Alfalfa meal, cane sugar, copper sulphate, glacial rock powder, iron sulphate, kieserite, manganese sulphate, molasses, plant extracts, potassium sulphate, rock phosphate, sodium borate, sodium molybdenate, soybean meal and zinc phosphate.

Contains Non-Plant Food Ingredients:
2% seaweed derived from Ascophyllum nodosum and Laminaria digitata and 0.2% humic acids derived from leonardite.

CaMa+ (1-0-0)
Ingredients: Calcium carbonate, and magnesium nitrate.

BioRoot (1-1-1)
Ingredients: Alfalfa meal, brewers yeast, potassium sulphate, rock phosphate, sea kelp and soybean meal.

BioWeed (0.2-0-0.3)
100% sea kelp derived from Ascophyllum nodosum.

BioBud (0-0-1)
Ingredients: Plant protein hydrolysate, rock phosphate and sea kelp.

BioMarine (2-3-1)
Ingredients: Cold processed enzymatically digested fish protein.

Diamond Black (0-0-1)
Ingredients: Potassium hydroxide

Contains Non-Plant Food Ingredients:
6.0% Humic Acids derived from Leonardite