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[sprout pic]
Two days before you plan to plant your seeds, get some planter box mix
peat to half an
inch from the top. Put your peat pots about two inches below
fluorescent light bulbs. Put a
timer on the light with an 18 hour on / 6
hour off cycle. This will pre-warm the soil for the
seeds.
To germinate seeds, take a clean coffee cup and add half a cup of tap
water that has been boiled. Let it sit for a couple of hours until cool
(20-25 degrees
Celsius), as hot tap water is not good for plants or
seedlings! Add seeds and put in warm
place (top of fridge or in a waterbed
drawer, etc.) for 24 hours.
If you have
good seeds, about half will have sprouted a small root tip.
Dump seeds onto a paper towel or
clean face cloth. Take your pre-warmed peat
pots, use a pencil or your finger to make a
1/4" to 1/2" deep hole in the
centre of the pot. Put in one seed, root tip pointing
up, and cover very
gently.
Use a spray bottle, set for fine mist and mist gently
(without disturbing
the seeds) until soil is saturated. Check seedlings every few hours so
that
you can judge when to gently mist. The surface should not be dry. Peat
shrinks when
it dries, so if the edges of the soil look dry, give moisture
as needed. When sprouts come up,
move them to within six inches below light.
Transplant when all seedlings have two or
three sets of leaves.
Use one gallon nursery pots and Sunshine Mix #4 (or equal [doctor
pic]
quality product). A four cubic foot amount will fill 52 one gallon pots.
Before you
wet the mix, get a dust mask, fine dolomite lime, a box of bat
guano, and one litre of
earthworm castings, all for each one gallon pot. A
clean (or new) garbage can or large plastic
tub will be needed to mix your
dry ingredients.
To each cubic foot of sunshine
mix, add:
1.25 cups of fine dolomite lime
2.5 cups of bat guano
12 litres
of earthworm castings
Mix very well (using a dust mask, please). Wet until just moist,
and then
fill pots to two inches from top.
Make a small hole in the mix, and pop
in the peat pots just as they are.
Stake seedlings now so you won’t disturb any roots in the
new soils.
You should now water your plants, using trays to catch any excess water.
fertilize at all.
Only fertilize if your plants are pale green or yellow.
If you do fertilize, use fish
fertilizer at half strength first, then two
waterings with plain water. Water each plant only
when the pot is in light.
A wet/dry cycle is better. A waterlogged plant grows slow, and is
vulnerable
to disease and insects.
Good growing!
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