Has anyone else had issues starting seeds with coco coir? This was my first year trying a coco coir mix and I’m ready to give up.
Has anyone else had issues starting seeds with coco coir? This was my first year trying a coco coir mix and I’m ready to give up.
by Lurkington123
4 Comments
Lurkington123
– Managing the soil moisture was very challenging which caused so many of my seedlings to have helmet heads
– Some of the same seeds took 3-5 days to sprout after the others which made it difficult to keep the soil from drying out after I put them under lights.
– Most of my seedlings are deformed and have stunted growth.
I’ve always made my own simple starting mix using peat moss and vermiculite, or bought Jiffy on sale and never had any of these issues.
John_Crypto_Rambo
People grow cannabis in it and it is all the rage, so I tried it many times in tests with my medical marijuana business. I never liked it and it always underperformed peat based mixes. I think it might be very water source dependent. I used tap water as the base with fertilization and the plants didn’t like the coco. Maybe if I used RO water it would have been different, but I like using tap water and had a source of very nice low ppm tap water. Coco coir can come loaded with salts like sodium and also can lock up calcium and magnesium. I know people use it very successfully though and I see it more and more used in plants at the store. What fertilizer are you using for your seedlings? They will need it, as coco has no nutrients to speak of.
Black Krim lover here too. I think it is one of the tastiest varieties of tomato that exist!
azuk82
This is my 3rd season using it as I cannot find peat based seed starting mix where I am at anymore. I hate coco pretty much for all the reasons you stated. Every season since I started using it. I need to make my own mix I guess. I can get bales of peat at least.
Ovenbird36
Here is my solution to limit my peat usage – I germinate my seeds in bulk in tiny shallow trays (like take-out containers, which come with little clear lids) using a mix of mostly fine peat with a little coir. Then when the seedlings have their first true leaves, I tease them apart and plant in individual cells with coir. If you really can’t get any fine peat, maybe there is something else you can use to get past the germination stage?
4 Comments
– Managing the soil moisture was very challenging which caused so many of my seedlings to have helmet heads
– Some of the same seeds took 3-5 days to sprout after the others which made it difficult to keep the soil from drying out after I put them under lights.
– Most of my seedlings are deformed and have stunted growth.
I’ve always made my own simple starting mix using peat moss and vermiculite, or bought Jiffy on sale and never had any of these issues.
People grow cannabis in it and it is all the rage, so I tried it many times in tests with my medical marijuana business. I never liked it and it always underperformed peat based mixes. I think it might be very water source dependent. I used tap water as the base with fertilization and the plants didn’t like the coco. Maybe if I used RO water it would have been different, but I like using tap water and had a source of very nice low ppm tap water. Coco coir can come loaded with salts like sodium and also can lock up calcium and magnesium. I know people use it very successfully though and I see it more and more used in plants at the store. What fertilizer are you using for your seedlings? They will need it, as coco has no nutrients to speak of.
Black Krim lover here too. I think it is one of the tastiest varieties of tomato that exist!
This is my 3rd season using it as I cannot find peat based seed starting mix where I am at anymore. I hate coco pretty much for all the reasons you stated. Every season since I started using it. I need to make my own mix I guess. I can get bales of peat at least.
Here is my solution to limit my peat usage – I germinate my seeds in bulk in tiny shallow trays (like take-out containers, which come with little clear lids) using a mix of mostly fine peat with a little coir. Then when the seedlings have their first true leaves, I tease them apart and plant in individual cells with coir. If you really can’t get any fine peat, maybe there is something else you can use to get past the germination stage?