Scott's premium seed and cutting mix

[Mellow oldfark]

Looking nice and healthy mate.

 

[VinDeezle]

Considering it's stretched 10" in the last four days I might have to pull out the 80x80 and open her up a bit if it keeps going, even out canopy a bit and cut depth of penetration.

There's 300w in there (sitting at 200w now) but the kingbrite boards have a small footprint (30x17.5cm) so it's hard to get even coverage when it's expected to push two foot + depth.

 

[Harry bootlace]

I’d leave for now at least and see if she makes it without needing a feed, or at least see how long.

Looking good

 

[VinDeezle]

I’d leave for now at least and see if she makes it without needing a feed, or at least see how long.

Looking good

Thats usually my plan of action, but I've noticed I'm useless at catching up once I let things go too far (which I usually do out of stubbornness and frugality).

I see a lot of people fix deficiency quite adequately in potting mix, but I'm still trying to figure out how lol..

It would be interesting to see how far it gets though, especially marketed as a seed and cutting mix. I'd say I've still got a good 2-4 weeks to go as it is as an estimate before it'll suck the mix dry.

 

[Harry bootlace]

Whatever you decide I shall watch with pleasure

 

[itchybro]

firstly you shouldn't be seeing leaves droop after watering , if anything they shouldn't change or they should reach for the light / pray , if the leaves changed after you watered drooping leaves would make me think they could have gone a little longer before you watered

if you are going to bottle feed try
coconut water @ 15ml per liter https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/348709/nudie-coconut-water-straight-up
& add eco aminogro with it at the bottle recommendations because it will help the plant absorb any other nutrients you add to it
aminogro also has it's own benefits in flower

 

[VinDeezle]

firstly you shouldn't be seeing leaves droop after watering , if anything they shouldn't change or they should reach for the light / pray , if the leaves changed after you watered drooping leaves would make me think they could have gone a little longer before you watered

if you are going to bottle feed try
coconut water @ 15ml per liter https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/348709/nudie-coconut-water-straight-up
& add eco aminogro with it at the bottle recommendations because it will help the plant absorb any other nutrients you add to it
aminogro also has it's own benefits in flower

Cheers.. I think it also has to do with the 8c temp drop today and humidity on top of what is probably an average watering schedule. I've never quite got the hang of potting mix and rapid weather changes aplify that. Its pretty much sorted itself out now, it if I have it dialled it's normally the opposite as you stated. Lowers start to droop when dry, and the plant perks up after a good watering.

I'll sus out the aminogro as I'm always looking for ways to make whats already in the potting mix more readily accessible to the plant.

 

[itchybro]

plants will always perform more consistently from weather changes when soil microbes are in full effect imo

the inner gel of Aloe vera & coconut water from young green coconuts are both great at anytime during the cycle , both will help increase plant health

 

[VinDeezle]

plants will always perform more consistently from weather changes when soil microbes are in full effect imo

the inner gel of Aloe vera & coconut water from young green coconuts are both great at anytime during the cycle , both will help increase plant health

I have to admit, I need to give far more attention to the biological health of my mixes. Sadly, my idea of supplying microbial life is pretty much limited to providing a handful of rock dust and meals at cook and the odd seasol/liquid compost addition.

I have a feeling that is what is stalling and diminishing mid-late run with my previous organic mixes, not necessarily organic material.

Even more so with thes bagged mixes as they are usually lacking the mineral content which microbes love.

 

[itchybro]

best way to inoculate soil mixes when making potting soil is using compost or castings mostly & would much prefer home made than store brought

helping them thrive , best using seeds like malted seeds , barley or rye & seed meals like neem cake / meal , basalt rock dust is good but I'd be more inclined to add that to my worm bin because I'd rather worms convert it to make better castings , i would still add basalt to my soil mixes though , i generally use quite allot in a mix

the other way to inoculate soil once in place & ready to grow is adding plants like a cover crop , all plants attract organisms to there root zone from the time they germinate so a diverse set of plants gives you a diverse set of organisms

 

[Hudo]

best way to inoculate soil mixes when making potting soil is using compost or castings mostly & would much prefer home made than store brought

helping them thrive , best using seeds like malted seeds , barley or rye & seed meals like neem cake / meal , basalt rock dust is good but I'd be more inclined to add that to my worm bin because I'd rather worms convert it to make better castings , i would still add basalt to my soil mixes though , i generally use quite allot in a mix

the other way to inoculate soil once in place & ready to grow is adding plants like a cover crop , all plants attract organisms to there root zone from the time they germinate so a diverse set of plants gives you a diverse set of organisms

I got some black marvel compost yesterday to mix 50/50 with worm castings it looks the best store bought shit. I ripped every bag open (horrified my wife she left me there and went to another section) and it was the most broken down out of the lot. a couple looked like it was 90% wood chips that hadn't even looked halfway broken down

 

[itchybro]

imo @Hudo

the number one thing you want from compost you unfortunately can't see , biology
the thing you don't want in your compost you also can't see , chems / high sodium

this is why you either do allot of research to find a well made compost & buy from the source who hopefully does lots of lab testing or you close the loop & make your own with items found on your land , of cause if your making your own it's a bit of a guess because you generally not making tonnes & lab testing is expensive , but mostly i would choose a well made DIY compost 90% of the time

if none of those things are possible you do exactly what you've done & spin ya misses out at bunnings

 

[VinDeezle]

imo @Hudo

the number one thing you want from compost you unfortunately can't see , biology
the thing you don't want in your compost you also can't see , chems / high sodium

this is why you either do allot of research to find a well made compost & buy from the source who hopefully does lots of lab testing or you close the loop & make your own with items found on your land , of cause if your making your own it's a bit of a guess because you generally not making tonnes & lab testing is expensive , but mostly i would choose a well made DIY compost 90% of the time

if none of those things are possible you do exactly what you've done & spin ya misses out at bunnings

Ive attempted my own compost once and it was a total failure. I'd love to give it another go tbh, as the Seasol compost I used last time was hardly broken down and full of gnats. I usually use screened compost and fresh castings from a local landscaping joint and payed the price going bunnos compost.

I'm not sure what I did wrong with my composting but it was gross. Put 2 parts green waste (grass and garden clippings shredded) one part leaf litter, a shovel or two of natural soil, some fresh castings and started to throw my food scraps in the middle.

Within two-three weeks it was just full of cockroaches, huge blowfly larvae and heaps of strange looking grubs, even in the sun so I gave up. Was aerated regularly and wasn't too wet as far as I could tell.

The composting issue is odd, as I can mix natural soil with the meal amendments and within a day or so of cooking it gets nice and hot, and inoculation is present in the form of fungi and bacterial colonies, but when I use scraps outside I just end up with an anaerobic mess even though the pile isn't wet.

 

[itchybro]

Ive attempted my own compost once and it was a total failure. I'd love to give it another go tbh, as the Seasol compost I used last time was hardly broken down and full of gnats. I usually use screened compost and fresh castings from a local landscaping joint and payed the price going bunnos compost.

I'm not sure what I did wrong with my composting but it was gross. Put 2 parts green waste (grass and garden clippings shredded) one part leaf litter, a shovel or two of natural soil, some fresh castings and started to throw my food scraps in the middle.

Within two-three weeks it was just full of cockroaches, huge blowfly larvae and heaps of strange looking grubs, even in the sun so I gave up. Was aerated regularly and wasn't too wet as far as I could tell.

The composting issue is odd, as I can mix natural soil with the meal amendments and within a day or so of cooking it gets nice and hot, and inoculation is present in the form of fungi and bacterial colonies, but when I use scraps outside I just end up with an anaerobic mess even though the pile isn't wet.

imo sounds like you had to much nitrogen & not enough carbon

it always seems much more difficult to find a large quantity of carbon to use in compost making from out of your backyard , most of the time people buy in barley straw to use as the carbon , keep in mind that's straw not hay , Straw is used for animal bedding & has zero nutrients in it & full of lignin which is a food source for fungi , Hay is used as feed for animals & is full of nutrients & can be used as your nitrogen source , generally that's a good rule of thumb but there is always rule breakers like Pea Straw which should probably be called pea hay because it does have nutrients & can be used as a nitrogen source , you can use other things like wood chips as carbon & the size of your pile is important too if your trying to make a thermophilic compost , you can also make cold compost which will take allot longer to produce

 

[VinDeezle]

imo sounds like you had to much nitrogen & not enough carbon

it always seems much more difficult to find a large quantity of carbon to use in compost making from out of your backyard , most of the time people buy in barley straw to use as the carbon , keep in mind that's straw not hay , Straw is used for animal bedding & has zero nutrients in it & full of lignin which is a food source for fungi , Hay is used as feed for animals & is full of nutrients & can be used as your nitrogen source , generally that's a good rule of thumb but there is always rule breakers like Pea Straw which should probably be called pea hay because it does have nutrients & can be used as a nitrogen source , you can use other things like wood chips as carbon & the size of your pile is important too if your trying to make a thermophilic compost , you can also make cold compost which will take allot longer to produce

Sounds about right. The wood chips in the garden waste were pretty green and elastic, and I'm sure the humus was not matched weight per volume compared to the N rich scraps.

I'll have to stop procrastinating and give it another go. Having 8 people here in share it's a good opportunity to gather a shit ton of food scraps and keep them from landfill lol..

 

[itchybro]

Sounds about right. The wood chips in the garden waste were pretty green and elastic, and I'm sure the humus was not matched weight per volume compared to the N rich scraps.

I'll have to stop procrastinating and give it another go. Having 8 people here in share it's a good opportunity to gather a shit ton of food scraps and keep them from landfill lol..

i would rather process food scrapes through a worm bin , the mostly 90% water food scrapes when used in a compost pile can cause things to go aerobic quite quickly

for a thermophilic compost pile the rule of thumb is 2 parts carbon = straw / wood chips , to 1 part nitrogen = lucerne ( alfalfa ) hay , lawn clippings , of cause there are many other carbon & nitrogen sources to choose from

preferably your pile would be 1 meter square minimum , then if you really want to get full on you need a thermometer & you turn the pile at set temps , these temps will kill any weed seeds or any left over barley straw seeds so you don't get a bunch of sprouts in the pile or in your beds / soil mixes when its ready to use

cold composting is much easier & takes much longer to produce a usable product , it also might have seeds that'll sprout when you use it

 

[jezza03]

So I thought I'd give a cheap bagged mix another go and see if my progress is from general care improvement or the mix I've been working on. Pinched a 25L bag of Scott's premium seed/cutting mix from me neighbour to put it to the test.
View attachment 32822
The mix is very uniform and fine. A mix of Coco, composted forest products, propagation sand and gypsum with added calcium, phosphorus and water crystals. By far the most uniform mix I have used, and I'm not sure if it's going to lead to any compacting or hydrophobia in the future.
View attachment 32819View attachment 32820
Have three black lime reserve/super lemon dragon freebies in the mix now at day 18 and they seem to be going well (4.5L pots ATM with 20% perlite and 10% vermiculite).
View attachment 32821
A quick slurry test shows medium pH around 6.2 which is pretty good.

Has a pretty much identical consistency to the yard soil/Coco and compost mix I've been conjuring up, so watering frequency seems the same.

Will be going into 5 gallon square pots in a week or two. Will be interesting to see how it fares over time. Will probably just feed throw some powerfeed purple when the time comes.

Overall a nice product from what I can see, and definitely to my surprise.

Would you consider this to be similar to Canna Terra Pro ?

 

[VinDeezle]

Would you consider this to be similar to Canna Terra Pro ?

It definately doesn't hold water as well as Terra pro, has a lot more sand and either uses finely screened compost or it's far less laden with organic matter than the Terra pro. Not a bad medium at all, just doesn't hold water any where near as efficiently as a few mixes I've tried, but I could have added to much aeration. Terra is peat based, and this is coir based so it waters a bit different.

Tbh, it would be a good base medium if they removed the inorganic wetting crystals and osmocote. Nice consistency but I find the wetting crystals to be pretty ineffective, as there visibly seems to be far more crystals than the osmocote added. But all in all a good, basic mix of coir, finely composted bark and propagation sand.

 

[VinDeezle]

Shitty pic but it's starting to get some fade on the lower leaves over the last two days. Might start a weekly feed next watering due weds. Roughly 7 weeks since germ.

 

[itchybro]

looks to early in the flowering cycle to be at senescence imo
i'd be looking to other factors being the cause of early yellowing