# seedlings just sprouted, need some help.



## mooks0666 (Dec 31, 2006)

Hi guys, 
I'm new to growing and i need to ask a few questions at this point. I have planted 3 seeds outdoors and i am watering regularly considering the weather is quite hot. All three seeds have sprouted after about 5-6 days. 
First question....
       At what point should i start using fertilizer? Also how often. 

Second....
       Of the 3 seeds that sprouted it appears as though one had its leaves eaten off, leaving just the stem. Will it recover? 

Third...
       Do you guys think i should cover each plant with a glass bowl or cup?

Kind Regards 
mooks0666


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## Cakes (Dec 31, 2006)

Great job getting all of your seeds to sprout outside like that! You must have given them good attention.

Bugs are hard to avoid unless you start your stuff in pots and then put them in the ground after they have a few sets of leaves<<even then one slug can screw the whole deal up.

If ALL the leaves are gone, it will probably grow back if the top was not taken; otherwise, it may be a sad thing. No harm in giving her the benefit of the doubt though since you will be there watering the others every day anyway. Just keep treating her as you treat the others and maybe she will recover.

Slugs can be kept away by using a cup like you were thinking but the air sounds too warm for that. Insulation like a cup raises the temperature a great deal. You can try other barriers to keep your plants safe though. First, scratch around in the dirt next to your plants to make sure that the bugs are not hiding there>>we do not want to lock those bugs in with your plants. Next, make some barriers. Copper is a favorite. If you happen to have any electrical wiring around and it is copper colored inside, you can strip off the outer plastic coating and make circles out of the wire to put around your plants. Do not put the wire on your plants, just around. Salt can work for slugs but do not use a lot, maybe a line .5cm wide and put the line at least 6cm away from the stalk of your plants. Ashes can work too. Put the ashes even farther away from you plants, maybe 10-12cm and make the lines of ash about 1cm wide. If any of the ash is still there by the time your plants grow 10cm tall, then take it off of the soil and pour a new line further out>>>the line should be past the root zone. I get my ash from my woodstove but if you make a fire to get yours MAKE SURE IT IS SAFE and doesn't set your place on fire..setting your place on fire is very easy to do, I have done it; wind is a big danger. and dry grass, pine needles and leaves. Have something with you like a shovel so you can put dirt on fires. or whatever, maybe a fire extinguisher. 

Since they are new born, you may want to give them half strength fertilizer in their water. And I think it is a good idea to start that right away. After a week or ten days, then you can switch to full strength fertilizer and they will probably do well if you dug the holes nice and wide and deep before you planted them. if you dug no holes, you may want to carefully dig under your plants and move them for a moment while you dig them nice holes but be careful of exposing their roots to the sun and when you put them back in their holes they will need a very good watering. Holes need good compost or black dirt or leaves or grass or old manure; put something in there to make the dirt very nice for your plants. Sometimes you can find compost under trees where the leaves have decayed; you can gather the top 2.5cm-5cm of dirt and use a bunch of that in your holes. it is good to have at least 1/4 of the stuff in your hole be compost and such.


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## mooks0666 (Jan 1, 2007)

Hi Cakes, 
In your reply you suggested that I dig holes for the new borns. However, what i've done is dig a pretty big hole in the ground, about 1metre X 1metre X .5metre deep and filled it with potting mix and sowed the seeds in that hole. Thus i do not need to transplant the small plants. Does this change the advice concerning half strength fertilizer? Also, what do you mean by 'half strength fertilizer'? 
I'm sorry if i sound naieve, i have never done this before and i am getting all my information from these forums. 

Kind Regards, 
mooks0666


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## longtimegrower (Jan 1, 2007)

He means if it says use one tablespoon in a gallon of water then you would only put half a tablespoon in a gallon of water. Also if your plants just have the first set of leaves on them you don`t need to fertilize untill there about at the fith set of leaves. Around 12 to 14 inches. Dont water the plants every day. If your ground is wet and your getting a shower at least once a week you may only need to water as often as you put ferts on them.                                                                                  Mothernature will do a lot better job of watering than you ever will. Plants will grow as much in a week after a soaking rain and warm temps as they will  in a month of you  having to water them by hand.  Good luck slim


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## Comatoked (Jan 1, 2007)

Hey Congrat's On The Sprout's! If You Have A Problem With Bug's or Incet's Go Buy Some Bean Dust, Farmer's Put It On There Bean's And Stuff To Keep Them From Being Ate Up. Since They Are So Young I Would Make a Circle With It Around My Plant's And Put It On The Surronding Plant Life, This Stuff Is Really Effective. When Your Plant's Get Older You Can Sprinkle It Directly On Them. It Will Not Harm Your Plants. Also I Would Not Worry About Fertilizer Right Now Because It Is Real Easy To Burn Young Plant's Up With This Stuff, If You Have Good Soil You Will Be Fine. When The Sprouts Get A Little Bigger And Stretch Out Bury Them Up To There First Set Of Leaves This Turns The Stem That Is Underground InTo Root's. Good Luck With Your Grow I Think Outdoor Is My Favorite Way I Started Indoor About 2 Week's Ago, But Cant Wait Till It Get's Warm Enough Here To Grow Some Outdoor Brutes Lol But Good Luck Keep Us Posted.


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## KADE (Jan 1, 2007)

One slug can own even a nice sized plant...
There are many good products for slugs... pellets, repellant, etc... if u have some egg shells... crush them up and spread them around the plant.. it'll cut open their bellys and they'll die... old school trick.  Altho I'm game for a huge $5 of pellets...


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## mooks0666 (Jan 1, 2007)

Thanks for all the good info. guys, i'll keep you all posted...


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## Stoney Bud (Jan 1, 2007)

Hey Mooks, here's a link to a page for slug control. Using diatomaceous earth is a very easy way to do this.

CLICK HERE


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## Cakes (Jan 1, 2007)

mooks0666 said:
			
		

> Hi Cakes,
> In your reply you suggested that I dig holes for the new borns. However, what i've done is dig a pretty big hole in the ground, about 1metre X 1metre X .5metre deep and filled it with potting mix and sowed the seeds in that hole. Thus i do not need to transplant the small plants. Does this change the advice concerning half strength fertilizer? Also, what do you mean by 'half strength fertilizer'?
> I'm sorry if i sound naieve, i have never done this before and i am getting all my information from these forums.
> 
> ...


The guy above said it right>half strength means half the amount of "regular" additives that you would normally put in your quarts or gallons of water.

Since you did not put a huge amount of extra fertilizer in the hole with the potting soil, I think it is a good idea to go ahead and use the half strength fert water. Even if the soil came with extra fert in it<<which lots of potting soil does not have by the way..then I still think it would be fine to use the fert water. Only when a grower puts huge amounts of nutes in the ground is there a slight danger from using fertilizer water.

I especially think it is good to feed our little folks because little plants are just now setting up shop and their root systems are limited. Also, the roots have just barely begun to set up the necessary symbiotic relationships that are a makor source of food in natural grows.

Fertilizer water is easily absorbed into the plant without the plant having to work for it's food.

I say go for it. You can see if the seedlings are getting too much food by the way they look. The leaves can look green but have dried out patches appear in the middle of the leaf (the dried out patches can be green). or the edges of the leaves can look crispy, and by that I mean a little brown. So if that happens, then give water for a couple of days and start the fertilizer after that but use a little less until the plant gets growing again.

and some people have said that nature is the best watering source but this is not true in California. I believe in soaking the soil very well. I soak the whole area and not just by the stalk. If you soak it and let the water disappear and then soak it again then it is good if your soil is well prepared and not just a bunch of clay and rock. Potting soil can be very hard to get wet sometimes. It may take several soakings if you are using jugs. If you have a hose, then it is good to put it on low/trickle for a few hours. and after the hose treatment you can pour on a couple of gallons of fert water. A hose soaking does not need to be done every day but every other day or every third day is okay. And for potting soil I would recommend a mulch. A covering of leaves or sawdust or straw or manure..mulches help the soil to keep from getting all the way dried out. Potting soil that gets all dried out is especially hard to wet again.


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## night501 (Jan 1, 2007)

iv always used a half empty beer burried halfway down. i dont know the logic in it but my grandfather was a farmer and he told me that if you use half a can of beer and fill it once a week( 2 depending on evaporation) you should never see one slug


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## Cakes (Jan 1, 2007)

They are attracted to it as a food source and fall in and drown.


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## mooks0666 (Jan 2, 2007)

Hi guys, 
I went to water the plants today and saw a frog jumping around nearby. Do you think its possible that frogs have been eating the leaves? Because i just noticed today that one of my other plants has had one of its 4 leaves eaten off. 
I'm gonna take some photos of the damage caused to 2 of my 3 plants and post it tomorrow. I'm affraid that one of them is beyond recovery.


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