Indoor How do you start your auto soil grow?

[Po boy]

plant seed directly into the soil - less handling less stress

 

[Lampey Simpkin]

Soak in shot glass, to paper towel to soil, or rockwool if its going in hydro. Right on tho with less movement producing a healthier plant.

 

[flwr]

This is actually something I have had on my mind lately. Are any of you using a Fox Farm Ocean Forest and perilite blend? Is this too hot for your seedlings?

I am a first time grower. I have 5 Onyx Seeds coming. I plan on growing two of them. I am unsure if I should start in party cups in Burpee Organic Seed Starter then transplant to OC or just straight into OF? I would hate for the expensive seeds to get burnt up! I realize some varities are more sensitive to the soil than others.

 

[kpex]

Autos seem more finicky w/ transplanting. Photos not so much; from my experience. My autos go into their final container from the get go. My yeild went up considerably when I did this. I still start my photos in smaller containers, though.

 

[AndyBotwin]

This is actually something I have had on my mind lately. Are any of you using a Fox Farm Ocean Forest and perilite blend? Is this too hot for your seedlings?

I am a first time grower. I have 5 Onyx Seeds coming. I plan on growing two of them. I am unsure if I should start in party cups in Burpee Organic Seed Starter then transplant to OC or just straight into OF? I would hate for the expensive seeds to get burnt up! I realize some varities are more sensitive to the soil than others.

This is a common question and the only 100% accurate answer is that it depends on the plant. There are plenty of examples of people getting nute burn from OF, and plenty of examples of seedlings that thrive in it. Sometimes even within the same strain. I don't recall any specifics about Onyx and nute sensitivity, but you could search some old grows to find out. I started my grow in Light Warrior (a seedling mix without nutes) and did a tiered transplant into OF at around 1 week with good results. I may start the new grow right into the OF, or I may mix some with the LW. Check out these threads to see some experimentation and discussion about this:

http://www.autoflower.org/f5/auto-a...ht-warrior-seedling-comparison-grow-2119.html

http://www.autoflower.org/f5/joe-dirts-grow-thread-dummies-2174.html

 

[riz]

I was ending up with too many dwarfs waiting for sex before potting up from smaller pots. That is why i moved onto the germ in final pots method. The earlier sexed plants got potted up sooner and almost always finished up taller with better yield than the later flowering plants.

 

[surffreak23]

24 hour soak in plain water, (most of them crack by the end of the soak) then into the final container point down.... I have used Rapid rooters a few times and been happy but it doesn't seem to be as fast as straight into the soil...

 

[riz]

I do point up.

I seaw a guide before that shows the sprout coming out of the top of the seed and growing down about an inch then starts pushing the seed up, as it comes up it though the top of the soil you should see a bend in the stem, then it straightens up and opens the leaves. It is the act of pushing the seed casing up upside down that helps knock the seed casing off the first leaves.

 

[surffreak23]

You are right that the act of making a u turn to get to start heading down helps to remove the shell, but since I am with my plants multiple times a day it's not an issue for me to pluck the shell off if it wants to stay... But seeds will figure it out no matter how you put it in there, I just do it point down because it is a straight shot for the taproot, and either way there will be a bend in the stem as the whole thing is folded inside the seed to begin with... Ultimately it might make, at most, a days difference and it's mostly habit on my part...

 

[Muddy]

I do a soak, then into 4.5" square x 5" deep pots. When sexed the girls go into their final pots and any males I want to harvest pollen from stay in the small pots. If I'm growing fems I might start them in their final pots, space permitting. I try and start the next batch of seeds when I think the current batch is about 3 weeks from finishing so that by the time they are done I've got the next ones ready to go under the flowering lights. If my veg area were bigger I might consider starting in their final pots but simply don't have the room.