Seedling medium?

[kiwiorchids]

Ok guys, i am about to deflask my (mouldy ) catt seedlings. I have everything i need-

condies crystals (KMnO4) for a fungicide,
heatpad (because it is still cool here),
a nice large seed tray,
and the medium.

I just want to know if anyone here has had success using Coconut/coir fibre with seedlings? I thought it would be very similar to sphagnum moss, plus, coir apparently is naturally high in potassium and sodium (which i will need to condition with some gypsum and dolomite).

What are your thoughts?

[steven_long]

I think when you take them out, you have to wash it under tap (don't turn tap too strong) and clean out the gypsum and dolomite. After the roots have been clean, repair the seed tray with cononut coir mix (as you've got) but I used sphagnum when I grew them.... Just leave them stay nicely on the top of the mix, try to hang them stand balancely (but do not need anything hold/tidy them)

The hardest thing that I fail to grow them that I can't not create the appropriate humidity for them. Also should not water too much as it will destroy their roots.

I can not explain for you everything but normally growing seedling is not very easy, it requires some skills and you have to observe the weather around you. Other environment factors should be concerns. Different grower got different way to apply on their growing, also it vary from country to country depend on geographic, weather and environment.

Good luck my friends
steven_long

[steven_long]

I think when you take them out, you have to wash it under tap (don't turn tap too strong) and clean out the gypsum and dolomite. After the roots have been clean, repair the seed tray with cononut coir mix (as you've got) but I used sphagnum when I grew them.... Just leave them stay nicely on the top of the mix, try to hang them stand balancely (but do not need anything hold/tidy them)

The hardest thing that I fail to grow them that I can't not create the appropriate humidity for them. Also should not water too much as it will destroy their roots easy and spread out to other plants in the tray.

I can not explain for you everything but normally growing seedling is not very easy, it requires some skills and you have to observe the weather around you. Other environment factors should be concerns. Different grower got different way to apply on their growing, also it vary from country to country depend on geographic, weather and environment.

Good luck my friends
steven_long

[kiwiorchids]

I think when you take them out, you have to wash it under tap (don't turn tap too strong) and clean out the gypsum and dolomite. After the roots have been clean, repair the seed tray with cononut coir mix (as you've got) but I used sphagnum when I grew them.... Just leave them stay nicely on the top of the mix, try to hang them stand balancely (but do not need anything hold/tidy them)

The hardest thing that I fail to grow them that I can't not create the appropriate humidity for them. Also should not water too much as it will destroy their roots easy and spread out to other plants in the tray.

I can not explain for you everything but normally growing seedling is not very easy, it requires some skills and you have to observe the weather around you. Other environment factors should be concerns. Different grower got different way to apply on their growing, also it vary from country to country depend on geographic, weather and environment.

Good luck my friends
steven_long

No, thats what it says to do on the pack-to condition the coir with dolomite and gypsum. The agar the seedlings are in dont have it. I know HOW to deflask, its just getting opinions on using coir fibre as the new medium for the seedlings.

[steven_long]

No, thats what it says to do on the pack-to condition the coir with dolomite and gypsum. The agar the seedlings are in dont have it. I know HOW to deflask, its just getting opinions on using coir fibre as the new medium for the seedlings.

Oops sorry I did not read the question carefully
Posted via Mobile Device

[kiwiorchids]

lol no problem

[orcoholic]

I don't know if coir fiber stays damp enough for seedlings, but it seems a good idea. The roots probably won't rot, but I think watering just right may be a problem. It should allow for plenty of air circulation and make the roots grow well.

When I deflask, i use loosely packed sphagnum moss and try to keep it just slightly damp. Whatever I plant the seedlings in is covered with plastic wrap (to keep the humidity up) and put in a shaded spot. I punch a few holes in the plastic wrap to keep some air circulation going. I think keeping the humidity up is the single most important thing when deflasking. The seedlings are near 100% humidity in a flask and the plastic wrap prevents shock because of a sudden humidity drop.

Please keep us informed about how this works. The more I think about it the better it sounds.

[otis226]

Not sure if you're talking about coire fiber or the block coire thats sold compressed and needs to be rehydrated. I believe the latter would prove to be a good substiute for sphagnum, and I may actually use it when I move my flasklings on in phase 2.
Good growing,
Tony

[kiwiorchids]

I don't know if coir fiber stays damp enough for seedlings, but it seems a good idea. The roots probably won't rot, but I think watering just right may be a problem. It should allow for plenty of air circulation and make the roots grow well.

When I deflask, i use loosely packed sphagnum moss and try to keep it just slightly damp. Whatever I plant the seedlings in is covered with plastic wrap (to keep the humidity up) and put in a shaded spot. I punch a few holes in the plastic wrap to keep some air circulation going. I think keeping the humidity up is the single most important thing when deflasking. The seedlings are near 100% humidity in a flask and the plastic wrap prevents shock because of a sudden humidity drop.

Please keep us informed about how this works. The more I think about it the better it sounds.

I agree with you on the humidity thing, but im sure this stuff will hold some good water

Not sure if you're talking about coire fiber or the block coire thats sold compressed and needs to be rehydrated. I believe the latter would prove to be a good substiute for sphagnum, and I may actually use it when I move my flasklings on in phase 2.
Good growing,
Tony

Yea, thats the one, its the only stuff we can buy here and we just call it coir fibre, unless we are talking about hanging basket liners. It is about 15L when fully hydrated.

[Roy]

My advice. Keep away from coconut. I've deflasked 3 lots of Catt seedlings recently straight into Perlite.
They have kicked off very well. The fungus in the flask will die off in the air.
Remove the seedlings from the flask, wash clean in luke warm water, then pot up. Most or all of the fungi spores will be cleaned off. Any normal fungicide will be ok to use if you have to but use it about half the strength of recommended rate. I use a product call Alginox which is a pool algicide/fungicide etc at the rate of 2mm to the litre. I mist spray the plants after watering & evry second day for 10 days. Its fantastinc.