Seeking Transplanting Advice

[joeycano]

I recently planted some chili pepper seeds. Today, I noticed that they begun to sprout. I wanted to get advice on transplanting the seedlings.

I plan to use terracotta pots with holes 1 inch from the bottom to allow for a small reservoir in case I have a pump malfunction on a hot sunny day. I will also use a drip to waste system.

For media, I have collected:

- 10 & 20 mm coco chunks;

- coco peat;

- charred rice hulls;

- river sand;

- hydroton.

I've also obtained a couple of sized grow bags to place into the terracotta pots.

Any advice would sure be appreciated.

Thanks so much.

Edited October 20, 2008 by joeycano

[Smithson]

Joey, what type of containers have you planted the seeds into?

[joeycano]

I have planted the seeds in seed trays with a mixture of cocopeat, Klassmann Traysubstrate and Perlite. The trays were purchased from ACK in Bangkok.

Edited October 20, 2008 by joeycano

[Smithson]

I would wait until the get a little bigger, so the roots will hold the media together and it doesn't crumble when transplanting. Do it just before sunset so they have the night to recover, then have them shade/semi shade the next day.

This is what I do with soil plants, Rice may have better advice for hydro.

[joeycano]

I understand that one needs to transplant after the seedlings get bigger. I'm hoping to learn what to do next prior to having to transplant.

Thanks Smithson for your advice.

Edited October 20, 2008 by joeycano

[Smithson]

The general idea is to do it with as little stress as possible (on the plant that is) and before it gets too big.

[soidog2]

The general idea is to do it with as little stress as possible (on the plant that is) and before it gets too big.

If it’s Thai chilies you planted, don’t stress yourself too much.

Keep them in the trays until about 6 – 7 inches tall with a few sets of leaves.

You could make some cow manure tea and water them with it. It will strengthen them for planting.

When ready to plant , make sure the trays are well watered, pull the chilies gently by the trunk and plant them in your prepared lot.

They should come out from the tray with a nice root ball.

Good luck

Edited October 20, 2008 by soidog2

[joeycano]

Soidog2 I'm a newbie at this and don't know how to make cow manure tea. Can you advise? Also, do you suggest I water them one time with cow manure tea just before transplanting or over a prolonged period prior to transplanting?

Thanks for your great advice.

Joey

[Smithson]

Joey, I don't think Soidog realizes it's a hydro crop. You shouldn't use cow manure tea, but you can use half strength solution. The nutrients for the first set of leaves come from the seed, after that the plant will start to use the nutrients you provide.

[rice555]

Hello joeycano, glad to hear you have some seed sprouting, what Smithson said about the 1/2 strength solution will work good. I've been busy breaking down large bags of coir, filling bags and transplanting.

I @ paul about the 1kg briquettes/w/bags. After 175 bags and more to do I think there comes a time where cost and time become very important on what/how you grow. I did pay a lady to fill bags with pieces, but when you have to break down bulk coir and fill bags, I've been doing that by myself. Have been trying different types of coir to see what works best, don't be afraid to try different media. Find what works best for you.

When you 'have to transplant', you can't always pick the conditions, so when it's HOT, make sure you keep the plants moist and don't let them dry out. You can use a low strength solution of plain water to keep the plants hydrated, when it's HOT, they don't feed much.

I fill the bags, make a hole and put the plant in half up the main stem, between the top of the substrate and the bottom set of leaf's. But other people have way's they do things, try and see what works best for you.

My starts have been through hel_l, not having a protected place to raise them has caused some problems, but things are moving now, but slow.

The reason the bags are in the driveway is that between storms, it's too wet for the tractor guy to come and smooth the growing area after the first ploughing. I needed the bore hole re drilled as I was going to plant on the 2 rai behind the house. After running into weather and other problems I went for growing hydro, this has been a good learning project so far, and know how I will do it next time on a much larger scale.

Tonight I will start weighing chem's out for 1,000lt. of nutrients, a first for me.

rice555

[rice555]

Hello joeycano, for some reason th pix's didn't attach, one more time.

rice555

[Smithson]

It's a shame Jiffy pots aren't available here, they'd make transplanting very easy as there's no container. There's a pic below, which shows them flat and then expanded after being soaked in water.

Regarding medium, I've just picked up a heap of coir, this stuff was 10B a bag, almost 10x cheaper than the regular sacks. It's not chopped chunks, but the softer parts from close to the inside of the coconut. There is none of the hard outer shell. I think their could be some advantages with this, being soft and porous it's much easier for the roots to penetrate. The consistency is more like rock wool. There will be quite a bit of dust though, so it will take some rinsing along with a screen filter on the drain.

I would say it's not suitable for pots though without being chopped a little.

Below is a pic

[joeycano]

Smithson,

I have also not seen jiffy pots as well. However, Paul from CocoWorld recently gave me samples coco pots. I don't have them right now to attached a photos but will after I get to them in a day or two. PM me your address and I will mail you some samples. Paul indicated that one coco pot will fill one cell of the above attached seed tray I posted on thread #3. I have not tried them yet but gave some to Rice555 so maybe he can give us a review??? I'm sure they would save a lot of time and mess.

[joeycano]

Here are the coco pots from Paul at CocoWorld. These do not have nets like jiffy pots but they are easy to use with no fuss or mess.

I might add that the EC is below .2. Wow !!!

Edited October 23, 2008 by joeycano

[joeycano]

I read a study which concluded that a media of equal parts of [A] coco peat; charred rice hulls; & [c] river sand worked best in Thailand for hydroponic farming.

- Anyone have any experience with this media mixture???

- Can anyone suggest any other other media mixtures???

Edited October 27, 2008 by joeycano

[Smithson]

I think it depends a lot on what you're growing and the system your using.

[rice555]

Hello joeycano, this my local/low cost transplanting, after this time with paid help from one person(B.400. total) filling the bags with the pieces and sifting the coir, I've done everything else with the 275+ plants.

To do again, I would use commercial hydro coir product from the 'time' standpoint. I will be ordering 1kg briquettes to do some of the next crop, but will use bricks/bale to do another 300 of the ongoing crop I'm still transplanting between rain storms.

After removing most of the trash and large fibers I fill the bags. Make a hole and put the plant in, you know all the regular things when you transplant! As you can see by the the lack of roots and being leggie, the starts have had a rough start, not what I wanted to happen, the weather has not been friendly to me.

Like my tomatoes, I plant 1/2 to 2/3 of the stem below the surface, tomatoes for more foots and the chili's and peppers to give a little support till I can tie them up. In short, fill, put it in, more fill and water.

I'm trying 3 different growing medias, plain coir, plain coir pieces and the small bag,(sand/coir/perlite, to lazy to make burnt rice hulls) in a large bag with coir pieces. The double bag method, the plants are OLDER and planted before the other's, that's why their bigger.

It's raining now, so a few more till the tractor can plough so I can move out of the driveway. This was part of a 1-2 rai dirt grown crop, because of the many big storm's we had here in Korat and timing of other things like a new bore hole, I switched to the hydro. I was planning on 100 hydro plants, but hope to get up to 7-800 going when it's all planted. So it's all hand watering now, and will be, need to pull the blossoms off the double bagged plants to get some more growth.

Will post about the coco disc after I get up.

rice555

[kloghead]

Wow rice, are you really planning on hand-watering 700+ bags? You've a stronger back than I do

Have you considered bottom-feeding or the ultimate lazy mans method - drip-feeding? Both work well and you can re-use the runoff by adjusting the Ph and EC. Just my thoughts...

Good luck amigo

PS I've seen the burnt ricehulls at the garden shops...they are a good EC buffer. But you prob already knew that

Edited October 28, 2008 by kloghead

[Smithson]

PS I've seen the burnt ricehulls at the garden shops...they are a good EC buffer. But you prob already knew that

Klog, can you explain a little more about how the burnt rice husks work as an EC buffer? You can buy a 10 wheel truckload for B5,000. I bought a heap and have used it my soil garden, great stuff.

Rice, have you grown tomatoes before in LOS? If so any luck? I've planted mainly Romas, but I wonder if Bkk isn't too hot.

[kloghead]

I had probs with the EC drifting up when I used cocopeat (even when the coco was washed to as little as .1 -.3 EC). A friend suggested adding the ricehulls and it sure seemed to keep it steady. This was with a recirculating hydro system. If you are DTW (drain to waste) EC drift should not be a prob.

[rice555]

Hello joeycano, sorry for the late reply, my computer had a coffee break, that is my keyboard. I'm a Mac user and you don't find parts every where's, even that there's a Mac store at The Mall Korat it would take 3 days to get. I made an emergence trip to Panthip early this morning and back.

The coco disc's fit the the round 60 plug tray(flats) nicely. They would expand better using warm water/nutes to expand them. I noticed that there were 2 different thicknesses of disc. The larger disc expanded better and filled the cavity better. They do all weigh the same, but the thinner one was harder to expand, again, warm water would work better I think, also bottom watering the tray might work better?

The pictures are the 60 tray, found at most ag supply store's in Thailand. If you used the disc in a square 50 tray, you might not have enough fill the cavity.

The first picture is the discs in a '60', the two discs on ege shows the difference in size.

The second picture shows the thin L/H & thick R/H 60 expanded. The white cup is what I use for starting plants from tomato to papaya, it was bottom watered to expand. The dish was watered on top and sides.

I think if you are doing 100 or more, you would be better off using a bagged coir or tray substrate, but to do a few plants, it's better than getting a big bag.

rice555

[rice555]

Hello Kloghead, because of the weather here I decided to grow the peppers hydro, the soil was to wet to work here and still is, as the wife who was to feed the plants today got off easy as it rained a lot today and tonight around 11:PM had a heavy rain storm again.

After I can get the plants moved in the back yard(1+rai) I can put the drip system in,. I have a 500-lt tank to use and will need bigger later. At JJ's I got a King-4, 80-Lt/min pump that should do till I decide how big I do the hydro, I have 2 more rai to use, but this a work in progress. If I do go bigger, it will be no batch tank set up, just stock tanks and twin doser's on a timer.

My big problem is deciding on spray stakes or drip stakes, single dripper's or 4-wayon dripper.

The easiest one is 'Capnet' from Netafim, but [email protected] each is out of my price right now. Thats a Capnet in the picture of drippers on the L/H side(small micro tube)

The tomatoes are hydro from CM

rice555

[Maizefarmer]

An excellent thread - and some very good information: we need more detail like this on the Farming section - good on you rice555 - I certainly picked up some useful advice

[jaideeguy]

Stupid question....what is EC?? google says that it is european comission, electronic communications and 160,000,000 other things, but nothing relating to farming or transplanting that I can find on the first page.

But speaking of transplanting, I just had my sister visiting and she brought me a 'seed block maker' that I had sent to her and it punches out 4 [2"X2"] seed blocks at a time with your own recipe of cow manure, shreaded coco, soil, klab dam and whatever. i'm trying it out this week to get the proportions right so that you get a firm block and not have to use plastic bags or pots.

will report results on this thread.

to see what I'm talking about go to .......

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/subcate...subcategory=616

If it works, than I may get some local welders to knock it off.

[rice555]

Hello Maizefarmer, how did you get out of the milking parlor? I read and enjoyed the 'Makheua' thread before I joined T-V. It also made me look at the market different, we being small, will try not to grow for the Thai market. I did find a western market in BKK with 1 e-mail, I can supply the product cheaper than the imported one, that is if I can get things working here. My Florida High Bush Mukheua in the picture did great, the ones I did hydro were 'shit'.

It's clear skies tonight, count down time to get the tractor in to smooth the planting area.

The new white bags from CM will be here this week,(thanks joeycano) and will make a coir run for a 1/2-ton+ to get things finished on the first crop.

I went back to Do Home today and picked up two different coir products. The first is a 4-kg brick of compressed coir from Chia-Tai, a source has informed me they get their supply from Coco World Group<?> Directions say to add 20-lt's water/nutes, wait one hour and makes 50 lt's, no other info, on ph or EC was given. If they expand out nice, may saw them in 1/4's and re-hydrate them in the new 'no hole' white bags like the 1kg briquettes till I get them.

The second item was one I saw when the store first opened was Bt.20 per bag, the same bags are now Bt7.5 each, they come in dust or cubes. There is no name or any info on the bag, the one I got was 700grms.

Will give them the water test tomorrow and see what the readings are, if the numbers work out, more transplanting to do this week.

rice555

[rice555]

Stupid question....what is EC?? google says that it is european comission, electronic communications and 160,000,000 other things, but nothing relating to farming or transplanting that I can find on the first page.

But speaking of transplanting, I just had my sister visiting and she brought me a 'seed block maker' that I had sent to her and it punches out 4 [2"X2"] seed blocks at a time with your own recipe of cow manure, shreaded coco, soil, klab dam and whatever. i'm trying it out this week to get the proportions right so that you get a firm block and not have to use plastic bags or pots.

will report results on this thread.

to see what I'm talking about go to .......

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/subcate...subcategory=616

If it works, than I may get some local welders to knock it off.

Hello jaideeguy, look up hydroponics first, then look for EC.

How long do you think it would take to make 800 blocks? Do you set them on a bench or the ground during deeding till transplanting?

I've got a wooden pot maker that uses strips of newspaper, the pots fell apart before the roots could hold the potting soil together.

Johnny's is a great source of seed, I've used them a lot for herb seed.

rice555

[cmfarmer]

Stupid question....what is EC?? google says that it is european comission, electronic communications and 160,000,000 other things, but nothing relating to farming or transplanting that I can find on the first page.

But speaking of transplanting, I just had my sister visiting and she brought me a 'seed block maker' that I had sent to her and it punches out 4 [2"X2"] seed blocks at a time with your own recipe of cow manure, shreaded coco, soil, klab dam and whatever. i'm trying it out this week to get the proportions right so that you get a firm block and not have to use plastic bags or pots.

will report results on this thread.

to see what I'm talking about go to .......

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/subcate...subcategory=616

If it works, than I may get some local welders to knock it off.

Hello jaideeguy, look up hydroponics first, then look for EC.

How long do you think it would take to make 800 blocks? Do you set them on a bench or the ground during deeding till transplanting?

I've got a wooden pot maker that uses strips of newspaper, the pots fell apart before the roots could hold the potting soil together.

Johnny's is a great source of seed, I've used them a lot for herb seed.

rice555

Hi jaideeguy,

EC= electrical conductivity. Use google to search, plenty of information there. Later if you intend to use this instrument to measure the concentration of fertilizer solution you can contact AFM, one of the contacts I mentioned in my email to you earlier.

If you have bought the white polybags 

[cmfarmer]

Stupid question....what is EC?? google says that it is european comission, electronic communications and 160,000,000 other things, but nothing relating to farming or transplanting that I can find on the first page.

But speaking of transplanting, I just had my sister visiting and she brought me a 'seed block maker' that I had sent to her and it punches out 4 [2"X2"] seed blocks at a time with your own recipe of cow manure, shreaded coco, soil, klab dam and whatever. i'm trying it out this week to get the proportions right so that you get a firm block and not have to use plastic bags or pots.

will report results on this thread.

to see what I'm talking about go to .......

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/catalog/subcate...subcategory=616

If it works, than I may get some local welders to knock it off.

Hello jaideeguy, look up hydroponics first, then look for EC.

How long do you think it would take to make 800 blocks? Do you set them on a bench or the ground during deeding till transplanting?

I've got a wooden pot maker that uses strips of newspaper, the pots fell apart before the roots could hold the potting soil together.

Johnny's is a great source of seed, I've used them a lot for herb seed.

rice555

Hi jaideeguy,

EC= electrical conductivity. Use google to search, plenty of information there. Later if you intend to use this instrument to measure the concentration of fertilizer solution you can contact AFM, one of the contacts I mentioned in my email to you earlier.

If you have bought the white polybags 

Sorry,

" If you have bought the white polybags " shouldn't be in the reply.

[rice555]

Hello joeycano, I for got to answer you on EC-ph for plants, there are the numbers I've been using for 'HYDRO', not dirt/soil. Other people may have different numbers, but these have worked for me. Try and see works best for you.

Cucumbers EC 1.7-2.5 ph 5.5. Eggplant Ec 2.5-3.5 ph 6.0

Lettuce EC 0.8-1.2 ph 6.-7. Pak Choi EC 1.5-2. ph 7. Tomato EC 2.0-5.0 ph 6.-6.5 Peppers EC 1.8-2.2 ph 6.-6.5 Zuccini EC 1.8-2.4 ph 6.0

My nutes are EC/CF by my meter 2.0 with a ph of 6.5 with the test kit from ACK, I have not tried to to lower the ph as I'm going through my blue tank after 4-1/2 waterings. When I use the 500-lt with pump and drip irrigation, I will lower the ph some. From what I've read, you should stay with the same EC through the plants entire life cycle, you can change formulation, but keep the same EC level.

I tried the coir from Do Home today, but didn't take any ph reading. The 700-gr bag was nice with no big fibers and I planted a pepper in it, it's a little low in the bag, but 1-kg would be much better, we'll see with the white bags.

The 4-kg briquette took some time and a little 'hand' work to fully re-hydrate well, took 22-lt of nutrients as you can see in the pictures.

Till I get the white bags to try, but from all the different ways I've tried, I think the no-hole bags with 1-kg will work the best, with the least amount of 'man-hours', and will make transplanting much, much easier.

rice555