Peat Moss and Nutrients

Hey guys! I'm doing my first grow and I needed a little advice. I started my seedlings in a mixture of peat moss and perlite with a bit of dolomite. All but one of my plants sprouted so far, but I know peat moss doesn't have a lot of nutes. How long should I wait before I start giving them extra nutrients?
 

Gaz29

Well-Known Member
Hey guys! I'm doing my first grow and I needed a little advice. I started my seedlings in a mixture of peat moss and perlite with a bit of dolomite. All but one of my plants sprouted so far, but I know peat moss doesn't have a lot of nutes. How long should I wait before I start giving them extra nutrients?
Wait til your wee round leaves (cotyledons)are dying/curling and a few sets of leaves have hopefully grown ,and your good to add 1/4 strength (or a bit less)..
Ps. is it your own mix or did you buy it.. what exactly is in your mixture.? Good luck
Gaz
 
Wait til your wee round leaves (cotyledons)are dying/curling and a few sets of leaves have hopefully grown ,and your good to add 1/4 strength (or a bit less)..
Ps. is it your own mix or did you buy it.. what exactly is in your mixture.? Good luck
Gaz
Thanks for the help! I mixed it myself. It's about 50/50 peat moss and perlite (both from miracle gro) with about a tablespoon or so of dolomite for about a gallon of mix
 

a mongo frog

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the help! I mixed it myself. It's about 50/50 peat moss and perlite
Savage!!!!!! Are you going to grow out in your DIY peat mix? How are the costs compared to a peat perlite mix like sunshine # or pro mix. The sunshine #4 cost me roughly 30 bucks for 3.8 cubic feet. Ive fantasized many times about making my own peat mix and how much i may save. I never did run the numbers though.
 
Savage!!!!!! Are you going to grow out in your DIY peat mix? How are the costs compared to a peat perlite mix like sunshine # or pro mix. The sunshine #4 cost me roughly 30 bucks for 3.8 cubic feet. Ive fantasized many times about making my own peat mix and how much i may save. I never did run the numbers though.
From what I've seen, it's about half the cost for twice as much mix so far! I really did it to cut on some costs. This is my first grow and I put most of my money into the lights. And I'm gonna keep growing with my own mix until someone with experience advises me not to or I see a problem with my plants. I might throw in some worm castings when I transplant. Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated!
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
If you're using peat don't you need to amend it with other forms of organic matter and nutrients like bone and blood meal, compost, etc...? I grow in coco so I provide a nutrient solution using blumats. Are you going to be using peat in a similar fashion? Hand watering is fine. Peat is a soilless medium but coco is better if growing using a soilless medium. Coco drains better and takes water better when it's dried out. Plus coco is sustainable where peat is dug from bogs that have taken sometimes hundreds of years to develop.

Once you get coco dialed in you'll never grow any other way.
 
If you're using peat don't you need to amend it with other forms of organic matter and nutrients like bone and blood meal, compost, etc...? I grow in coco so I provide a nutrient solution using blumats. Are you going to be using peat in a similar fashion? Hand watering is fine. Peat is a soilless medium but coco is better if growing using a soilless medium. Coco drains better and takes water better when it's dried out. Plus coco is sustainable where peat is dug from bogs that have taken sometimes hundreds of years to develop.

Once you get coco dialed in you'll never grow any other way.
Well this is my very first grow so I'm still learning. And since I spent so much money on the rest of the setup, I was trying to go a little cheaper with my medium. It seems to be working out pretty well for my seedlings. They're growing quite nicely in just peat moss and perlite. When I move to 1 gallon buckets I plan on doing equal parts of peat moss, perlite, and earth worm castings; and just watching the nutrients pretty closely. They're at about 7 days from sprouting.image.jpg
 

a mongo frog

Well-Known Member
Well this is my very first grow so I'm still learning. And since I spent so much money on the rest of the setup, I was trying to go a little cheaper with my medium. It seems to be working out pretty well for my seedlings. They're growing quite nicely in just peat moss and perlite. When I move to 1 gallon buckets I plan on doing equal parts of peat moss, perlite, and earth worm castings; and just watching the nutrients pretty closely. They're at about 7 days from sprouting.View attachment 3996070
But I'm sure you already know you don't have to amend you peat perlite mix. One just watches his/her strength of nutrients and dank is grown. Peat perlite mix is probably one of the best mixes on the market for soilless growing. Coco is for sure most likely the leader in soilless mix now a days, but peat moss and perlite is a strong second for sure.
Plants look great by the way!!!!!
 
But I'm sure you already know you don't have to amend you peat perlite mix. One just watches his/her strength of nutrients and dank is grown. Peat perlite mix is probably one of the best mixes on the market for soilless growing. Coco is for sure most likely the leader in soilless mix now a days, but peat moss and perlite is a strong second for sure.
Plants look great by the way!!!!!
Thanks for the boost of encouragement! But since you brought up that peat moss is soiless; should I be keeping my ph around the hydroponic range of mid 5s? Or is mid 6s still good for ph?
 

a mongo frog

Well-Known Member
Thanks for the boost of encouragement! But since you brought up that peat moss is soiless; should I be keeping my ph around the hydroponic range of mid 5s? Or is mid 6s still good for ph?
I do mine 6.0-6.3, could probably do a little higher. Thats just what i do and have good results with.
 
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