I live in the Pacific Northwest where marijuana is legal. Growers are using this process for faster growing and bigger plants! All planting is done indoors without soil at first! The plants are bug free! Soil attract insects I think! Here is my experience with Citron (citrus Medica) this past year!

Hi Alisa, sounds interesting. Could you explain the process please? All I can find about hydroseeding is for lawns.

[quote="Purplebloomcactus" ]I live in the Pacific Northwest where marijuana is legal. Growers are using this process for faster growing and bigger plants! All planting is done indoors without soil at first! The plants are bug free! Soil attract insects I think! Here is my experience with Citron (citrus Medica) this past year!



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I used 2"mini- blocks from gro/dan (grodan101.com) product purpose inert medium for soil-less growing contents: Rockwool Mineral fibers has Ecolabel
If you go to website theirs a video for growing process!

Yes, use rockwool starter plugs. You can buy it in sheets of 50 from Grodan. I am using it right now to try and start ghost peppers from cuttings.

Sounds and looks interesting but I think I'll pass because rockwool is not biodegradable - the people who had this house before me must have used styro p-nuts and some kind of insulation in the back yard. I'm picking up pieces of it every day and have been doing so for a year now. Every time it rains more non biodegradable material comes to the surface.

Xeramtheum said:Sounds and looks interesting but I think I'll pass because rockwool is not biodegradable - the people who had this house before me must have used styro p-nuts and some kind of insulation in the back yard. I'm picking up pieces of it every day and have been doing so for a year now. Every time it rains more non biodegradable material comes to the surface.

Yuck! that reminds me of long ago when I used Jiffy 7's, and then Jiffy 9's (the ones with the netting around them) to start seeds; that netting never goes away

Weedwhacker said:

Yuck! that reminds me of long ago when I used Jiffy 7's, and then Jiffy 9's (the ones with the netting around them) to start seeds; that netting never goes away

I agree, and I don't like the peat pots either. I now tear them off before planting my seedlings. From what I've seen, they never break down and roots really don't seem to go through them.

The rockwool is used in an inclosed situation - it's not supposed to get loose in the garden. I think packing peanuts and old insulation is an entirely different problem. What you are calling old insulation... Could it be some sort of geo-fabric? Some of it sure looks like old insulation when it gets away.

I don't use peat pots or jiffy pots anymore as the plants don't seem to be able to claw their way out of them - maybe it's my growing conditions (high desert). Rockwool is usually used in hydroponic systems or in situations where the rockwool will eventually be planted in a pot of dirt (or bark).

Another common Hydroponic medium is expanded clay pellets. They are clay so would be biodegradable. They work well in situations where you don't have to worry about them floating off. Or pea gravel which doesn't float but ways a lot. Whatever you do use, remember that your seeds are not getting any nutrients from the potting medium so, after the seed-food supply runs out, fertilizer is a necessity.

I'm not sure why Alisha chose to tell us about Marijuana first. I live in Nevada where everything is legal so not impressed. But starting plants in a soilless medium isn't about bugs but is about damping off, holding moisture and air circulation. Of course, the disadvantage is that it never goes away.

So Alisha, what exactly are you trying to accomplish?

And I would recommend you invest in some T-5 lights if you plan to grow indoors. Your citrons look light deprived.

Daisy

Hi my name is "Alisa" when I used soil in the passed. the roots were weak and transferring my seeds into larger pots would shocked the plants and I lost a lot of hard work. I never know another planting medium before. I am just learning about growing plants this way! I just wanted to learn more and start A conversation about it. I planted 30 seeds with this method all my seeds are plants now! I just liked how healthy the plants are too! I get my growing supplies at Grow World a indoor Garden supply store. It's a little different than a retail garden supply store!

I've noticed, too, that when you search for hydroponic supplies you get a LOT of references to marijuana growing.

Like Anne, I'm familiar with hydroseeding as a method for spraying grass seed in a slurry. I've often seen the slurry dyed green on the banks of new road construction. Have the hydroponics people "borrowed" the term now?

Hi Alisha,

Thank you for explaining. I'm sorry if I was a little gruff last night. You confused me when you quoted yourself. And, if you are planning to grow marijuana with your new knowledge, none of us will care.

It could be that you had trouble transplanting your seedlings when you were using soil because you transplanted them too small. You can let seedlings get relatively large and a little root bound before transplanting. Also, you pretty much destroy the pot you are taking them out of. The little plant 6-pack pots crumple easily so cut them apart and crumple them.

If you had an insect problem, there was probably not enough air circulation around your seedlings and you kept them too wet. That combination attracts thrips and gnats.

Your little trees still have a problem. I can't tell from your photos if the leaves are curling under because of insects or something else (too much water?). They do need more light.

What are you trying to accomplish with your growing knowledge of seed starting? Are the citrons an experiment for some project you have in mind? A citron farm in the backyard?

Hydroseed starting is usually used for starting plants for a hydroponic system. Is that what you are trying to do? Or are you starting seed to be eventually planted outside?

Daisy

DaisyI said:

I'm not sure why Alisha chose to tell us about Marijuana first. I live in Nevada where everything is legal so not impressed.

I don't think she was telling you about marijuana or trying to impress you. I think the point she was trying to make is that it is the method chosen by many "weed" growers. Do a search for almost anything about indoor gardening, and you will get a lot of hit about growing marijuana. They are probably the most serious and dedicated indoor gardeners there are, so in theory are the most knowledgeable about what works best. At least that is my take on her mentioning it.

woofie said:I've noticed, too, that when you search for hydroponic supplies you get a LOT of references to marijuana growing.

I found that true when searching for big LED lights to put in my grow tent. Most of them seem to be favorites of the marijuana growers.

I had some difficulty figuring out how to copy a web address on this iPod to include this link, finally found out how. The procedure described in the link has been referred to as hydroseeding for many years. So my question was are there now two different things with the same name, which would be rather confusing?:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik...

Hydroseeding - mixing seed with slurry and blowing it onto surfaces (like lawns, burn areas... )

Hydro seed starting - starting seed with a soilless medium so you can plant them in your hydroponic system without adding the usual seed starting dirt. Dirt really clogs a hydroponic system fast.

More and more gardeners are discovering some of the tricks developed by hydroponic gardeners (indoor marijuana farmers ) like rockwool, expanded clay pellets and T-5 grow lights. Hydroponic growers use high concentrations of chemicals and light to grow the biggest baddest plants they can in a short amount of time in tubs of water.

Aquaponics uses the same equipment but instead of chemicals, fish do the fertilizing and the plants live in what is essentially a biofilter. An organic form of hydroponics. The systems I have seen use pumps and gravity to circulate water and nutrients.

That's why I was questioning Alisha about where she is going with this project.

Daisy

Alisa, no "h" in there Patty. I must admit if you're going to pot the baby plants up into potting soil anyway, I can't see the problem with starting them in seed starting mix, or something more like soil.

If you have bug problems with your seed mix, a mild douse with hydrogen peroxide diluted 32:1 usually takes care of it.

I've never had that problem. Sure do agree about the Jiffy pellets and peat pots - they never break down and restrict the seedlings a lot.

Hi I don't have a bug problem. it's the lack of light! I live in the Pacific Northwest near Portland, Oregon. it's overcast and rains a lot in the winter time. I may need grow lights! I just use the word (M) as growers method because Hydo seeding was established by (M) growers! I grow Christmas cactus and try rare plants just for fun! I throught I was asked a simple question! I don't know if the (M) word was the problem or the growing method being used. I feeling attacked by asking this question. I don't feel this should trigger a negative discussions.

You're right, lack of light up there in the PNW is a big headache for growing exotic and tropical stuff that's used to lots of bright sun, or even bright shade. (I'm originally from Vancouver, BC we go back to visit family in August )

Doesn't matter what plants you're growing, good light is really important. I don't think anyone cares if you're growing marijuana or citrus or . . ? We want to help and I didn't get the feeling anyone was attacking you.

Marijuana was such a big money business when it was illegal, some really creative ways of growing it (and also other plants!) were developed. That's always a good thing.

I personally have no problem with your method. If you like it and it works better than other methods you've tried then keep on doing it. But in fairness to everyone that responded, the title of your post say "What do you think". If you don't want honest opinions then you shouldn't ask for them. This is a discussion forum, sometimes responses will be positive, sometimes negative, usually a mixture. You shouldn't look at it as an attack but just people expressing the opinions. There is room to learn from both positive and negative comments.