Are you saying the seedlings above are in Happy Frog soil? not good, they should be doing much better. Something must be affecting them in a bad way.
If you’re talking about Coast of Maine “Bar Harbor” potting soil, be careful, it’s very heavy, at least 50% compost. I use it at a ratio of about 1:3 to Promix soil blends and then add perlite. I’ve never tried it by itself, I would add at least 30% perlite if using it straight up, maybe 40%.
I am indeed talking about the Bar Harbor potting mix. I did mix it at 2 parts soil : 1 part perlite, so fortunately in line with your recommendation.
The label indicated that it isn’t a feeding mix and fertilizer is required, which I interpreted as “mild soil that probably won’t burn seedlings”. Anyway, I’m now burning through Nirvana freebies to find a seed starting mix I like, so if everything goes wrong, at least I’m not wasting great genetics.
sounds good - would love to know how it works out! Yes, Bar Harbor is rich in compost but has no added fertilizer. I love to blend it with a peat/perlite mix and add dry fertlizers.
They say all their composts come with lots of microbial life built in - so no need for myco supplements or stuff like that, it’s living soil, it has fungal & bacterial life.
Some thoughts on the seedling problems.
I’m more or less applying some general gardening concepts to this problem.
Poor root development preventing proper feeding.
I had a client with some apple trees incorrectly planted, they appeared sick and had the crusty browns. and looked wilted. When I pulled the trees out they had literally no root development outside of the burlap bag and this was due to the hole not properly shaped and sized and a concept called “texture interface”.roots just did not want to move out of the bag into the hard soil. The proper hole was supposed to be dish shaped properly sized and the backfill was supposed to be new soil free of rocks.
So… last night I pulled one of my mothers, just had a lack of vigor, And I had a similar problem, when I potted it I put a layer of really wet coco and topped it off with some dryer stuff, well, same problem… The lower layer compressed some how and roots were not going into it.
The mother was originally in 1 gallon rockwool cubes, and I think this also prevented the rootball from poking out, I never stripped the ball because of ball damage.I thought it would be ok. this is somewhat similar to your seedling problem, off color stems, lack of vigor, and what looks like a combo of feed problems.
Just some thoughts on this…
Trees and shrubs are difficult! I got schooled outdoors the last couple years, and they’re expensive failures. You have to coax them into “establishing” themselves. They usually come from the nursery totally root-bound in their pot and dependent on a drip tube, I’ve lost many because they never broke out of their root ball.
the more rootbound a plant is, the harder to break across that texture interface, you have to take a risk by breaking up or cutting into the root mass. Which then causes transplant shock.
I didn’t want to shit on the rooting plugs either 
but I don’t like them, maybe the problem lies there. I like direct-seed into the soil. Plugs are better for rooting clones.
I’d never tried them until earlier this year, and believe I’ve only used 12 in total. When I started growing again post-legalization, anyone I could find locally willing to part with beans priced them individually, usually in the neighborhood of $20/ea. I know, right? When losing 1 seed means losing $20 and you’re not sure if you can get a replacement, you turn a little neurotic in terms of germination.
Anyway, I have long since given up on trying to keep my growing purchases within the state, so I should probably give up on RapidRooters, too. The beans I planted in my homebrew seed starting mix were planted directly in the soil, I’m pretty sure they’ll be fine.
It is happening… again.
But it’s still driving me batty that I have no idea what the problem is 
My seedlings in alternate soils (including non-RapidRooter’d) are still quite young, so will probably be another couple weeks before I can see if their health differs significantly from the Probably Bad Soil that I’ve gotten rid of, anyway.
I dont think you should be feeding with clonex. If you wanna fix your soil stick to kelp neem and powdered malted balrey teas and top dresses. IMOS and LABS will help with the bacteria and fungi. And if you get some micos on them roots itll help your baby uptake nutrient and water better:) and dont bubble malted barley longer then 4 hours to be safe. Aloe will build the SAR (systemic aquired resistance).
What is the ph of the run off?
Will have to wait a couple days to test the run-off, as I gave it a solid soak yesterday. That said, soil pH probe reads at ~6.8 for the CDxSSDD – not too different from the A13 problem children.
Yup, I getcha… I busted out the Clonex because it worked well for me last winter, and right now I’m just trying to get a seedling to survive to adulthood. Everything I planted to go into my tent for Sept+Oct is either a male or dead. The soil should already have some mycorrhizal fungi in it, but probably wouldn’t hurt to re-innoculate. As for IMOs and making my own LABS, the only wooded area near my home is next to a highway and an industrial park… not exactly the pristine natural environment I’d like to reproduce for my plants. I might give EM-1 a shot, as the Build-A-Soil folks don’t seem to hate it.
I really, really hope that I’m in the Cult of NoTill by this time next year, honestly 
I just need to know what I’m doing before I move on to bigger adventures. I still have no idea how 20-year-old me, without money, time, or sleep, managed to grow great herb without constantly messing up 
Thanks for the information. If i use anything i use aloe.
Aloe all the way dude. You can even feed your aloe clonex and itll boost the cloning chances😉 sorry idk if sarcasm is welcome on @oranje 's thread
You are going to have people trying that. Ha! Ha!
I’m from New England, dude. All we have is sarcasm.
Just as a point of clarification, I mean the Clonex® Brand Chemical Nutrient Solution For Seedlings and Clones, NPK 1/0.6/1. I’m not slathering my seedlings with that terrifying purple goop in the hopes that they root faster Hydro store gave me a sample of that, didn’t seem to root much faster than my usual “stick plant in light soil” cloning technique, but the label convinced me that I should wear gloves while using it and avoid making eye contact, lest you make the purple blob angry.
Anyway, the tea bubbling station is currently occupied by a kelp, molasses, EWC, and fish meal concoction. I’ve got aloe flakes, kelp meal, and neem meal in the war chest, but no barley – @lotus710 have a suggested seedling aloe+kelp tea recipe? I’d guess 1tsp/gallon kelp bubbled for a day, and then mix in 1/4tsp aloe flakes?
Honey works great as a rooting gel. It stops bacteria from growing. it works at least as well as toxic Clonex.
1 tsp per gal is light. Try 1 tbsp per gal. Ive never measuredXD
Weekly update, doo-da-dee-doo:
The first leaves are still dying back on the Chemdawg x Sunshine Daydream, but they haven’t died back completely, and the wasting hasn’t spread to other leaves. In fact, this seedling is in pretty good shape, and will probably need to be repotted in the next couple of days 
In other words, I’m back to my original “the soil is probably fine” position, and therefore have no good explanation for why I can’t grow out the A13… Anyway, here’s the CDxSSDD:
My seedlings in alternative soil mixes are also doing reasonably well, though one seems to have some problematic Genetic Abnormalities™ – it’s a twisted mess of leaves growing like a vine. As my veg tent is pretty barren right now (both in quantity and quality), I’ll probably start a few more beans this weekend… just have to decide if I want to risk my finest genetics or go with cheap-o’s until I feel competent again 
Stick with it. Everything will work itself out eventually. 
Ive been poppin my cheapos for a few years. I cant pop my nevilles haze or lotus untill im a pro😂
