Used wrong soil for seeds they still sprouted is is too late to change??

despite going with the intent of getting something specific for seedlings the guy at Home Depot told me all I need is this Vigoro 3 in 1 garden mix (peat moss compost black humus). The seedlings sprouted pretty quickly enough but I’m worried about this soil. If I was very careful could I delicately transplant these seedlings into a different medium or should I just leave them now? The soil is not great quality and doesn’t have everything it seems I should have. Seems to have fair bit of wood chips and just doesn’t seem or look right. Maybe they’ll be fine anyway but for peace of mind I’d rather change to a proper soil than keep going with this, but also don’t want them to die. Soooo dumb any advice would really appreciate it.

That is going to have a lot of time release nutrients. I'd see how they handle it before panicking too much. I'd have added some perlite for drainage and to avoid compaction. I wouldn't feed then at all till they respond.

good advice. chances are if they managed to sprout n the first place and not just die in the shell from it, you may just get away with it. good luck

Still water them properly, just no nutes or ferts.

Ok thanks for the advice. I’ve been trying to keep the top moist but conscious of over watering. Using a spray bottle and just carefully wetting around it. Does this sound ok?

Just not too often. That mix will hold a lot of moisture as well. The top can be deceivingly dry.

So I took a clean unused plastic utensil and burrowed in well away from the seedling just to check soil and below and inch or two is pretty dry. Ahhhh hate that I used this soil, I knew better...

Guess I just have to wait and see, fighting the urge not to very carefully try to extract the seedling and put in better soil! Lol

And sorry one last follow up - once a seedling emerges is it normal to stall at that point? These popped through Saturday and they look unchanged at best. Been very careful not to mess with them but I don’t know..

You're the grower brother. If you think they need re potted, do it. Just handle it like a
Faberge egg. Worst case scenario, you learn about starting and transplanting. I'm hoping they were bag seed and not expensive genetics.

Lol they were expensive genetics, of course! Spend tons of money on seeds but don’t get the right soil. Honestly wasn’t being cheap I just listened to someone I should not have, despite knowing better. Probably will leave for a day or two but I’ll keep you posted! Thanks for the advice man.

CannaGrowerNewb said:

And sorry one last follow up - once a seedling emerges is it normal to stall at that point? These popped through Saturday and they look unchanged at best. Been very careful not to mess with them but I don’t know..

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Have the opened up at all? They won't change much other than stretching at this point if the light is weak...they are working on root development.

I would not pull those seedlings out...you can let it dry out then carefully transplant the whole thing in your preferred soil and just wait it out

Ok yea I think I just need to be patient here, just went ahead with using that soil against my better judgment and kind of panicking as a result. They’ve all opened up there just kind of drooping a bit but I guess that’s to be expected given how new they are and all that. First time trying from seeds got clones last year.

CannaGrowerNewb said:

despite going with the intent of getting something specific for seedlings the guy at Home Depot told me all I need is this Vigoro 3 in 1 garden mix (peat moss compost black humus). The seedlings sprouted pretty quickly enough but I’m worried about this soil. If I was very careful could I delicately transplant these seedlings into a different medium or should I just leave them now? The soil is not great quality and doesn’t have everything it seems I should have. Seems to have fair bit of wood chips and just doesn’t seem or look right. Maybe they’ll be fine anyway but for peace of mind I’d rather change to a proper soil than keep going with this, but also don’t want them to die. Soooo dumb any advice would really appreciate it.

Click to expand...

The only thing worse than listening to the guy at the Hydro store is listening to the guy at Home Depot.

I wouldn't screw with the seedlings at this point. They will most likely be fine. It might not be ideal but digging up those seedlings would probably do more harm than good at this point.

Good luck.

Just want to update - after deliberating for a few days I decided to transplant them into the proper soil. 7/8 did awesome the 8th was dead by the time I made the decision. I popped another blueberry and it gave me twins lol separated those. One looking ok the other maybe.

Anyway the point of this post is to let people know you CAN do this - I gently pushed away soil from around the stem and slowly shook the small pot until the tiny seedlings were free. I then used tweezers or some with my finger tips and pulled them out with as much medium as possible and transplanted them into the new soil the same way I did after I originally germinated the seeds using paper towels. One (maybe the one doing the best) I may have even broke the taproot when I did this. Anyway results are pretty good I think. So if you make the same mistake I did fear not - you can course correct.

One other thing to note -I have kept the seedlings in a humidity dome pretty much the entire time. I took it off for a day and they wilted. Back on and they came right back. I live in Canada and humidity is very low in my place so I leave the dome on slightly ajar. I watch the humidity and temperature and adjust the dome as needed (more / less air flow). I also turn a space heater on / off. Highly recommended buying a humidity reader. Working from home it’s been easy to monitor. May not be possible otherwise but just FYI...

Thanks again for everyone’s advice definitely helped me out!

Glad to see they've pulled through. keep us posted.