CactiGuide.com

My seedlings about 9 months old out of the baggies about 2 weeks now. I keep them in the greenhouse 50% shade poly.

Every 24 hours there soil get dry. I have been giving them a sip every day.

I am Not sure how to water seedlings so I am asking you all.

Thank you very much

Joe, I have not really grown a lot of cacti seedlings, but what I have found with my mix is that I get a lot of mineral build up. I need to flush the pots with clear water or even acidified water to remove the salt build up.

I am suspecting my soil mix. I added some rinsed Coir and I am not 100% sure that was the right thing to do. I'm not liking it.

Don't let them go completely dry for the first year. I don't think you need to water them every day anymore.

keith wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 2:31 pm Don't let them go completely dry for the first year. I don't think you need to water them every day anymore.

Thank you Keith. You were the guy I was going to ask because I remember seeing lots of seedlings on your account. Appreciate you Sir

jerrytheplater wrote: ↑Mon Apr 03, 2023 11:37 am Joe, I have not really grown a lot of cacti seedlings, but what I have found with my mix is that I get a lot of mineral build up. I need to flush the pots with clear water or even acidified water to remove the salt build up.

I am suspecting my soil mix. I added some rinsed Coir and I am not 100% sure that was the right thing to do. I'm not liking it.

Jerry thank you for sharing all that. I will be on the lookout.

I guess in a couple weeks you can take outside all your cacti.

JCcares wrote: ↑Tue Apr 04, 2023 1:50 amI guess in a couple weeks you can take outside all your cacti.

I have all of my cold tolerant plants outside in full sun now. Still have not watered them yet. I bring them into the unheated garage at night still. My warmth loving plants are still inside and will need to be hardened off to full sun once its warm enough. Today would have been a start. But I was working and couldn't. Maybe tomorrow.

Really better to water from below at this stage - you get moisture all the way to the bottom of the pots, encouraging deep rooting, without saturating the mix. As long as it's drawing up water from below, the mix will never get more than just damp; when you water from above, the mix gets saturated before the water moves downward, the only way to be sure water is reaching the bottom is to saturate the pot completely so water comes out the bottom. Giving a little sip to the top works only as long as the mix never gets really dry - if it does, you can get dry pockets in the bottom of the pots that don't get re-moistened.

I just use my sprayer bottle, give a few squirts at the bottom of each pot. For a lot of pots, it would be better to use capillary mats under the pots.

here is my little thread about wicking mats. viewtopic.php?t=47386
I still use it every night. I put the seedlings on a heating mat by day,and wicking mat at night.
It has been working very well.
I don't put them on there every night. probably average once every three days. I can tell by the weight of the pots how damp they are.

Small seedling like moisture more then grown-up plants. I would put a common trays under pots to keep water in soil longer. This has some setbacks too but just temporary can do. Some pots need thinning of seedlings to let them grow further.
Also to do seeding outdoors one should be well aware of the local climate. I wouldn't start if night temps fall under 10 C.