-- And The Seed Starting Begins --

[Chris2018]

To answer some of the questions before the questions are asked here, we go. ---
I'm in zone 6 "A" my last frost day is April 30th/ ish.

Seeds planted so far (April 1st),

Tomatoes ---

• Hoy
• Mega Zac
• Marglobe
• Brandywine (Potato Leaf)
• Yellow Pear

Peppers ---

• Bull Nose

Soil is a self-mix consisting of ---

• 70% Peat
• 30% Perlite
• ThermX 15M (Yucca Meal Wetting Agent)
• Mykos (Mycorrhizal Fungi)
• 5-5-5 Organic Fertilizer
  
  • Total Nitrogen (N) 5%
  • Available Phosphate (P2O5) 5%
  • Soluble Potash (K2O) 5%
  • Calcium (Ca) 10%
  • Magnesium (Mg) 1.1%
  • Sulfur (S) 4.1%
  • Iron (Fe) 0.4%

Trays are a standard 72 cell propagation tray with a 1020 tray (no holes) under it and a vented humidity dome on top.
I'm keeping the soil temperature at 85° F minimum, and I'll be misting the soil (I'm not bottom watering).
The black wire running into the soil is the probe that goes to the thermostat for the germination mat and the probe laying in the soil goes to a thermometer to give me air temperature under the dome.
As of now the soil temperature is 89.9° F and the air temperature under the dome is 97.0° F.

 

[bhaugh]

I didn’t read worm castings in your soil mix. Depending on how long the seeds are kept in containers it could be substituted for the organic mix. What’s in the organic mix? I also add kelp to new growers and start all seeds in a grow tent. Best investment I ever made

 

[Chris2018]

I didn’t read worm castings in your soil mix. Depending on how long the seeds are kept in containers it could be substituted for the organic mix. What’s in the organic mix? I also add kelp to new growers and start all seeds in a grow tent. Best investment I ever made

I usually add worm casting, but I was just keeping it to a minimum this year and took out about 4 or 5 of the ingredients I would normally add.
If things go as planned the tomatoes will be going into 4" pots within a week and they will have a bit of a "hotter" soil mix and I'll start feeding an organic liquid fertilizer.
As for the Fertilizer I used in my soil mix, it's a product put out by Norcal Nutrients called Mr. B's Green Trees and it's the organic line.
Kelp is good, it contains a lot of beneficial nutrients including amino acids and growth hormones like Auxins and Gibberellins which is one of the reasons i been using the Norcal Nutrients.

 

[bhaugh]

Be careful of the guano. Although it has its claim to fame, to mine it - it’s toxic to workers. I’ve bought soils to test to see how they work and found it to not offer much in relation to added benefits.

Too bad they can’t make chicken feed as good as soil amendments.

 

[Chris2018]

Be careful of the guano. Although it has its claim to fame, to mine it - it’s toxic to workers. I’ve bought soils to test to see how they work and found it to not offer much in relation to added benefits.

Too bad they can’t make chicken feed as good as soil amendments.

To be honest, all dry amendments can cause a health issues, and most guanos/ manure can be toxic when in a dry forum (more so when processed incorrectly).

Bat and Seabird guanos will add your basic N-P-K but also Cal/Mag, beneficial micro-organisms and carbon and since both Bat and Seabird guano can take up to 4 months to break down completely and slowly release small amount of nutrients over that time it would be hard to use a DIY soil test kit and see results.