carygardener,

Tell us more about the 10-50-10. Pro green houses probably wouldn't use that. The form that the nitrogen is in is important. Nitrate nitrogen is readily usable by the plants, while ammonium nitrogen is less so and urea is unusable in a sterile growing medium. Urea can even build up to harmful levels in a sterile growing medium.

Also, 10-50-10 is way too high in phosphorous for seedlings. Trace elements are important, too.

And, after 4 to 5 weeks, the calcium in your growing medium may be depleted. I use a separate feeding of diluted calcium nitrate.

You also might want to supply an occasional feeding of dilute magnesium sulfate. What are the listed ingredients of your 10-50-10?

MM

carygardner - I am over by Smithfield in Johnston County and my geraniums have been outside for several weeks now - I think mine are still to small to plant out - I want to coddle them a little longer and have that option to move into the garage if we get a really cold spell. I have been (well once so far) fertilizing with weak fish emulsion. I was quite pleased with my germination rate - I got the entire orbit collection from Park Seed company and ALL 80 seeds germinated. I germinated them inside in the Park seed dome and then moved them outside immediately and then potted them up into styrofoam cups as soon as they got their first true leaves....

Lynne

Thanks for the responses. The 10-50-10 I was using was the super bloom booster type with micro-nutrients. I have now started a liquid feed suitable for house plants.

Earlier, I experimented with a couple of plants and fed them a few granules of my lawn fertilizer (Scotts 29-3-4 with 2% iron). Those plants showed remarkable improvement in just 2-3 days. Their leaves look much healthier. I guess it more so because the other seedlings didn't get enough nitrogen. I am aware of the fact that too much nitrogen will make the plants spindly.