I've included a link to an excellent thread on "Water Movement and Retention." It's the place to begin if you're interested in perfecting your container soils. The 5:1:1 mix is a custom mix comprised of five parts pine bark fines, one part spaghnum peat and one part perlite. It is referenced near the bottom of the opening post in that thread. Once you read through the thread you may have more questions, but this is a great primer. FWIW, I've been growing peppers and tomatoes in the 5:1:1 for several years with excellent results. Here is a link that might be useful: Water Movement and Retention

Is this what happened to me? (I found this web site while searching for help with my fading seedlings.) I swear I'm seriously considering never trying to start plants from seed again. Last year, I moved into a new house. And although it has some nice, existing landscaping, a year or so left uninhabited (with only the lawns being mowed) left the garden a bit to be desired. Soon after we moved in, I started a flat of some flower seeds. I think I ended up "cooking" them, as hinted at above. But I wasn't too bent out of shape, at the time, because we were overwhelmed with renovations and what not, and I just couldn't devote that much time or emotion to them. But, several weeks ago, I decided to start some seeds that I really wanted in my garden (annuals I'd purchased from a nursery, last year). Being new to the whole "growing from seed" thing, I dutifully followed the instructions on the commercial flat kit. I played the role of protective mother, as best I could. My tiny little darlings popped out sooner than expected (within just a few days of planting them). Still following the directions on the kit, I proppoed open the lid once the leaves sprouted. All seemed to be doing well. On nice days (15-23C), I'd put the flat out in a partially sunny area during the day, then bring them in at night. I'd gently mist the flat if it looked like it was drying out. Then, all of a sudden, the still tiny seedlings began to fade. One by one their stems would weaken, and I'd find them toppled over. Right now, after having had a full tray of what I thought were healthy seedlings, I'm left with maybe 10% still looking viable. But I'm fully expecting them to die off, too. It's really frustrating because I'd hoped to eventually build a small greenhouse and start all my plants myself. But with two spectacular failures, and seeing how much of my time goes into tending to the seedlings (even if they had survived), just paying the extra $1 for well-started plants from a nursery seems like a good deal to me now. Anyone else having this much trouble getting even one plant to grow from seed?????

You would probably have better results sowing in pots - pots deep enough to leave the seedlings intact in their seed pot until they die back their first fall, then take out the small corms, store to plant in Spring in a Z6 Sow covered by 1/4" @70-75F for germination in 20 - 40 days

Hi bigbob7777 and welcome! This is my second year Winter Sowing...last year everyone on the forum was so helpful about answering all my many questions, so here's the stuff I leaned about last year: Soil: Last year I just used regular MiracleGro potting soil and it worked very well. I also used some fancy organic soil with worm "castings" in it and that worked amazingly well, but the soil was kind of expensive. I also tried seed starting mix last year in some of my milk jugs, but I discovered that it didn't work as well as the regular potting soil. I haven't tried Fafards or Pro-Mix yet but a lot of people say those work really well too. Containers: The containers that worked best for me last year were milk jugs. But other people seem to have great success with the 2-liter bottles and other types of containers. Not sure about sowing in the drinking cups because I didn't use them last year but there's a whole thread on the WS'ing forum about sowing in drinking cups (see link below). Sun: Some people recommended putting containers on the east side of the house so they get morning sun and some protection from the hot afternoon sun. I don't have an east side area available for jugs, so last year I kept mine on the south side of the house in a spot where they had some afternoon shade thanks to our garden shed. Planting out: Last year I planted my seedlings out in the garden once they got their set of true leaves. The true leaves are the bigger set of leaves that come out after the first smaller seed leaves appear (the smaller seed leaves are also known as the cotyledons). Watering: We had a lot of snow here all the way into March, so I didn't start watering my milk jugs until the late spring since the melting snow piled on top of the milk jugs took care of any watering until then. Not sure how long the spring rains last there in NC or how early it heats up in the spring, but probably a little earlier than us here in PA. After the snow melted and the spring rains passed, I would water the milk jugs if the milk jug felt really light when I picked it up, and/or if it hadn't rained at all in a particular week. Watering from the bottom: During the time when I still had the milk jugs closed with duct tape, I watered them from the bottom. I just stuck those in a plastic bin with an inch or two of water in it, and the soil in the milk jug would suck up the water from the plastic bin through the drainage holes in the bottom of the jug. Watering with a hose spray nozzle: Once it got really warm out and I had taken off the duct tape on the milk jugs, I watered them with a very gentle light spray from the spray nozzle on the garden hose. But if the original seed package said "water from bottom" on it, I still watered those jugs from the bottom. I wrote "water from bottom" on the milk jug on those so I would remember which ones they were. Generally I would water from the bottom if the seed was really really tiny, and it was sowed just on the surface of the soil. Good luck & have fun! Here is a link that might be useful: Wintersowing in drinking cups thread