About the only real reason almost any starting mix would not be okay is if the manufacturer put synthetic fertilizer in it. Most all of the soil less mixes you can find will be peat moss and either perlite or vermiculite with maybe a few made from coir. I have always had as good success with the cheapest soil less mix as I have had with the most expensive, so mostly I get the least expensive I can.

Whatever you use is only temporary anyway. It simply is a place for the seed to germinate and develop a root system while requiring a minimum of nutrients. I have used regular Jiffy Mix in the past but never the Pro-Mix. Several years ago, I bought a commercial size bag of vermiculite. Since you are going to be in the greenhouse business, shop around for that. It's a bag almost 3' tall and mainly only for commercial growers. I mix about 10% ordinary garden soil with it for starting seeds. If I had a big bag of milled peat handy, I'd mix 50/50 with vermiculite and then add 10% garden soil to that.

Martin

Thanks for the replies, they ease my concerns. I wasn't sure if chemicals were added to the mixes. I know there shouldn't be any reason to.

Zone 3 is a real challange, with any eye on the $$

Odds are a break even situ would be a pit GH

I called burpee, they have synthetic fertilizer in theirs. This is carefully not mentioned in their catalog. They call it nutrients!

I called gardens alive which they claim to be an organic company. I asked what was in theirs. One of the ingredients was perlite. I asked was exactly what that was. (I already knew). She said puffed up volcanic rock. I said a lot of the companies are sticking Styrofoam in their mixes. She said yes that is what it is. Far from organic!! You have to keep asking until they stop lying.

I would venture to say most seed starting mixes have added synthetic fertilizer. The catalogs are all very vague about the contents of their mixes. I guess they can't be sued saying a mix containing peat and nutrients. Hmm, that is wide open. I don't consider petro chemical waste a nutrient. It is a bomb ingredient at best.

I don't consider petro chemical waste a nutrient.

You may not consider it a nutrient, but the plants do. The source of the nutrient - organic or synthetic/chemical - is all the same to the plant, as long as it is presented in a form plants can access. There are certain philosophical and soil biology aspects that lead many of us to prefer organic over synthetic, but the plants don't care a bit how the nutrient gets there just as long as it's there.

Either it's Perlite OR it's styrofoam, they are not the same thing. I think it's more likely that person you talked to didn't know what she was talking about, or that there was a miscommunication.

Kristin

If you want to know what is in your mix the only way I can suggest is to mix your own. Standard mix would be peat moss and perlite sometime with vermiculite. The ratio can vary from 5 part peat to 1 part perlite to just the opposite for 5 part perlite to 1 part peat moss. The big range is dependant on what all you are germinating. Most veggies should do fine at 70 percent peat moss 30 percent perlite. Neither product will have any additive to it. You supply any needed nutrient based on need and plant preferences. Coconut coir is gaining in popularity as a seed starting mix also but may be expensive or hard to find unless you are near Helena or Billings.
Here in Texas over the last year or two I haven't found any potting mix (pre-mixed) that did not have added (nutrients) aka slow release n-p-k, aka osmocote or some variation of it.
One more thought is to the sizes of containers you are starting seed and type of seed. Some use flats and prick plants out as they pop up, others use anywhere from 512 cell flats all the way to 4 inch pots. The smaller the cell size the finer the grade of peat and perlite you use. The ratio of peat to perlite would also be highest 5 to 1 peat to perlite for smallest container. The biggest pots and or slowest germinating seed would be just the opposite at 5 to 1 perlite to peat. I am trying to give you the dynamics involved and not specifics because I am not sure what all you plan to grow. I hope this helps you in your venture
Good Luck and Happy Growing David

I think plants might gow in synthetic chemical bassed soils, but that does not mean that is best fo rth eplant or the person eating it.

Animals when given the choice will choose organic food over synthitic raised crops.

but we all have to choose what to eat. It is a personal choice. I choose natural over fake food anyday.

Animals when given the choice will choose organic food over synthitic raised crops.

Really? Where did you read about this? I hadn't heard this before.

I have to apologize for the last post.

first I am a horrible typer

second and more importantly, I usually try to avoid getting into the argument over organic verses chemical. So lets just forget I mentioned it.

I am chemically sensitive, and and so allergic to chemicals in our world that I have to stay home to avoid terrible reactions. So you can see that I might be angry at the chemical companies and the nuts that sprinkle toxic chemicals all over their yards and don't bother to sweep it up off the sidewalk. I am allergic to all shoes, so I walk in the neighborhood barefoot. I surely don't appreciate having to walk in the street to avoid those toxic little yellow sprinkles on the sidewalks. Neighbors on both sides of me, heavily poison their yards. How in heck am I ever to get better if they poison me all summer?

anyway, I have issues, that is why I get set off when the topic of poison comes up.

no problem. forgotten. ;-)

gardensalive seed starter mix.

I e-mailed them, because as one posted said, it might have been a mis communication or something. She said it was Styrofoam only after she looked up a picture of it. I guess she could have thought it looked like Styrofoam.

This is the response I got from gardens alive

"Thank you for your recent correspondence concerning our seed starting mix. We put perlite in our mix, not Styrofoam. You will notice that the perlite will not float like the Styrofoam will.

I wanted to make sure I set the record straight!

I think I will try it.

it contains
perlite
choir
worm casting
mealworm guano

sounds good to me.