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Soil for Winter Sowing

15 years ago

In my experience, I found that any potting soil worked fine, as long as I mixed it 50/50 with Perlite. This adds porosity which prevents the soil particles from becoming packed around the seeds. Wintersown seeds or seedlings don't need fertilizer until they have been transplanted into the garden, and have become established.

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Comments (3)

northerner_on
15 years ago
Anniemae: Although adding perlite to any garden soil works fine, I find I don't have time to do it. I have planted over 100 containers for each of the past two years, so I buy the sterile planting medium, which already has perlite or some other such thing added to promote good drainage. I have on occasion bought bags with fertilizer added, so there's no need to fertilize until planting out time. For me it's just a matter of how much time and space I have to devote to winter sowing. You have taken the time to find something that works well for you and produces healthy seedlings. Thanks for sharing.
bakemom_gw
15 years ago
I use Miracle Gro. Had one funky bag, otherwise all is well.
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what is your fav. soil for winter sowing?
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Pro-mix for me too. I like that I can get the big bales, all year round, at a greenhouse supply place locally. In winter I just bring them in and thaw them. I think I pay about 20 bucks a bale and I go through 3-4 a season. Not all for WSing, but also to fill pots and barrels and transplant houseplants,etc. No weeds ever, perfect drainage, light and fluffy. I mix it up with water and THEN fill my containers. Find that after a good mix and a short "sit" in my big plastic tub, it is a perfect consistancy.
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This is how I do my winter sowing
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Are you talking to me or the OP? I don't own an ice pick and don't think it would be thick enough and very tedious to heat up plus if it's too small diameter, many more holes. Might be fine for vents though. Smaller holes, less fumes maybe. I like my woodburning tool, has just the right tip. Anyway, I found out yesterday some containers had iced on the bottom, moved them. So I will need to start burning a few holes low in the sides so they can drain if prolonged. Hadn't thought of that, been thawing in the daytime and freezing up again at night. Once all the snow is melted off and sidewalk clear, shouldn't be a problem unless it snows or ices again. Drain better on the sidewalk but have some still in snow. So thanks to whomever put me onto that. Whatever works for individual people is the way to go.
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Can I use normal garden soil
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Comments (1)
It will turn into a brick when placed in pots.... not recommended.....
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Soil for winter sowing
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Comments (17)
missy, I don't think I'd go to the expense or the trouble of something like the 'gritty mix' highlighted at the container forum for winter sowing. Just get a good quality potting medium/mix, you aren't going to be growing long term in it. You do want a light mix that will provide good aeration without compacting while still retaining some moisture. If I'm not familiar with the brands and am at a box store, hopefully there is a broken bag and I can do a handful, squeeze test. Peat or ground bark based are fine....I'd only ditto the 'avoid Hyponex'. I can't get ProMix here, but a local garden supply mixes up the 'Cornell recipe' and bags it for us. I use it a lot. Gardner and Bloome is another local potting medium that's nice. I think the Miracle Grow is available everywhere and while I don't care for it for evergreens/long term container planting, it's been fine when I've winter sown with it too.
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stage_rat
15 years ago
Whatever it takes to have fluffy "soil," that's the key. I bought a bag of Hyponex my first year wintersowing, and adding perlite didn't seem to help. I think I should have let the soil dry out and added peat moss instead. I still got sprouts in that brick of soil, but they stayed tiny until I eventually planted out.

I saved my containers from my first year (quite a lot of people don't save containers) so I used that extra time for mixing up my own wintersowing mix. It's the cheapest way I can have lots of nice fluffy mix, since I buy perlite and peat in bulk. I also add garden soil, compost, and aged horse manure. My seedlings sit in the container for months, sometimes, so I want there to be 4-5 inches of mix, and some nutrients in there.

For any newbie deciding on what to do for their wintersowing "soil" mix, our seed-starting mix doesn't need to be sterile, although many times the product we buy is. Fluffy is the key word!

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