For vegetable seed starting: What I gather from reading here is that I can make my own seed starting mix from a combination of peat moss and vermiculite or perlite. Had you written "peat moss and vermiculite AND perlite" I would say yes, but you wrote vermiculite OR perlite and the two are as far from being interchangable as you can get. Perlite is pebble like and mainly aids aeration. Vermiculite collapses when wet and aids mainly in water retention. A mix of peat and perlite would work fine. Peat and vermiculite without perlite might be too water retentive and not capable of holding enough oxygen for the roots. You would likely find the top of the mix getting dry and crusty while below the mix is waterlogged. People have different experiences, but if you want a well draining starting mix you can't use anything that is of a fine particle size, you need more coarse stuff (think particles 1/2 the size of a BB. This is all the seeds will need to get to the true leaf seedling stage. But if I plan to keep the seedlings in cells for 6 weeks or so, won't they need added nutrients? Yes, in fact if you want optimal growth from the seedlings they need nutrients well before 6 weeks. If so, is compost made last summer good for this? In what approximate proportion to the mix? Compost isn't a great choice for this. Compost isn't a nutrient, rather there are nutrients in compost. The compost has to be acted upon by bacteria to liberate nutrients from the compost This takes time. Compost from outside may also harbor organisms that kill seedlings (damping off). For starting seeds a soil-less mix is preferred when growing indoors. Compost can be considered a 'soil' in this context. If not, what is a good general source of nutrients? Any liquid fertilizer labeled for container use. These can be found organic and synthetic and are formulated to have nutrients available to the plants quickly rather than having to wait weeks or months for the bacteria and other organisms to make those nutrients available. I don't want to use Miracle Gro type mixes, and would rather not buy an organic mix if I can make my own. Miracle Grow type mixes are primarily peat, vermiculite and perlite, the same thing you are thinking of making yourself. One difference is that commercial peat based mixes have lime added to them to balance the pH. If you make it yourself you need to lime it yourself or you may find the plants having a hard time using any nutrients you provide. Peat has a pH around 4-4.5 (it varies) which is too low for much other than blueberries. If you are only going to grow a few flats worth of seedlings just buy a bag of seed starting mix is my advice. If you are going to grow on a larger scale it starts to make sense to make your own after purchasing individual ingredients in bulk. The container gardening forum has a wealth of info on potting mixes and the various ingredients they could be comprised of along...

Al, Since you have been kind enough to answer, and it sounds like you have made your own and used it with success: May I add to my question (from your experiences)? 1. I have heard that peat is low in pH, and I have noticed some manufactures add lime. Is this not necessary? You have graciously offered your recipe, so I apologize for being redundant. I was wondering if you have any knowledge on that subject, just for a deeper understanding. 2. The peat I have purchased in the store is not nearly as fine as manufacturer's soiless mix purchased at the store. Do you shred it further? How? Or is that not really necessary either? 3. Do you sterilize the indgredients? I am not sure if it matters, but I want seed starter for a wide range of vegatables and some flowers to be transplanted in the garden. I (like many others) don't want to go to through the work of killing my seedlings, wasting seeds, and then buying transplants because I was to dumb to ask. : ) Thanks!

i take it you do this because it is more cost effective? ~ a bale of peatmoss & a huge bag (which i have)of perlite is a better buy than a large, compressed bag of potting mix? ~ i can never *think* that through, cuz it's like comparing apples & oranges ~ sortof ~ for instance, i bought a *compressed* bale of pro-mix bx for $27 at a feed store ~ i dunno ~ is that a good deal? how the heck do i compare a *compressed* bale to a non-compressed bale? ~ and, boy o boy, it is really compressed ~ i almost have to cut out a chunk with a butcher knife! thanks for any insight ~ phyl

The consensus among the many experienced gardeners at GardenWeb is that ordinary 40-watt fluorescent bulbs, in standard "shoplight" type fixtures (inexpensive and widely available at home-improvement and general retail stores) are adequate for the home gardener starting seeds indoors. Lights marketed as "growlights" or "plantlights" ,etc.,produce more red and blue light than regular fluorescents,but are often very expensive,sometimes downright exorbitant. Many gardeners recommend using one "warm"(usually sold as "kitchen and bath" or "soft" lights,and having more of the red and/or blue wavelengths) and one "cool"(regular) bulb in each fixture to provide a "fuller spectrum" of light. An explanation of how plants use light may be useful here. Light,whether from the sun or artificial sources,consists of varying wavelengths of radiant energy. In their normal state our eyes perceive these wavelengths together as "white light". Everyone is familiar with the spectrum of colors made visible when white light is refracted by water droplets to produce a rainbow. Plants mainly use the red and blue wavelengths of light. Red is utilized in photosynthesis(how the plant produces it's food), blue influences the hormone systems that control growth. It would seem that extra red and blue wavelengths in a light source would be beneficial, but in practice,at least in growing seedlings, intensity of light seems to be more important than spectrum. The much-higher cost of special "growlights" does not necessarily produce better seedlings! The combination of a warm and cool bulb makes sense,but if cost is a factor(warm bulbs cost up to 3 times as much as regular tubes), standard fluorescents will work just fine.