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Square Foot Gardening

Your seed starting mix?

14 years ago

I had a few tabs open of posts about this for daaays, then my laptop came unplugged, and I lost them. Ugh.

I have my pots and trays bleached, and MG seed starting mix, but I thought I'd seen a few of you mixing other things into the mix itself... Can you tell me what you mix up for your seed babies, please? TIA!

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Comments (11)

jengc
14 years ago
I went to Walmart and bought a big bag of Jiffy Seed Starting Mix for $4. I have heard that you can start seeds in Peat Moss but I wasn't 100% sure. I trusted Jiffy so I thought $4 was pretty good to start all my seeds with (hoping that will last for ALL my seeds I am starting).
engineeredgarden
14 years ago
I only use the storebought seed starting mixes, mainly because of it being sterile.

EG
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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!
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I'm sorry jtcm but it wasn't my intent to offer that link as some sort of definitive authority, just a source of additional info on the question. There are multiple other sources available online that you can Google if interested. I just thought you were looking for general info. While we're at it...let's re-use our trays without cleaning them and keep the seedlings covered until the true leaves emerge. I don't see how that follows. There is a great deal of difference between adding small amounts of well-cooked compost to a mix and intentionally using dirty trays/containers or keeping seedlings covered. As I said above, I'm far from the only person who uses compost in their seed starting mix. A search here will pull up many discussions about it. And if you believe your seed starting mix is actually "sterile", in the usual sense of the word, then you are misled. Most all packaged seed starting mixes, including ProMix and Metro Mix not to mention all the Scotts products add composted ingredients in various forms to their mix. All the organic seed germination mixes on the market include compost in some form. ProMix even advertises the addition of mycorrhizal fungi to their mix as one of their selling points. And then those bags get transported all packed together inside a hot truck to the Home Depot or Lowe's or Walmart outside store yard to lay around in the sun and the rain until someone buys them. Meanwhile the composting process started in the factory by mixing those ingredients goes on in the bag. Feel free to do some additional research on the issue yourself if interested or, if you prefer, just don't use it. The seeds will germinate either way. ;) Dave
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eaglesgarden
14 years ago
I've used: Jiffy, Natural Beginnings (coir based), and even a mix of peat, perlite, and bagged top soil. I also used the peat pellets. I don't like the pellets, because the little root hairs get through the plastic mesh, and break off. Also, unlike they claim the plants I grew in them before were root bound. So, I had to rip the plastic case off the outside, and that meant more roots being broken off! :-(
bsntech
14 years ago
Well darn, that ruined my research.

I was given some of those peat pellets for my birthday a few weeks back - and figured I would give them a try. Today I just did a few lookups online about reviews for the peat pellets - and I just looked on Amazon before getting sidetracked. All of the reviews there said that the peat pellets worked great.

Kinda wondered about them getting root-bound or if they could make it through that very fine mesh.

Now I question if I should use them.. or not.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog
ribbit32004
14 years ago
I've used them before, but have chosen not to this year. The first time I used them I knew the roots wouldn't go through the mesh so I took off the mesh, but even then at the end of the season when I ripped the plants out you could tell the ones originally in the pellets didn't go far beyond that root wise.

The second time I used them I took off the mesh and then crumbled the peat pellet exposing more roots to the soil. Those worked better.
keski
14 years ago
Those plug type things do seem to limit root growth. When I purchase plants at the greenhouse, I can pull them up in the fall and the plug is still visible and the roots have not grown well. I prefer buying plants in a 9/4x8 peat pot where you cut them apart. They seem to do better. I may try making some pots for seed starting out of newspaper. This year I am going to start my own tomatoes, etc. in the hope they will have good root systems not rootbound by the pot. Right now I have started some alpine strawberries in jiffy mix. They are doing well - in fact - I think all those tiny seeds sprouted and I ended up with extras I plan to give away.
eaglesgarden
14 years ago
bsntech,

Sorry. I am just giving my experience with them. I did get better results on the ones that I removed the mesh (very carefully!).

This year I'm using peat pots and Natural Beginnings mix. When time to plant comes, I plan on cutting up the peat pot and throwing it in the hole.
luke3026
14 years ago
I used those Jiffy-7 peat pellets last year (my first year gardening) with good results. I used them to get the plants started, then when it looked like the roots were getting close to hitting the mesh, I removed the mesh and placed the pellets in plastic cups filled with soil/seed start mix/whatever I had on hand. I found the pellets convenient since the trays were easy to water, had the dome lid for germination, and they're super cheap. I'll probably use the same system this year.
mean_74
14 years ago
I have had very good luck with regular potting soil, but I usually use vermiculite. IF I am out of vermiculite, then I'll use potting soil. I guess it depends what I have.

I had horrible luck with those peat pellets. Many things don't grow through the mesh and once peat dries out it seems to be hard to keep moist.

Also, I have tried using old egg cartons with horrible luck. Use the little black plastic trays. They work much better.
bsntech
14 years ago
I guess I'm a little more old-fashioned.

Last year - and again this year - I just get some soil out of my garden beds and filter it through a wire mesh with about 1/8" screening. Then I use the soil and use it to plant.

I did this with the Copra Onions I just planted last week.

For the peat pellets - I think they will probably go back to the store because of the problems with them.

Here is a link that might be useful: BsnTech Gardening Blog
momma_s
Original Author
14 years ago
I used the peat pellets last year for beans, and had very stunted root-bound plants because of them...

I ended up using the MG seed starting mix last week for my seeds, and mixed in some "Bumper Crop" soil amendment since I had a fresh bag. I also thoroughly soaked the mix (but drained excess water) before potting. So far, so good! Since potting on 2/10, my Italian Cameo Basil, gazanias, and Pearson Tomatoes have sprouted--fast lil buggers...

Still waiting on: Nasturtium, Viva Italia Tomato, Baby Belle Pepper, White Habanero Pepper...

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardening With Care

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