cbart - It's my first year doing this also. I made my own mix with sphagnum peat moss and vermicompost and it seems to be going pretty good. Here is a picture of some of my plants after the 1st transplant. I'll use the same mix when I transplant again into plastic cups. Good Luck!

Here is a link that might be useful:

I use the cheapest potting mix I could find and then just use liquid fertilizer to make up the growth difference.

Several discussions on this question here - one of them just a couple below your post ;) with some brand suggestions in it so you might want to read through it too.

Commonly recommended growing mixes are Miracle Grow, Sta Green, Expert Gardener, ProMix, etc. It all depends on what brands may be available in your area. But it should be a soil-less mix, not potting soil.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Potting mix discussions

I've always used Miracle Grow and can't say that I have one single complaint.
It's always done me well.

Good Luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Potting Soil/Tomatoes

I've done tomatoes from seed a few times over the years. I tend to try to use local (the most local being my property) resources. Somewhat successful but far from optimal. Luckily in zone 8a I can plant seeds directly in the ground early April and get a load of 'maters but it doesn't replace being able to start from seed early. Spring in February :)

This year I actually bought some ingredients :( for starting my seeds, peat and vermiculite. For about 2 gallons of mix I used 1 part peat, 1 part vermiculite and 2 parts homegrown worm castings. To that I added tight fists of green sand (3 fists), bone meal (2 fists) and blood meal (1 fist).

I planted 1 tray(24) of Better Boys and 1 tray(24) of Marions.

Germination started on the 7Th day. At 3 weeks, I fertilized each plant with a big pinch of the same part fert mix above. Today is week 5 and the best plants are about 6 inches. Constant temperatures are not optimal as the plants are outside except very cold nights. I had no germination on 4 Better Boys and 2 Marions. I lost 1 Marion (droop) at about an inch tall. The Marions are an inch shorter.

So with this mix I got 41/48 or 87% to transplant height.

Question (to myself at least): How will I effectively replace the peat and vermiculite with a local resource and get at least a 70% rate?

For the past few years i've used a home made potting mix and gotten excellent results. 1/3 peat or commercial mix or sifted leaf mold, 1/3 home made sifted compost, and 1/3 worm castings.

I notice that regular garden soil is said to be too heavy to use for starting plants.

I remember my grandpa starting plants in our sun room in pots of soil out of the garden. That was 60 years ago.
They always germinated and grew just fine. Maybe we are a bit spoiled these days?? I don't recall him using any fertilizer other than 5-10-10 either.

Just good old dirt, sunshine and water works fine.

I notice that regular garden soil is said to be too heavy to use for starting plants.

That issue - poor drainage and subsequent poor root development - is only part of the problem. Garden dirt also drastically reduces germination percentages while increases the odds of seedling damp-off as well as contaminating the seedlings with any bacterial or fungal diseases that may already be in the soil.

Sure it may have worked for Grandpa. Worked for many of us back then because it had to. We had very few alternatives. But do you recall how many seedlings he lost in the process? I do and I sure wouldn't go back to that method now that I have had experience with using soil-less mixes for germination.

Plus there is always the issue that everyone doesn't have the same garden dirt. Grandpa's may have been fine but not everyone's is so for us to advise "use garden dirt" without knowing the condition of that dirt would just be too risky.

Soil-less potting mixes are standardized so that all of us can at least relate to any problems the grower may be having while preventing most of the common problems, especially for those new to the process.

To each his own of course.

Dave

I'm using MG Moisture Control potting mix right now actually for doing that exact thing. =) Potting up from mostly pellets to 16 oz plastic cups. FYI...

Composition of MG Moisture Control Mix:

Sphagnum peat moss, forest products compost, coir pith fiber, perlite, a wetting agent and fertilizer

love the heck out of it...used it for all the permanent homes of my plants last year and had great results.

Som good points Dave. I remember many smaller nursuries of old that had large sterilization furnaces (that stunk up the neighborhood) and sifting units to include more organic residue in their mixes. These are things that almost all of the larger outfits of today just don't have the time or resources to mess with. Todays commercial mixes are really a minor cost when you factor in heat, labor and disease prevention.

I don't even bother to purchase different mixes for germination and potting-up. I get good results with Promix BX with biofungicide for everything I seed or pot. I have friends who prefer Fafard mixes for flowers, etc. but the differences are more subjective. I would encourage everyone to try all mixes that are available to see what they prefer. If you plant in homemade containers with a few pencil holes in the bottom you might want a fairly porous mix to get better drainage.

Steve's Garden

This is my first year starting from seed, and I used MG Organic Potting Mix when I potted up. There have been mixed reviews in this forum on its success, but I have had very good success with it. It retains moisture really well, and perhaps too well. I watered the seedlings when I potted up and didn't have to water again for almost two weeks. Meanwhile, the plants are growing like wildfire.

Again, not everyone has had the same success, and I am contemplating ProMix for my next batch (if I can find it). All of my plants will be in containers with a homemade soil-less mix for their final home.