I save a lot of money by mixing my own seed starting mix. Not only is the pre-packaged stuff hard to find this year, like last, when you do find it, it's expensive. This is what I use and get great results from it.
I mix this in a wheelbarrow and it can be scaled down.
11 pounds of Coconut Coir in compressed brick form. (amazon and I have found it at Homedepot and Menards)
9-ish gallons of water (you may need a little more or a little less)
1 T of plant based dish soap - like Eco or Dawn plant based (optional)
4 cups of Vermiculite
4 cups of Perlite
(I know both Perlite and Vermiculite are hard to find this year. You can do away with one, but not both)
If you want to, you can add 2-3 cups of worm castings.
Mix the soap into the water, you aren't looking to make it foamy.
I place the coir in the wheel barrow and add about half the water and let the coir start to expand. As it does, you can start to break the bricks apart and add a little more water. It's better to add too little and need to add more, than to end up with a Scottish peat bog in your barrow. Let it sit a bit and come back to it and see if you need to add more water.
Place your Vermiculite and/or Perlite and Worm Castings (optional) on the top and use whatever method you like to get it all mixed together.
So what's up with the SOAP?! That tiny bit of soap in all of that helps break down the surface tension of the water you add to the 'soil'. So when you water later, you don't get as much floating bits of coir in your starter cells, supposedly. I really can't see the difference, but it doesn't seem to hurt either.
Coconut Coir has NO nutritional value whatsoever. So as soon as you see those first sets of TRUE leaves on your seedlings, you will want to start fertilizing your starts with half strength liquid fertilizer. The worm castings have a little value, but don't let those seedlings starve! You should continue your half strength feedings once a week until you get the seedlings into the ground and then go full strength at the manufacturer's recommendations. I've personally had better luck with Schultz over MiracleGrow. For that I have NO idea why. MG always seems to burn out my plants. You're results may very.
Regardless, I steer clear of the pre-fertilized all season soils at the stores. You have NO control over what your plants need if you get too much or too little rain, or have a season of wacky soil conditions. You'll constantly be trying to figure out what your plants need and what's wrong with them.
Good luck with your gardening this year!
Wow, thanks for that, I will give it a try!!
ReplyDeleteMy seed starting is thus far on a much smaller scale, but I've had great luck in recent years using two parts recycled spent potting soil, one part new organic potting soil, one part coir, one part vermiculite, and when additional drainage is needed, one part washed sand or perlite.
ReplyDeleteI like being able to reuse all the old soil, and since I only purchase organic potting soil, and grow organically, I know I'm not perpetuating any bad stuff in the soil.
On the rare occassions when I've lost a plant to a fungal disease, or to unknown causes, I treat briefly with neem oil.
This saves a boatload of money come planting season, and let's the old soil give new life to new plants.