best soil for tomato seedlings?

[Ricky Shaw]

Originally Posted by Keen101

I went with this stuff, recommended by my local greenhouse. http://www.fertilomesoils.com/ultimate-potting-mix/

It's basically peat moss and perlite. It's super light and fluffy. Definitely not a "soil".

That product has a pretty stiff charge of fertilizer, EC 1.5-2.5, more on the order of what you'd see for mature plants. Proceed accordingly.

[Ozark]

Following Dr. Carolyn's method, I've always started my seeds in Jiffy Mix then transplanted them up into 3" square pots, 18 pots to the flat, in MiracleGro Potting Mix. Yes, there are some sticks in the MiracleGro Mix but I just remove those if they're in the way.

About 5 years ago I added a refinement to my method - I started mixing 1 part of my garden soil into 3 parts of MiracleGro Mix when I fill the 3" pots. Seedlings raised in this mixture are much stockier and healthier-looking at transplant time than those raised in MiracleGro alone. I attribute that to trace minerals in my compost-rich garden soil that must be absent in the MiracleGro Mix.

This year I've added a further refinement to my seed-starting method, and I'm real happy with it so far. I'm germinating my pepper and tomato seeds in damp, folded-up paper towels, then moving the already-sprouted seeds into my starter cells of Jiffy Mix. That's working out real, real well - no more oversowing extra seeds in the cells then having to thin and transplant multiple seedlings that come up. No more cells in which no seeds come up, either - just exactly one seedling per cell, start to finish!

I moved my already-germinated pepper seeds into starter cells of Jiffy Mix this morning, only six days after sowing seeds - and as you know, with peppers that's pretty remarkable. I'll do the same with tomatoes in a week.

[Dutch]

Hi Ozark,
My guess would be that "your compost-rich garden soil" is adding much more than trace minerals. It's probably teeming with life.
Dutch

[Ozark]

Originally Posted by Dutch

Hi Ozark,
My guess would be that "your compost-rich garden soil" is adding much more than trace minerals. It's probably teeming with life. Dutch

Teeming for sure, up to and including earthworms - which I try to sort out and return to the garden so they won't have to spend weeks confined in 3" seedling pots. You're right - seedlings come out much stockier and stronger when I add some good garden soil to commercial Potting Mix, and the benefit probably comes from micro-critters. I hadn't thought about that.

[Dark Rumor]

http://www.fertilomesoils.com/pro-container/

This worked well for me, fertilome pro container mix

[Gerardo]

I was using a Growstone GS3 sample bag as my seed starter, alas I ran out.

I've had two rounds now with Formula 707 (discounted 3 cu ft bag due to small tear) and it's been great. Seedlings are very happy, scores of them and only one got stem rot.

Formula 707 = Peat Moss, Composted Forest Material, Perlite, Coco Fiber, Pumice, Worm Castings, Bat Guano, Soybean Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Kelp Meal

[Vespertino]

There's so many seed starting mixes that work well it's nice to have so many choices. I've been using Lady Bug Brand "Germinator" and usually have a germination rate over 95%. The only time I only run into problems if I have a bad batch of seeds or if I accidentally bury them too deep. I'm not sure if there are any gardening stores that sell Lady Bug outside of Texas, but if you find it give it a try.

[Jomalley7]

I use foxfarm potting soil the ocean version for everything, not seed starting mix and my plants thrive.

[Vespertino]

A friend of mine loves using foxfarm ocean for container tomatoes, he has great things to say about it as well.

[Ricky Shaw]

Who's your friend, Bill Gates.

[Ricky Shaw]

My hydro guy tells me I'm one of his more low rent customers using the ProMix HP.

[Vespertino]

Originally Posted by Ricky Shaw

Who's your friend, Bill Gates.

Sadly no, he just spent all of his disposable moolah on his gardening hobby.