Diatomaceous earth, vermiculite or Pro mix BX

[zeroma]

The community garden where I volunteer is going to be starting seeds in the next week or so.

We have used Pro Mix Bx in the past with good results for starting and doing the pot up stage.

I have had great success with DE.

One of the gardeners wants us to get just plain old vermiculite. That is what she has had good results with in the past.


Any opinions here on which one to use?

Ease of use, storage of leftover to be carried over for the entire year or more would be factors as well as cost.

Also we are starting our small ebb and flow hydroponic set up this year. I have started some sample cubes of rockwool pak choi and so far I really like this product. Would this be an option to start the seeds and then just pot up this easy to handle cube into the next stage or even directly into the beds?

Zeroma

[Cole_Robbie]

I like to use vermiculite as the top layer, because it doesn't crust over when it dries out. I don't have to use a dome this way. I just mist the vermiculite periodically.

I would think you could put rockwool cube seedlings into your raised beds, and that would work, provided you monitored the moisture to make sure it had time to send out roots before the rockwool dried out.

[kurt]

You can take a 35 cell (deep cell 3 1/2 inch) tray ( 1020 pan size,for underneath watering,fill snug with the new "coir"'take your garden auger(cone ) tip,auger,then fill cone with your favorite non soil medium(the coarser vermiculite/DE is my favorite,with some mycos actnovate xr if needed).Seed,the roots will shoot down the lighter mix to your water source.Knocks out the one transplant regimen from my earlier seed starts.Early misting will pool and find the ver/DE mix.