Burpee's "Eco-friendly" Organic Seed Starting Mix

Greatgardens · February 19, 2014

Has anyone else tried this? I bought a bag of it from Menard last month and was skeptical, because it is Coir, but the stuff seems quite good. It is a finer grind than their Coir pellets, but very, very uniform, and has zero "trash" (such as fine plates of bark and bits of rock and stems) that I find in most Peat seed starting mixes. There is a very tiny amount of what looks to be Perlite scattered here and there, but I would say less than 1% of the visible mix.

I set up a small comparison between Metro Mix, Burpee's coir, Jiffy Peat pellets, and Burpee's Coir pellets. Can see no differences thus far, other than both the pellets have a small edge in ease of use. But only three weeks since planting. Best germination was 4 days. "Worst" was 8 days. All but one seed had germinated by 6 days. Total germination was 94%.

Any other Coir mixes that folks have tried and like/dislike?

-GG

RayR · February 21, 2014

I watched Burpee's video about it. They don't say exactly other than it's "primarily coir" and PH balanced, but it does look like they have some fine perlite in it and it has some organic fertilizer.
I have some Burpee's Coir pellets but haven't tried them yet.
I've been using coir in some of my own seed starting mixes and have used Just Right Xtra which is a coir based potting soil. No complaints, I like coir.

kath · February 21, 2014

I'm watching this thread, GG, as I'm looking for an alternative to the ProMix BX that I've been using for the past few years. Can't use up a 3.8 cu. ft. bale in one season and have trouble with damping off, mold growth, etc. if I use leftovers. It's also got too much "trash" in it. Have some Jiffy peat pellets but have never tried coir.

kath

roper2008 · February 21, 2014

I'm using Burpee's eco-friendly organic seed starting mix for my flower seeds.
It's coconut fiber. My seeds are growing fine in them. My veggies I'm just
starting in peat pellets. When I put a little diluted fish emulsion I does get
a little bit of white fungus, on the coconut fiber. I just lightly rub it off with
my finger and it's gone.

Dork Fish · February 21, 2014

I used it to start an entire tray of pepper seeds. It seems to be doing great!

Dork Fish · February 21, 2014

This is the one where I used Burpees eco friendly starting mixuploadfromtaptalk1393009023704.jpg

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Dork Fish · February 21, 2014

I used miracle grow orchids mix for this tray...
uploadfromtaptalk1393009216466.jpg

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Timomac · March 14, 2014

I am using this mix this year. I don't recall seeing it before at my local big box store. I saw it was organic and had a little organic fertilizer, not too much. The seeds have been in for 5 or 6 days and I'm seeing about 40% germination, which I think is pretty good. We'll see how the rest do.

It's a pretty light mix and hasn't gummed up like some other products I've tried. I see a little moss I guess - a few small dots here and there. Dunno if that means the mix has some residual spores or that my basement does. I've had the same in the past so - time to clean the basement better or put in better windows.

I've tried something new it seems every year and I would say this mix is better than average with a final review pending.

sergeant69 · March 16, 2014

QUESTION........at the stage where the plants are in the pic, how long before you will repot? mine look like that too (when they do sprout) and the long stems worry me. I see pics that have short bushy seedlings and those are what I want. when mine look like those in the pic I get a lot of damping off. so I repot real quick to get the stems into medium so they can't fall over. HELP!!

Dork Fish · March 16, 2014

I just repotted all of my peppers last weekend.

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Dork Fish · March 16, 2014

This is a week after being in a 4" pot. They really took off after repotting. ALTHOUGH! They are now in metromix 360

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Dork Fish · March 16, 2014

Quote:

Originally Posted by sergeant69

QUESTION........at the stage where the plants are in the pic, how long before you will repot? mine look like that too (when they do sprout) and the long stems worry me. I see pics that have short bushy seedlings and those are what I want. when mine look like those in the pic I get a lot of damping off. so I repot real quick to get the stems into medium so they can't fall over. HELP!!

A little over 3 weeks. You need to make sure there is plenty of air movement. Helps with the dampening off.

Fan comes on with the lights.

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February 19, 2014	#1
Greatgardens Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Indiana Posts: 1,124	Burpee's "Eco-friendly" Organic Seed Starting Mix Has anyone else tried this? I bought a bag of it from Menard last month and was skeptical, because it is Coir, but the stuff seems quite good. It is a finer grind than their Coir pellets, but very, very uniform, and has zero "trash" (such as fine plates of bark and bits of rock and stems) that I find in most Peat seed starting mixes. There is a very tiny amount of what looks to be Perlite scattered here and there, but I would say less than 1% of the visible mix. I set up a small comparison between Metro Mix, Burpee's coir, Jiffy Peat pellets, and Burpee's Coir pellets. Can see no differences thus far, other than both the pellets have a small edge in ease of use. But only three weeks since planting. Best germination was 4 days. "Worst" was 8 days. All but one seed had germinated by 6 days. Total germination was 94%. Any other Coir mixes that folks have tried and like/dislike? -GG

February 21, 2014	#5
Dork Fish Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Zone 5B Illinois Posts: 402	I used it to start an entire tray of pepper seeds. It seems to be doing great! __________________ Andrea

February 21, 2014	#6
Dork Fish Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Zone 5B Illinois Posts: 402	This is the one where I used Burpees eco friendly starting mixuploadfromtaptalk1393009023704.jpg Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk __________________ Andrea

February 21, 2014	#7
Dork Fish Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Zone 5B Illinois Posts: 402	I used miracle grow orchids mix for this tray... uploadfromtaptalk1393009216466.jpg Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk __________________ Andrea

March 16, 2014	#10
Dork Fish Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Zone 5B Illinois Posts: 402	I just repotted all of my peppers last weekend. Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk __________________ Andrea

February 21, 2014	#2
RayR Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Cheektowaga, NY Posts: 2,466	I watched Burpee's video about it. They don't say exactly other than it's "primarily coir" and PH balanced, but it does look like they have some fine perlite in it and it has some organic fertilizer. I have some Burpee's Coir pellets but haven't tried them yet. I've been using coir in some of my own seed starting mixes and have used Just Right Xtra which is a coir based potting soil. No complaints, I like coir.

February 21, 2014	#3
kath Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: zone 6b, PA Posts: 5,664	I'm watching this thread, GG, as I'm looking for an alternative to the ProMix BX that I've been using for the past few years. Can't use up a 3.8 cu. ft. bale in one season and have trouble with damping off, mold growth, etc. if I use leftovers. It's also got too much "trash" in it. Have some Jiffy peat pellets but have never tried coir. kath

February 21, 2014	#4
roper2008 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Virginia Bch, VA (7b) Posts: 1,337	I'm using Burpee's eco-friendly organic seed starting mix for my flower seeds. It's coconut fiber. My seeds are growing fine in them. My veggies I'm just starting in peat pellets. When I put a little diluted fish emulsion I does get a little bit of white fungus, on the coconut fiber. I just lightly rub it off with my finger and it's gone.

March 14, 2014	#8
Timomac Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: SW Chicago suburbs Posts: 36	I am using this mix this year. I don't recall seeing it before at my local big box store. I saw it was organic and had a little organic fertilizer, not too much. The seeds have been in for 5 or 6 days and I'm seeing about 40% germination, which I think is pretty good. We'll see how the rest do. It's a pretty light mix and hasn't gummed up like some other products I've tried. I see a little moss I guess - a few small dots here and there. Dunno if that means the mix has some residual spores or that my basement does. I've had the same in the past so - time to clean the basement better or put in better windows. I've tried something new it seems every year and I would say this mix is better than average with a final review pending.

March 16, 2014	#9
sergeant69 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: south texas Posts: 203	QUESTION........at the stage where the plants are in the pic, how long before you will repot? mine look like that too (when they do sprout) and the long stems worry me. I see pics that have short bushy seedlings and those are what I want. when mine look like those in the pic I get a lot of damping off. so I repot real quick to get the stems into medium so they can't fall over. HELP!!

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