Diatomaceous Earth as a seed starting medium

[zeroma]

Finally got some seeds planted yesterday. The first 100 of the 200 total I plan to sow. The two flats planted at on heating mats as we speak. Nothing 'hatched' yet. (They are in egg crates, hatched...ha ha ha oh just forget it.)

I had 2002 seed of Sakharnyi Zheltyl which I did the quick weak bleach solution rinse on, then a dip in weak Mirical Grow to see if there were any floated. Yeah, all 10 seeds sunk. I did the same with the 2004 Sungold seeds. The rest, I put into the MG water just to check for floater. Hope none of them had spores etc because I used the same MG bath for all of them without the bleach wash. I thought about that as I was doing the process and told myself, no, it will be ok....so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I didn't cross contaiminate them.

Here is my experience with using DE for the first time ever.

My holes in the egg crates were too small or there weren't enough. I made them realy small with a fat yarn needle so the DE wouldn't fall out. So much for using that again. I also added a piece of cotton yarn through each cup, to help wick up the water. It is threaded through the cups so there is equal length top and bottom. The roots will no dought tangle with it, but it is all organic, so it will just decompose as the roots grow. May even help the plant get a good start???? Glad I added the yarn as it helped the problem with the holes being too small. I did punch many more holes in the egg crates as I was waiting for the water to wick up. I used distilled water in the bottom tray.

HOW LONG DOSE IT TAKE TO WET THE DE for you guys AND HOW MUCH WATER DO YOU ADD TO THE BOTTOM TRAYS? I was trying to take measurements in cups of water added and how long it took for the water to absorb, so I could then judge how long to leave the water in the tray when I do the watering. Mine took way over an hour, then I ended up over pot watering anyway on a few of them?

There are several places where the water didn't wick up at all, where the egg crate and the flat part of the under tray meet. For those 3 or 4 egg cups, I hand watered from above. I'm thinking I'll need to put a lot more water in each bottom tray when I need to water next time. Then repeat the hand watering on the few cups that don't wick.?????

I have a map that I made, with 50 squares 5 X 10 with 50 lines for the names of the variety of each seed. I've used different colors of egg crates to know which egg crate is which within each tray. The trays are maked with 1, 2, 3, etc...the pages of the maps are titled Tray 1, etc... So far so good with the labeling. When I transplant, I'll use a similar mapping system, with some sort of tag in each 4" pot. I like the idea of using an old blind.

Hope they grow really good, especially the older seeds.