Diatomaceous Earth as a seed starting medium

[RayR]

Originally Posted by Father'sDaughter

Thanks RayR!

I just got a bag of the Ultrasorb from Autozone and will be starting my next round of seeds in it shortly. Onions have already been started in MG seed starting mix, so too late for trying them in DE this year. Germination was close to 90% for the Tropea onions, but much lower for the Copras, and Red Wings. I'm wondering how they would have done in DE, but unfortunately I only have Tropea seeds left.

The problem with Allium seed is their short life span. All the onions I'm growing this year are from my own seed crop this past season. Germination rate was excellent.
With seeds collected from the 2011 season, the germination rate this year was much lower.
Left over seeds from seed packets I purchased last January had terrible germination this year and in a couple of cases there was no germination at all. Makes you wonder how old those seeds were that were packed for 2012.