New to growing your own tomatoes? This is the forum to learn the successful techniques used by seasoned tomato growers. Questions are welcome, too.
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February 23, 2010 | #1 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Ranger, TX
Posts: 49
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Plain compost for seed starting?
Read about starting seedlings in compost in an old organic gardening book. How bad an idea do you think this is? Has anyone ever tried it?
I did try with seeds for plants that I am not really relying on, and there were no noticeable problems. Had good germination and no early loss. Now they have been potted up and are doing fine so far. Just wondering if this is just a lucky coincidence. |
February 23, 2010 | #2 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 309
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That is good to know because I am out of potting mix. If it worked, keep doing it. Keep using it for your non precious seeds and report. Your experience is a good lesson.
I tried cow manure and it didn't work. I have some dry barn lot "soil" and planted too many verbascum seeds. I transplanted some into this cow manure and they damped off. So now I know. Still don't know if I can mix it with other stuff in pots and use bigger plants. I hate to spend all the money I spend on potting mix when I have a huge pile of cow manure and rotted wood that looks like peat moss. |
February 23, 2010 | #3 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Brownville, Ne
Posts: 3,292
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I would think that most compost may be a little hot for tender seeds and seedlings. An eye will be kept on the results.
__________________
there's two things money can't buy; true love and home grown tomatoes. |
February 23, 2010 | #4 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: California Central Valley
Posts: 2,543
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I don't use my compost to start tomatoes or peppers because usually other seeds will sprout first (volunteer tomatoes are the ones I'm most concerned about). I used it one year (with wintersowing, so everything sprouted slowly) and ended up with a couple volunteer tomato plants, rather than the varieties I wanted.
But I do use my finely screened compost for starting brassicas. Kale and broccoli seeds are vigorous, and even if I have similar ones in the compost, they're likely to turn into good plants. I also use my compost for potting up tomatoes. By the time they're a few inches high, they'll outgrow any volunteers in the compost. I grew a couple hundred tomato seedlings last year and didn't lose any to damping off. Snails and slugs got a few, though. If the compost is finished, it won't be hot. One other caveat about using compost. When I've added it to indoor plants, I've gotten fungus gnats or whiteflies indoors. So if I were growing my seedlings indoors, I wouldn't use compost. |
February 23, 2010 | #5 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Akron,N.Y zone 6
Posts: 44
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I've use well composted manure from our animals to start seeds but the only thing different I did was put store bought seed starter on the top of the manure.All the hot peppers and tomatoes did very well this way.
Gene |
February 23, 2010 | #6 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Missouri
Posts: 309
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Thanks Gene. That is a good idea.
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February 24, 2010 | #7 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Oregon zone 8
Posts: 99
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The reason I prefer a sterile mix is the issue of bugs. My compost pile is more of a cooler pile, not alway hot. Bugs will lay eggs and they will hatch. I agree if you don't plant your precious seed it should be fine. I lost a lot rare seed just by having compost in the room, had other rookie issues but my room was full of all different kinds of insects due to overwintering of peppers I had just spread compost on and kept them in the same room.
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February 24, 2010 | #8 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Mid-Ohio
Posts: 847
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There is no way to know what the nutrient balance is in your compost. I know that it would be a bad idea for me because I threw some dried beans in mine and they came up yellow from nitrogen starvation.
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February 24, 2010 | #9 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: USA
Posts: 1,013
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Quote:
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February 24, 2010 | #10 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: WI, USA Zone4
Posts: 1,887
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[quote=TZ-OH6;158696]There is no way to know what the nutrient balance is in your compost.quote]
This can be tested in a soil lab. |
February 24, 2010 | #11 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Mid-Ohio
Posts: 847
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Yes, of course it can be, I should have chosen my words more carefully and put in "without testing". I suspect testing would cost about the same as a bag of seedling mix.
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February 24, 2010 | #12 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Ranger, TX
Posts: 49
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Thanks for all the input. I must not have had live seeds in my compost, but I can see the potential for a problem there! Potting up in compost should be a real potential benefit, particularly if I continue to give away 100+ plants each year. Looks like I will expand my experiment some next year, but I will still start many in seed starting mix until I have more experience with this.
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February 24, 2010 | #13 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: St Charles, IL zone 5a
Posts: 142
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Quote:
Most of what I have experienced is covered here regarding nitrogen availability, fungus gnats, and weed seeds. I have used 3+ year old leaf compost for potting up seedlings in 2.5" pots with great results, only to be followed up with 100% failure when I used some 1 year old leaf compost that looked like peat moss. The 128 cell trays I use for seeds are such a low volume, it is worth it to use a peat/coir-perlite mix. Even with this mix a few fungus gnats usually appear. Amazing little things. |
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