If You Made Your Own Seed Starting Soil

[Skaggydog]

If you made yur seed starting soil what would you use and how would you sift, clean, layer or whatever to it?

THIS IS A CONTEST the winner shall be coppied all over town.

[Worth1]

Clean fine sand.

Worth

[sirtanon]

I use a simple mixture of:

Sphagnum Peat Moss
Vermiculite
Perlite
Sand

in a ratio of (roughly) 8:2:2:1
and then just mix thoroughly and moisten lightly.

Seems to work pretty well.

[RickCorey]

I haven't tried this on Toms yet, but since I overwater seeds, I wanted something that drained FAST, held a lot of air, and not too much water.

A side benefit is that the surface of this dries out very fast, so I never see dampong off any more, despite watering and spritzing too often.

Mostly screened pine bark from mulch -
- mostly passing through 1/2" mesh but some larger strips
- try to exclude most 'dust' that passes too easily through 1/4" mesh
a little:
grit
coarse Perlite
coarse vermiculite
coarse coir fiber
TINY amount of 'Miracle Gro' milled peat.

Everything I start did much better with this (except petunias - either they didn't like the coarse mix, or I had stale seeds this year.

Next year I'm going to try to find an affordable source of crushed rock (grit, not dust or sand). I wnat less fine stuff (under 1 mm) and more coarse stuff (over 2 mm).

The pine bark is absorbant enoguh that even big chunks hold enough water for seeds.

More air!

[bobberman]

I do my mix in a different way. I plant in styrofoam grap containers that are 4 inches deep about 12 by 16. I take a layer of garden soil that is about 4 inches under the surface and strain it! i put about 2 inches in the box over a inch of leaves. I put a small amount of bloodmeal top the soil. i then put about a inch of any potting mix and tamp it down. I put my seeds on top and tamp it down and cover it with plastic or glass till the seeds sprout!
+++Some of the boxes I place a plastic layer at the bottom of the box to retain water! I get very few weeds and healthy plants! The bottom garden soil holds the moisture longer than to much peat! Sometimes I mix a little sand with the garden soil. no set way always trying new things that is what is fun!

[Medbury Gardens]

My seed rising mix is screened animal manure free home made compost with the only imported purchased ingredient is rock phosphate from the US,the only other imported ingredients are free seaweed from our local beach.Its not only used as a seed rising mix but i use it 100% in pots within the hot/tunnelhouse for tomatoes,cucumbers and peppers....works well.

[maupin]

Herre in Northern Thailand it is a bit of a cnundrum. there is no compost, as all compostable materials are fed to pigs. The vermiculite, spanghum peat moss, and other worldly inputss--fuggettaboutit.

The local coir is so acidic that I had 3 out of 500 starts germinate in 2010.

So now as we enter tomato season here, I am experimenting with a mix of 1/3 topsoil, 1/3 composted coffee grounds, and 1/3 potting soil. we will see.

And for anyone in the Chiang Mai area I have free papaya tree starts. PM me and arrange topickone up.

[LuvsToPlant]

I agree with post #3...Sirtanon
...I sometime sub more vermiculite or sm perlite for the sand.
...but overall excellent seed starting mix!

...and a good ratio.

[erlyberd]

Are you talking just a seed starting mix or a starting/growing mix? Peralite, vermiculite, peatmoss and sand are ingriedients for what is called a soiless mix, hence no soil or nutrition. It makes a difference in how you word it!

[Hastings]

Why don't seeds like nutrients when they first sprout? How do the results differ if they are planted in a nutrient dense soil? I ask because this is the first year that I'm growing my garden entirely from seeds and definitely learning as I go.

[sirtanon]

That's a good question.. but it's actually not nutrition that we're addressing with that mix. The issue(s) with starting seeds are as follows -

The seed is VERY susceptible to disease, be it from fungus, bacteria, etc.. What we want is a STERILE mix. Most 'fertile' soils/mixes tend to encourage that bad stuff, and thus can lead to a much greater likelihood of the seedling dying.

Drainage and aeration. A little seedling needs to breathe, and also it needs a lighter soil to allow its tiny young roots to spread out. A light mix with perlite and vermiculite is very loose, light and lets a lot of air in.

Just two very good reasons

As far as nutrition, I always start my seeds with a very dilute mixture of Miracle Gro or similar.

[LuvsToPlant]

sirtaton...very well put.

erlybird..the original poster ask about a seed starting soil recipe.

...and hastings...Seeds have all the nutrients in their little seed casing (embryo) that they need to germinate...It's not till they get their first set of leaves(true leaves) that they will need nutrients from a fertilizer if not present in the soil.