Growing Medium!

I always germinate in purchased medium. Most years, everything germinates and grows well until plant out. This year, my results were different. Most of my tomato plants were more leggy than in past years. My peppers had low germination rates but I was able to grow enough for plant out.

I'm thinking about using some home made compost for growing medium next year. I've not used it before because it has such a large variety of particle sizes with large chunks and small grains mixed together. I built a screen with 1/4" holes which sits on top of my wheel barrow. I screened a barrow full last week and stored it in five gallon buckets for use next year. The compost looks like coffee grounds in particle size and retains moisture much better than purchased medium. I'm curious about results other folks have experienced using compost to germinate seeds.

Thanks

Ted

[Doug9345]

I just used compost to germinate pepper seed. I had germination rates of of 60% to 100% with fresh seed. I have old and damaged seed that hasn't done anything at all. Those aren't related to the compost at all.

[heirloomtomaguy]

I prefer either coco coir or a mix i just started using with great results of half screened coco coir, quarter worm castings, and quarter screened fox farm ocean forest potting soil. This mixture gave me darn near 100 percent germination rates and eliminated the need to fertilize the seedling before potting them up.

[amideutch]

Fox Farm Light Warrior is another good one.

Ami

[epsilon]

Ami.

How well does the happy frog light warrior work? I've had good results with their fertilizer products, and was looking into using that instead of the jiffy mix that I normally use. Insights would be appreciated.

Gaston

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

I prefer either coco coir or a mix i just started using with great results of half screened coco coir, quarter worm castings, and quarter screened fox farm ocean forest potting soil. This mixture gave me darn near 100 percent germination rates and eliminated the need to fertilize the seedling before potting them up.

I've used coco coir as a germinating medium in the past with pretty good results. This year, I started a few seeds in coco coir and it started growing a white fuzzy mold pretty quick. I switched to a different medium and didn't get the mold. I don't know if the mold would have harmed the germinating seedlings, but I broke the mold up with my finger and let the cells dry out a little and they germinated and grew fine.

Ted

[heirloomtomaguy]

Ted,
If you dont mind me asking what brand of coco coir gave you fuzzy mold?

[tqn626]

If you use coco coir make sure you ad some magnesium and calcium. It has a really bad habit of locking out magnesium. Epsom salt and gysum works well.

[amideutch]

Ami.

How well does the happy frog light warrior work? I've had good results with their fertilizer products, and was looking into using that instead of the jiffy mix that I normally use. Insights would be appreciated.

Gaston

I have nothing but good to say about Light Warrior. I used it to transplant my seedlings into. And have heard nothing but good things from folks that use it for seed germination.

http://foxfarmfertilizer.com/index.p...ow-medium.html

Ami

Originally Posted by heirloomtomaguy

Ted,
If you dont mind me asking what brand of coco coir gave you fuzzy mold?

I honestly don't know the brand. I'm sure is was some inexpensive coir I bought at a big box store or garden center. While I do order seed quite often, I don't think I have ever ordered growing medium so I suspect a higher quality product can be purchased online.

Ted

[heirloomtomaguy]

I use Black Gold Just Coir. It works great and i have never had any mold or algae issues as of yet. I get it at my local hydroponics store and its reasonably inexpensive.

[clkeiper]

Personally I wouldn't use compost or soil unless it has been sterilized. I invest too much money in seeds to take the chance of having damping off. Maybe the lack of sunshine and heat plays a part in that here, but I only use sterilized soilless potting mix. pro-mix or baccto brand. I liked the promix with mychroizoria(sp?) and biofungicide in it better than the baccto. It had no "debris" like twigs and chunks in it and it grew no/little algae on the surface.

Were your tomatoes leggy from lack of sunshine or the lights too far away? did you "brush" them or have an oscillating fan blowing gently on them?
Peppers aren't the easiest of seeds to germinate. were your seeds fresh or a couple years old? I had several varieties I should have ordered new ones, but didn't and they didn't germinate at all or very well. One batch got cooked one afternoon in the sunshine (horrors!) and they were the most favorite variety we eat around here.

[bobberman]

I mix strained garden soil with bought soil and mix them for starting seeds. Works great . A few weed need picked but I generally put a top layer of bought soil about a 1/2 inch but I strain it also to get out the big stuff! I use garden soil that is 6 inches under the top layer less weeds!

[topazgirl170]

I have used fox farm light warrior for transplant only. Good results too.

I'm a novice gardener, this is only my second year gardening. So, I've used seed starting mixes for the last two years. I've used several seed starting mixes within my two years of gardening: Here's what's I've used.

Gardener Supply Company's Germinating Mix and Organic Seed Starter Mix. I love the germinating mix. It's finely grained, easy to wet, drains well and retains water very well. It's not organic
Personally, I want to use more organic growing mediums.

Their Organic Seed Starting Mix - I used for the first time this season and I love it. I had a 80 to 90% germination rate. However, I did do a seed soak for 12 hours prior to planting. It does have some small debris that needs to be picked out and It's expensive stuff, I'll try to find a way to duplicate the ingredients next season with a "homemade" mix.

I tried Espoma organic seed starter. I had some "weed" like growth in some of the cells. It was a "heavy" mix. I'm not sure I'll use it again. But it is readily available. It cost around $6 for an 8 quart bag. You may want to try it.

I tried Black Gold Seeding Mix for the first time last week(I used it to start lettuce and tomatoes seeds). I had read excellent things about Black Gold products and so far so good. I went to a local nursery/landscaper garden center to get it. I paid like $4 for a 8 quart bag.

*I've found better prices for many garden supplies(fertilizer, plants(flowers and some veggies), growing medium, mulch) at local nurseries and garden centers than at Home Depot, Lowes, Menards(Midwest only) or Walmart. I used the big stores for garden building supplies like lumber, nails, and PVC. .

[cythaenopsis]

Great to know about these sources for soilless seed mix. I wish I'd used them at the start of this season as my seedlings took a full 10 days to break the surface.... might have shaved a few days off and helped boost the growth rate. Only a few of my seedlings have been showing a good growth rate... the others have been languishing.