Soil blocks

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by imp

A nice circle of ice melt or rock salt stops the slugs and snails nicely and dorsn't hurt the soil.

I really get grossed out by both slugs and snails, but at least snails have a shell to pick them up by.

Beer also works to attract them instead of going to the plant.

I like the rock salt idea. It wont be dissolved quickly. I worried about Na, can put a layer of newspaper under so it absorbs the salt water.

Now that you gave me a tip , here is one from me:
Get fine nylon tulle from any fabric, craft store and cover your seedlings with. Make sure that the tulle is secured on the ground so that slug/snail cannot get in. You can even wrap bigger plants with the tulle. But after the plants get big, slugs cannot do big harm.

[4season]

I am going to try some small peat pots that just fit inside a small round plastic pot. Might bother the roots less than with just potting mix in the plastic pot.

[FarmerShawn]

I've been using soil blocks for several years now, and remain a big fan. I love that they are self pruning, with no root circling, and the plants experience little or no transplant shock. My blocks stay together as long as I need them to. Even if the growing plant gets way too big, by then the block is held together with roots. I've started pretty much everything in blocks, and the only thing that didn't work wonderfully was carrots. The air pruning of a taproot makes for short, stubby carrots. Other root crops, like beets and turnips, work very well, though. The only problem with tomatoes in blocks is that when they get sixteen inches tall, they are top heavy. But cukes and squashes work very well.

[Worth1]

This reminds me I need to go out and clean my 1/2 pint jars I grow my tomatoes in.

Worth

[JamesL]

Originally Posted by FarmerShawn

I've been using soil blocks for several years now, and remain a big fan. I love that they are self pruning, with no root circling, and the plants experience little or no transplant shock. My blocks stay together as long as I need them to. Even if the growing plant gets way too big, by then the block is held together with roots. I've started pretty much everything in blocks, and the only thing that didn't work wonderfully was carrots. The air pruning of a taproot makes for short, stubby carrots. Other root crops, like beets and carrots, work very well, though. The only problem with tomatoes in blocks is that when they get sixteen inches tall, they are top heavy. But cukes and squashes work very well.

+1 to everything FarmerShawn said. I can't imagine not using them anymore.

Love them for cukes, and depending on your starting and lighting method, I would not go more than 4 to 5 weeks to plant out. The cukes really seem to explode out of the blocks.

[reddeheddefarm]

we built a starting room last year and we have a combination of led and florescent lighting. A small space heater keeps the room between 75-85 f. I am planning to build a green house out of recycled windows over the winter so starts from the house will go in there then into low tunnels.