Diatomaceous Earth as a seed starting medium

[b54red]

Originally Posted by Crandrew

DE testers:
How soon after germination will the seedlings require introduction of nutrients? Since I assume the DE will only take it so far.

Thanks

I have found that DE as a seed starter seems to require additional nutrients sooner than other seed mediums I have tried. I experimented and gave some a very mild dose of Miracle Grow about a week or so after emerging and waited for true leaves on some others. I found the ones that got the earlier diluted fertilizer did much better than the ones that got just plain water til true leaves appeared. I did this with several different types of plants and it was true with all of them.

[Crandrew]

Ok, thanks B54. Thats what I figured, like growing in grodan.

[Calcat36]

RayR, I gave the wrong DE stuff a shot on the 9th. I put 6 seeds of 7 Pod Primo in the DE. SIX DAYS later, I have 4 sprouts and I see the other two getting close to breaking the surface!They are on a heating pad 24/7 and now have a supplemental light on them. Thanks for this tip. The last ones I started in starting formula took over 30 days. So now, fertilizing and transplanting is the unknown.

I hope they are off to a great start!

[RayR]

Originally Posted by Calcat36

RayR, I gave the wrong DE stuff a shot on the 9th. I put 6 seeds of 7 Pod Primo in the DE. SIX DAYS later, I have 4 sprouts and I see the other two getting close to breaking the surface!They are on a heating pad 24/7 and now have a supplemental light on them. Thanks for this tip. The last ones I started in starting formula took over 30 days. So now, fertilizing and transplanting is the unknown.

I hope they are off to a great start!

Is this the Montmorillonite Clay absorbent that you're using?

[Calcat36]

Yes. Part # 7133. I was already told that this was the wrong stuff, by you, I believe because of the PH. S now I'm thinking... Uh oh...

[livinonfaith]

Okay, I'm not that bright sometimes. How many of you mentioned that the DE would pour out of the holes? Pretty sure it was at least a few. I even got out some cotton to put in the bottom of the cells to prevent that.

But I forgot. So now there are 72 cells of rapidly germinating seeds and plants (Which is the good news!), and every time the upper tray with the cells has to be moved to pour water into the bottom tray, I lose some DE out of the cells. There is a tiny little Lipstick pepper seedling that is now in a deep dark hole. So sad!

So now the name of the game is "Do Not Move the Top Tray FOR ANY REASON!" Don't know exactly what is going to happen when I have to separate out any varieties to try to slow them down/speed them up for grafting purposes.

[RayR]

Originally Posted by Calcat36

Yes. Part # 7133. I was already told that this was the wrong stuff, by you, I believe because of the PH. S now I'm thinking... Uh oh...

I tried the Montmorillonite Clay with onion seed as I showed in post #24 and the seed germinated fine but the growth suffered compared to the DE as can be seen from the picture. A low PH like that will have an adverse effect on nutrient uptake, so the results didn't surprise me. You can let your experiment run and see what happens with the peppers but I wouldn't bet the farm that the clay will make a good substitute for the DE. The problem with trying different substrates is that your're flying blind unless you know things like the PH. A PH too low or too high is going to cause nutrient uptake problems for most plants. You can adjust the PH of an acidic medium by adding lime, but how much is a question that can't be answered without some experimenting and measuring with a PH meter.

[RayR]

Originally Posted by livinonfaith

Okay, I'm not that bright sometimes. How many of you mentioned that the DE would pour out of the holes? Pretty sure it was at least a few. I even got out some cotton to put in the bottom of the cells to prevent that.

But I forgot. So now there are 72 cells of rapidly germinating seeds and plants (Which is the good news!), and every time the upper tray with the cells has to be moved to pour water into the bottom tray, I lose some DE out of the cells. There is a tiny little Lipstick pepper seedling that is now in a deep dark hole. So sad!

So now the name of the game is "Do Not Move the Top Tray FOR ANY REASON!" Don't know exactly what is going to happen when I have to separate out any varieties to try to slow them down/speed them up for grafting purposes.

Ya, the problem of the Ultrasorb leaking out the drain holes can be a problem sometimes depending on the size of the drain holes in your cells.
The cotton sounds like a good idea, I was thinking of cutting up coffee filters to block the holes next time. I tried weed barrier cloth but it seemed to inhibit wicking some.

[BruceinGa]

I cut 3/8" square pieces of paper towels and it seems to work just fine.

[Levent]

As either seed starting or growing medium diatomite is the gold standard for me.I couldn't find any better yet!

[Calcat36]

RayR, I did read that, and have been rereading the thread as practical application has become, well, practical! I did order a couple bags of 8188. My main problem with any pepper seed is getting them to germinate. If anything, I feel more confident with this method and that is half the battle! I WISH I had a farm to bet! And what would gardening be without flying blind sometimes? Seriously though, I will heed your advice and pay attention to the health or lack of health more closely. Thanks again for the replies. Much appreciated.

[livinonfaith]

Ray and Bruce, both of those seem like great ideas. I use coffee filters to dry seeds after fermenting and have several of them left over that I could cut up.

The holes in the bottom of the cells don't really look very big until you compare them to the little grains of DE! Then they are WAY too big.

But other than that, things do seem to be coming along. Here are my tiny seedlings, planted last weekend. I started the pepper seeds about five days before I planted, wrapped in wet napkins, placed in plastic bags and spread across the top of my computer monitor for warmth.

The tomatoes were only soaked overnight, then planted. While some of the peppers do appear to be taking their own sweet time, I am still hopeful, as most of these have only come up within the last two days.

I think you may be able to see the heating pad under the tray if you look closely. That really seems to perk them up!

There will be seven more varieties of tomato, but I'm trying to space them out a bit in order to give myself a little time to get used to the grafting aspect.

Looking good, everybody! I'm still not ready to sow yet but I am soaking up all this wisdom! As far as preventing DE from escaping thru the holes- whatever is on hand will work. I sew a lot, so have lightweight fabrics that would work- cheesecloth that you use for jelly making would be great- it's all cotton.

[Tracydr]

Looking for an idea to separate seeds when reusing the Jiffy 72 seed flats, filling them with DE instead of using the little peat pods. Trying to think of some sort of plastic strips or something to keep the different types of seeds separate so that I don't have a jumbled mess of 72 seeds, all different types mixed together.
Getting ready to plant a bunch of peppers and would like to use the bag of DE I just purchased from the auto parts store.

[Calcat36]

RayR, got the right stuff. What a difference. Will keep you posted.