Make your own seed starter

[coldcreekchick]

Anyone have a favorite seed starting formula? I have found vermiculite, peat moss and compost with a dash of bone meal in my research. I have used the premixed kind, but I would like to see if its cheaper (and better) to mix my own.
A side note - I didn't see a category for gardening... so I put it here under everything else. The right spot I hope.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Here is one method we have been reading about.
http://subsistencepatternfoodgarden.blogspot.com/2011/03/our-eccentric-potting-soil.html

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

how funny! i just went and got stuff to make mine:

2 parts peat moss
2 parts sifted compost
1 part perlite
1 part coarse river sand

i have not tried this before but for about $12 i got enough to make 3 bags of commercial seed starter ($11 each!)

 

[patandchickens]

I've tried all sorts of schemes, from buying ingredients and mixing them myself to using only "free" things like soil and compost screenings and so forth.

Honestly, the totally-DIY ones did not work very well for me in terms of seed germination/survival/growth, not to mention being a LOT of time required to get them suitably screened and homogeneous and fluffy.

And the buy-ingredients-then-mix-them-yourself versions always ended up more expensive than if I'd just BOUGHT mix to begin with.

So I simply buy soilless potting mix, the cheapest available (not big name brand), and use that.

(Although practically nothing I plant is fine dustlike seeds or especially hard to germinate/grow... actual seed starter medium might be better for that, I don't know)

NOT potting soil, NOT soilless-mix-with-fertilizer-added. And NOT anything labelled "seed starter". You have to read the labels!

Just the very cheapest soilless mix you can get.

If you are seeding into pots (as opposed to flats that you then prick seedlings out to put into pots full of something else) you do need to remember that you have used a medium with next to no nutrients in it, so if the seedlings are in there for a while and get larger-sized they may need some super-low addition of fertilizer when being.

JME,

Pat

 

[MsPony]

Thanks Pat! I started in egg flats w/ JB Stone organic potting soil. Only half sprouted, ill add in some maxi crop.

Random question, when do I harvest my onions? They grew sooo well.

 

[coldcreekchick]

I am going to try a little bit of all.... I have had such bad luck with "seed starter" I don't want all that preadded fertilizer. I didn't realize there was just plain soiless mix. But I will still probably have to find our for myself, I have gotten some "free" sand, perlite, and peat moss, so I will see what I can come up with. Interesting link, thanks for that, and interested to hear how Ohiofarmgirls grows with that mix.

 

[Neko-chan]

...

 

[patandchickens]

I am going to try a little bit of all.... I have had such bad luck with "seed starter" I don't want all that preadded fertilizer. I didn't realize there was just plain soiless mix.

That is odd, I have never seen labelled "seed starter" with ANY added fertilizer, that is partly the *point* of it. Are you sure it was not potting stuff, that *does* tend to have added fertilizer and stuff (from the big name brands these days, anyhow)?

I buy generic or "what the heck brand name is *that*?" potting medium and read the label, it should not say "soil" as any of the ingredients, and it should not give any nutrient analysis or if it does it should say 0-0-0. The cheap stuff often needs to be hand-crumbled to break up lumps (you get what you pay for <g>) but has always worked well for me. I have several flats of it atop the kitchen cabinets right now in fact.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[coldcreekchick]

Okay, patandchickens! I had to take another look (because I am always open to bad memory syndrome) and the one I have right now (Miracle
Gro) says "Seed starting Potting mix"! I will have to look harder. I will give it my best! Generic, cheap and lumpy.
I probably have a little time yet, don't want to start too soon. Good luck with your flats, sounds like you have it dialed in.
Dawn