Propagation: move seedlings from germinating mix to something else?, 1 by

wrote:
jasperj
I owned and operated a commercial greenhouse in NE during the '80's. I sold houseplants, vegetable plants, and hardy perennials suitable for NE climate, including succulents. To keep plant prices competitive, I mixed my own potting soil. Plants don't care what they grow in or we would have spread Miracle-Gro mix throughout our garden. The only criteria is that the soil is well drained, friable, loose so tiny roots can penetrate. Also that it stays moist for a reasonable amount of time. Plants will grow in plain vermiculite with plant food added--liquid or granulates.

I bought bags of peatmoss, vermiculite, perlite, and sand. My basic mix was peatmoss (pre-moistened first), and vermiculite in 1:1 ratio. If a plant needed more drainage, or a soil that needed to dry out quicker, such as succulents, I added either sand or perlite. I used my basic mix for rooting cuttings also. I used my wheelbarrel to mix it, then stored the basic mix in a large garbage bin with wheels. When I potted up a plant with the mix, I added plant food granulates, which is usually good for 6 weeks, depending on the brand. This mix makes the pot light in weight. It is much cheaper to mix your own if you have many plants, rather than buy pre-mixed. Another bonus is that it is sterile.

When the, so called, "professional mixes" came out on the market years ago, the ingredients was very similar to my basic mix.

I sprout seeds in moist kitchen paper napkins. As they sprout and develop tiny roots, I move them into flats, spacing 1" apart. From there, I transplant them after the first set of true leaves, into 6-packs. Some I pot directly into 6-packs, depending on how long their roots were. This way I know just how many plants I have of each, since I only want 12 of each. Each pot is about 1-1/2" square. Walmart carries a flat with 12, 6-packs, which is what I use. They can remain in these small pots for quite awhile. The flat of 6-packs fit nicely under lights. You don't want to overpot them, the next size up would be 3" sq. or round, max, if needed. Roots needs room to grow, but too big a pot with too much moisture that the roots can't use, is inviting rot.

CAPTION: A flat of 6-packs with hardy perennials sprouted in moist kitchen towels. These were ready for the 6-packs, rather than in flats.