Anyone want to share their favorite seed-starting recipes?

Last year when I ran out of my own seed-starting ingredients, I purchased a couple of bags of potting mix, with disaterous results. Seeds refused to sprout!

Here's the recipe I've been using for several years:

1 brick Classic Coir http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SCCB300
mixed with 4 qts hot water (the instructions say 5qts, but I have found 4qts adequate.) This will expaned to a little over one gallon.

1 gallon extra coarse perlite: http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=ECP940D

1 gallon worm castings: http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=EC430 (keep the bag closed, otherwise the contents dry out and become as hard as rock!)

1 gallon vermiculite: http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=VER940D

2 tablespoons bone meal: http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=BOM413 (Mine contains iron, but I don't think it's sold this way anymore.)

3/4 teaspoon trace elements. (My supplier no longer carries what I use, but Azomite would probably be a good subsitute.) http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=GAZ413

4 tablespoons dolomite lime - be sure it's dolomite! Lowe's sells a 40lb bag at a reasonable price.

1/4 cup soil moist crystals: http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=SM903

1/2 cup Numus: http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=NC400

1 cup crab shell: http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=NHC413

1 tablespoon triple phosphate: http://wormsway.com/detail.aspx?t=prod&sku=TPH410 (Too much will kill plants overnight!)

This will make a fluffy mix that's hard to over-water. I've also found that fungus gnats avoid this mix, whereas they love peat moss.

Mostly screened pine bark mulch - starting with a "good" brand for $7-8 per 2 cubic feet, not junk from Home depot.

I try to remove as much fine stuff as possiboe, using 1/4" and 1/2" hardware cloth.
I also remove pieces that seem too big for the small cells I start in.

Then I add some chicken grit - as coarse as I can find, say 10-20%.
Very little coarse perlite ( vermiculite.

I've added a little conventional peat-powder Jiffy-Mix out of habit, but I think I need fewer fines, rather than more.

This did great for everything but petunias - I think they 'fell through the cracks" and were buried too deeply.

Rick - does your pine bark mulch have a brand name?

I forget. I found it by goung to the local nursery that charges high prices for everything, but also had high quality.
They just went out of business!

If I still have the heavy plastic bag it came in, I'll report tomorrow ... but don't those tend to be lcoal? In know WA has or had a lot of lumbering industry, so the bark is probably from the PNW via a PNW distributor.

My main goal was to make it faster-draining, and to RETAIN AIR even when overwatered a lot - in other words, it has to DRAIN FAST for me. With fairly coarse bark, it drains fast, is aerated right down to the bottom 1/8" even in tiny cells, and the surface dries so fast that I NEVER have damping off any more.

I used to have water-logged seed-start cells. Roots would not reach the bottom of a 1-2" deep cell! Or they would go down and then drown.


Here's how I judge pine bark quality:
doesn't smell musty & fermented
doesn't have any more fine stuff like powder than necessary
has chips and long shreds of bark, not round or spherical (resists packing down tight)
only contains BARK, not dirt, wood chips and pebbles (Home Depot mulch)

Storing it wet lets it ferment, especially in a closed bag. Those fermentation acids, alchols and aldehydes need to evaporate or be flushed out before you start seeds in it. Root hairs don't like them! And if you have to use bark that got soggy, but that you have flished, you might still need to dust it with a little finely powdered lime to kill remaining acid. Better to find a bag that was not stored in the rain!

I buy "medium grade" not "fine" pine bark mulch. "Coarse" would be even better if I could find it.
You can always rub big chunks down to finer shreds.

I use the big chunks as outdoor mulch.
I use what passes through 1/4" screen as an amendment for clay in outdoor raised beds.
I use what passes TOO EASILY through 1/2" screen as an amendment for clay in outdoor raised beds.

I use the middle grade for seed starting, potting up to 3" pots, and as potting soil in bigger pots (maybe mixed with commerical potting mix or even potting soil.)

Oh yes! If you can find it, you can buy "doubled-screened pine bark" but pay through the nose.
Or buy dozens of quart-bags of fine or medium "Orchid Bark" and pay even more.

Instead, a good grade of "mulch" that I creen myself is $8 for 2 cubic feet - right in my price range: cheap-cheap-cheap!

Even if you have a brand of seed-start mix or potting mix or potting soil that you like, you can make it go much further per dollar by adding an equal amount of pine bark, screened down or up to whatever size gives you the drainage, aeration, and water retention that you want.

Rick - thanks for all the great info.

My neighbor lost one of his jobs recently and is cutting up logs he finds at curbside on his paper route (for his fireplace.) He gives us the trimmings and saw dust. I plan to let it all break-down in the main walkway of our vegetable garden. I hope to get some bark chips from him, too.

>> trimmings and saw dust. I plan to let it all break-down in the main walkway of our vegetable garden. I hope to get some bark chips from him, too.

GREAT!

Many say that putting uncomposted wood right into or onto a garden can cause "nitrogen deficit" as they break down and consume nitrogen from the soil in competion with your plants. Might want to sprinkle some high-N fertilizer if you don;t put it through a compost heap first. Urea or ammoniumn nitrate are cheap and all-nitrogen, if you can get 50# bags from a feed store without being called a terrorist.

But not everyone worries about that. Certainly all the organic matter from sawdust will be great for the soil in the long run, even if it gives your plants some competition in the shrot run.

Spagnum moss to germinate, then transplant into 50 /50 mix by volume of spagnum / soil until garden sized.

"Instead, a good grade of "mulch" that I creen myself is $8 for 2 cubic feet - right in my price range: cheap-cheap-cheap!"

Hehehe, Corey, we're on the same channel there! Too funny!
Your pine bark mix is similar to what Al (Tapla) recommends and I find his formulas VERY useful, many being perfect.

Honeybee, I'm reading your post as an advertisement for Worms Way. *grin But I assure you, you can save much money (remember, "cheap-cheap-cheap" spoketh Rick Corey) by not adding things like worms castings, bone meal, trace elements. Seeds will germinate just fine w/out those in the soil. I have no doubt they grow well once they are up though (in that mix) but your mix is what I would up-pot them to, not start them in. And the addition of lime when using coir is not necessary either since coir is usually pH neutral. I think you'd get more mileage for your bucks saving your amendments for your repot mix.

Oh yeh, and you should be able to find all those ingredients at any garden center or big box store, saving you more money by not having to pay for shipping cost.

Oh yeh, Corey, I see that Honeybee mentioned she was putting the wood in her pathways, not i her garden soil so the addition of extra N is not needed in that case, yet another way she can save money, eh?

To answer the original question, I like using either MetroMix or Fafard 3B for seed starting as well as up-potting. Both work extremely well, require no amendments (for seeding) but I do tend to stretch it, as Corey mentioned, by adding either pine bark or extra perlite when potting up to bigger pots.

Shoe

Hi Shoe!

>> Your pine bark mix is similar to what Al (Tapla) recommends

Totally, Dude! I got the idea of screned bark plus grit from him, but never found it for sale at any price (Steubers in Snohomish was closed the one time I drove that far). Do you find Perlite cheap? I have to find better stores!

I wish I had some 3/8" hardware cloth, or 1/3". 1/2" is just too coarse, and for most of my purposes, 1/4" is too fine. I want to remove more fine stuff, faster, from what I use as seed-start or potting-up mix.

Sometimes I try to use 1/2" mesh by keeping only what passes through it "quickly"

>> Honeybee mentioned she was putting the wood in her pathways,

I missed that! Yes, very efficient, since it will suppress weeds and mud in the pathway, AND gradually compost without needing any turning other than by walking on it. Presumably after a few years it could be raked & shoveled onto a bed or compost pile.

Heh, heh ... maybe it will even suppress weeds in a walkway by stealing nitrogen from those little weedlings!

I wish I had a pile of sawdust, chips and bark for MY compost heap! I don't think I would use anything as fine as sawdust for top-dress mulch without mixing it with something much more coarse.

I've never mixed my own and am currently using Roots Organics for seed starting and potting up to the next sizes until they go in the garden or large containers. It's convenient for me since I still work full-time. The RO does not need supplemental amendments, it has lots of good minerals and fertilizers already.

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm very interested to see what everyone else is doing. You've received lots of great information already.

Corey, I get bags of perlite for around 15 bucks. I'll look tomorrow for the content; it is such a lightweight product it might sell by volume. The bags are about 2 ft wide and at four or five feet high. It really goes a long way because I use Al's mix, or several variations of it, quite often.

"I wish I had some 3/8" hardware cloth, or 1/3". 1/2" is just too coarse, and for most of my purposes, 1/4" is too fine."

I wonder if it would be worthwhile to go buy a plastic serving tray at the Dollar Store and drill 3/8" hole in it, spaced to your liking for what you want. (Serving tray like a kitchen tray or for those you hold on your lap when you're eating in front of the tv. *grin) Or maybe even a big bowl so all your mulch/bark stays in it, with proper sized holes drilled to your liking, eh?

Mary, Roots Organic gets rave reviews all over the I'net. I wish I could afford it, or get it at the price some online folks are getting it for. I'd use it for up potting though, saving my standard seed starting mix just for seed starting. And yep, RO is loaded with good stuff. Being the miser I am though I have had excellent results over the years simply feeding with fish emulsion or the like until planting out stage. (Ya'll are seeing the real penny pincher in me, eh?) *grin

Thanks for this thread, Honeybee. Great topic. Lots of good choices out there.

Shoe

For seed starting I use peat pellets, peat from a bag, wet paper towel in a plastic bag, potting soil or whatevers around. I figure they have cotyledons (nurse leaves) that feed the plant at least until the first set of true leaves show up. Last summer when it was really hot I started Swiss Chard on the tile floor in my Bathroom in plastic bags with wet paper towels. Didnt use soil/dirt until I potted them up, after they had germinated.

Then I pot them up into a complete mix, (there are many out there) I have to watch out for lime because our PH is so high and since I use well water Im sure that keeps the PH high but I still get great yields, or potting soil from the local commercial nursery. Then I add Fish emulsion and/or something with high phosphate depending on what Im growing, as needed. I do 1000s of seedlings every year like this and Im finding out that if I put the "sprouts" in when they are really small they seem to not suffer any transplant shock and its REALLY easy. I just pre fill the pots with the pre moistened growing medium use a chopstick to make a little hole and drop in the sprout. I do add amendments because different veggies have different needs. Last week I potted up about 350 seedlings for an order thats going out next week. I turned the GH heater up to 85* (just to see) and then it got hot here by itself and the plants have tripled in size. Now Im raising the lights. These plants were seeds on Jan. 3rd. I never dreamed they would be this big, they have almost another week to go, Im hoping the cooler weather will help slow them down.

Calalily-has taught me a lot about the different stages of starting plants from seeds since she is a commercial grower, like Shoe, and she direct seeds most if not everything. She doesnt use seed starter.

Great thread Bee!

>> buy a plastic serving tray at the Dollar Store and drill 3/8" hole in it,

The nice thing about hardware cloth is that it seems to be mostly open space, and I can cover 3'x4' steel shelving with a big piece. I think a 1'x2' tray with holes drilled would be too slow to work with, for me.

Temtping, though, to be able to remove most of the fines from a small amount of soil used solely for small cells, like a propagation tray with 128 cells ...

Corey, measure the holes in a kitchen colander -- small diameter, but deep.

Horseshoe -

I start seeds in individual pots, so unless the weather turns real cold, the seedlings don't get potted up. The extra amendments eventually help once the transplants are in the garden.

I've looked for various fertilizer components locally, but can't find them in larger bags (except dolomite lime). By the time I purchase several small bags, it amounts to one large bag, plus shipping from an online supplier.

Yes, I do get most of my gardening supplies from Worm's Way - they should be paying me for such great advertising. LOL

>> measure the holes in a kitchen colander

Thanks, but those are too small.

I do have some squares of wire cloth bought from MSC Direct in many tiny sizes, but they are too expensive for my purpose: $6-9 for a 12 inch square. 2'x2' would be my minimum desirable size for screening potting mix.

I just checked another vendor: McNichols.
$16 for a 2-foot length of 3 mesh, 36" wide. So far, reasonable.
Sjipping: $24. BZZZT

Maybe, next time I order from MSC, I will get one small 12" square, just to "polish" a small amount of mix - remove more of the fines.

Corey ~ I use a plastic "flat" from a nursery, that has the finer holes. It is free and needs no construction. I use these to sift the soil in my 4'X4' Square Foot Gardens. I think it could be used to sift potting soil as well.

Maybe a small sieve would work if I "pre-screen" the mulch first. In toher words, do as I do now, and remove anything that doesn;t pass thrrough 1/2" mesh quickly.

then remove as much as I have patience for, using the 1/4" mesh and trying to rubb the mulch through it with the back of a steel rake.

Then set aside some of that and re-screen it for starting seeds in the smallest plugtrays. For this year, drill some holes into a flat or tray. Next year, buy one suqare foot of 3-mesh (3 wires per inch, each way).

But I'm already far behind on my garden chores: building new raised beds, weeding, making soil, making bent-hoop plastic tunnels, .starting Salvia & Petunias & Violas ...

Corey

I'm with evelyn- the plastic plant flats work great, and come withe several size holes. Sometimes I nest 2 to use for sifting.

Mary ~ Do you start your seeds in it too, or just potting up after they have germinated? I understand that seedling don't need fertilizer until their true leaves appear, and then at quarter-strength.

(If you do this to start your seeds, I can understand the convenience.) I just have read so many books that told me that fertilizing was not necessary at the germinating stage.

I use equal parts peat, perlite and vermiculite. That's it. Occasionally, with certain seeds, I will add rough sand and/or grit to the mixture if it calls for especially free-draining mix. If I am starting them inside, I add some peroxide to the spray bottle and then when I finish putting the seeds in, I will give them a spritz, then enclose them in a plastic bag until germation has taken place.

Evelyn, yes, I start the seeds in Roots Organics and add no supplemental fertilizer. I had nearly 100% germination and the seedlings are very happy. I've read the same about no fertilizer at germination and sprouting time, but this worked great. Go figure.

Shoe, check with a local produce dealer, store or restaurant, one who buys Mexico produce. It comes in plastic crates with a grid like bottom. Some holes will be 1/2 but others will be around 1/3 inch. These are perfect for sifting bark, wood ashes (cold ones of course) and compost. These crates are usually throw away and the vendors are glad to get rid of them.

Great tip! When the local fruit stands open up again, I'll try that.

Some good advice given in this thread, including use of peroxide, vermiculite, watching for too much heat/light/humidity, da kine. I sprinkle fine vermiculite over the tray once it is seeded; I was tld it helps to inhibit fungi. I'm looking through the Seed Germination Forum as well.

Be careful with fine vermiculite, wear a dust mask when working with it.

One thing I have found when using expanded rock such as perlite and vermiculite, is to pour water over it before mixing it with the peat. No dust! I use a lot each year.