How do I mix my own growing medium?

I'd like to mix my own growing medium for starting seeds. I already have a quantity of peat moss that I could use. I looked at the ingredients on a bag in the store and it listed peat moss and pearlite. One person suggested I sift the peat moss and mix it with pearlite with a 10:1 ratio. Was this good advice?

My good advice is to wear a mask when working with dry perlite...it is the equivalent of spun glass on your mucous membranes (nose and throat and lungs)

Oh, that wasn't the question :)) You could try 10:1, but offhand I think 10:2 might be better to really get some good drainage going for seed starting. I'd use 10:1 for mum cuttings, tho. I wouldn't bother sifting the peat. You can pick out any big hunks that are on top with your fingers, and big hunks down in the pot don't matter -- just the top 1/2 inch.

Peat is a funny animal. Do you have any of those water crystals? (There is a coop going on now with very reasonable prices). I am not good with peat - it is either too wet or too dry...never just right unless I add water crystals. The ones in the coop are size large and need to by downsized in a coffee bean grinder, mortar/pestal, somehting along those lines until they are a little bigger than dust. About the size of espresso roast coffe if that helps any.

Mask and perlite -- remember that! A huge cloud of white stuff will come up as soon as you open and tilt that bag to pour it out.

Suzy

Does the perlite provide drainage? If so, would it be logical to assume that you could make a good mix with Sand and Peat (as opposed to Perlite and Peat)?

thx,

jt

Straight peat has a PH of about 3.5, which is too low to grow in. I would use a soiless mix that has the peat, perlite, a wetting agent (that makes the peat accept water a lot easier) and a lime charge to raise the PH to about 6.2

Oh, yeah, forgot about that ole pH, Thanks Tiger!

No to your other idea, too, Sharkey. LOL! (I hope you're not new to DG because I don't feel like I'm being very nice to you. LOL!!!

Yes on the drainage, though.. sand=good drainage, except I don't know about Florida sand and peat. Peat floats and northern sand sinks....northern sand doesn't even stay mixed with potting soil for 2 months, so with peat it wouldn't stay mixed for 3 weeks. This is so unfortunate because a mix of northern sand and soilless potting mix in a 2:10 ratio was dabomb for germination for me last year. No crusty tops, no green mold, no damping off, no water repellant-ness (repellancy?), no trouble at all!

But northern sand sinks and makes its own layer...the seedling easily root into it, but it fall apart and away form the soilless mix at planting time and all your roots rip apart. And peat floats to the top.

Perlite isn't as bad as I'm making it sound just wear a little mask that painter's use -- the white ones with the clip at your nose. The good thing is I can lift a huge bale of it over my head...wet or dry, it is lighter than peat.

There are tons of recipes for making your own mix, but try to find an American one. In England they have Hoof and Horn, and other oddities, we don't have here....so use NJ Greensand, Bonemeal, cottonseed meal and bloodmeal provide NPK and the rest have a lot of trace minerals....Peat needs lime, too. Very Important.

Suzy

I just use straight vermiculite for seed starting. Dampened first with the camomille tea / hydrogen peroxide solution we talked about on another thread. A little messy to deal with because of the way it likes to stick to your hands but the seeds seem to like it.

MaryMc, Does vermiculite work on those seeds that take 3 months to germinate? I worry about it drying out. Also, what size (grade) vermiculite have you found to be the best? I'vebeen thinking about it...or maybe using 1/2" on top of my regular soilless mix. But then I worry about the water perking through well enough.

Thanks to all of you who responded. Yes, Suzy, I am brand new to DG. I recently retired and now have lots of time to "play" with my houseplants and plan my spring/summer flower garden. I've read a lot on this site that was helpful, so I joined. Yesterday I went ahead and mixed the pearlite with the peat. I DID wear a mask--thanks for the good advice, though. The peat dust was more of a problem than the pearlite. I planted a few seeds--just to experiment before I use any more and waste my seeds. I used the left-over 6-packs I had saved, (not talking about beer) then placed them in large ziploc bags. I'm having trouble figuring out how to keep them warm. I have another 72-pk Jiffy greenhouse with the top on it in which I planted seeds as well. This is something I really want to become successful doing, so I hope you people will continue to respond to my questions. I'm sure I'll have some dumb ones! I have a good sense of humor, so don't worry about offending me. I have a lot to learn about using this site as well. All of you would have laughed if you could have seen me sifting peat moss with my 40-yr old, beaten-up hand sifter!!!

Well, then Welcome to Dave's!

I wish I had a handsifter -- gosh, I've been married 30 years, and my sifter was my mom's...my good sifter is probably 40 years old. LOL! Do you mean the old crank sifters? I would love one of those!

What kinds of things are you going to grow?

Suzy

This is the old crank kind that I bought when I got married many decades ago. It is bent and rusted. I almost threw it away, but I saw one in an antique store just like it. That's when I realized I needed to upgrade my kitchen. My sister found a stainless steel crank kind made by Williams and Sonoma and gave it to me for Christmas.

I've become obsessive about flowers lately. I plan to plant everything from marigolds, dahlias, portulaca, vinca, zinnias (so easy), phlox, and others. I've started pots of Italian herbs, I have bulbs, and lots of houseplants. I love trying to root cuttings from them. I could plan to purchase the flowers, but I love the challenge of trying to grow from seeds. I also have bell pepper and a few tomato seeds planted. Because of our clay soil, I'm limited because there are only a few spots that have good soil, so I plan to line a small area with flowers and plant the peppers and tomatoes. My favorite is growing tobasco peppers and making hot sauce.

My husband offered to build a greenhouse for me, but after doing all the research, I'm overwhelmed with all the decision-making and may not take him up on his offer. I think the heating in winter would be the main problem. I posted a question concerning this, but put it in the wrong place--not being used to using this site.

Illoquin, I have never germinated a seed that takes that long so cannot speak to that issue, sorry. But my six-pack cells have no problem staying as damp as I want them, I just make sure there is some tea solution in the bottom of the flat before I leave for work and check it when I get home.

Re: size of vermiculite, gosh, I didn't know there were sizes of the stuff. I just grab what's on the shelf at the nursery or Home Depot, depending on where I am when I need it. I can check the bag when I get home and let you know later.

Sharkey (nice name! lol) you really don't have to sift the peat. Seeds germinate fine in it. Also it helps to wet down the peat first and mix it and then start to use it. It will wet down easier that way and there won't be much dust.

Tigerlily123, Don't let my username intimidate you. I earned it by catching big sharks. Maybe that's why I don't get a lot of responses (lol). It was a lot of trouble sifting the peat--and my face was covered in dark dust. I will mix another batch without sifting. I wet it and stirred it until it felt right, then put it in the containers. I'll know in a few days if the seeds are going to germinate. How important is temperature for the newly planted seeds? I'm thinking of sitting them on my electric blanket. We don't run the central heat 24-7.