Do you use potting soil or soil less seed starting mix?
@Jennifer16628 (184)
United States
April 17, 2007 8:46am CST
I was wondering how you start your seedlings? Do you use potting soil? Potting soil ammended with fertilizers? A seed starting mix without any soil? I used the seed starting mix and found my 3 week old plants under great stress from what appears to be nutrient deficiencies. I know that planting in a soil could cause damping off. What have you used? Did it work or not? Thanks!
1 person likes this
4 responses
@Tir_Na_nOg (508)
• Ireland
17 Apr 07
I am a bit lazy about my gardening although I do like to keep it looking nice. Last month I planted a lot of seedlings and I just used peat moss. It is very cheap to buy a large bag of this rather than a bag of potting compost. I put the peat moss in small containers and then put two or three seedlings in each container. I have just checked on the seedlings and there is a few little leaves showing now. As soon as they are about four inches high, I will transfer them into the garden. Best of luck with your seedlings.
2 people like this
@Jennifer16628 (184)
• United States
17 Apr 07
Do you have to add any kind of fertilizer or nutrients to your seedlings at any time? My seedlings are only about 3 weeks old and showing terrible signs of deficiency. Do your seedlings remain strong until transplant without any supplementation?
@Tir_Na_nOg (508)
• Ireland
18 Apr 07
I don't add anything to the peat moss. I just keep the seedlings in a shaded area and water them every few days.
@lightningMD (5931)
• United States
17 Apr 07
When i start my seeds indoors i use the little peet discs that come in the covered trays. I have had great sucess with them. They are very easy to use, and you can save the trays and just buy the disc refills the next year.
@Jennifer16628 (184)
• United States
17 Apr 07
I used one of those trays this year for the first time. So far so good. Do you fertilize them at all? My neighbor gave me the tray with pellets but no information. I don't actually know what growing medium is in those little discs. :)
@mshogrider67 (565)
• United States
18 Apr 07
I use a 50/50 mix of sand and potting soil, I live in Florida so sand is way easy to fnd just walk out the front door. If you buy sand try to get a finer grade not playground grade it works better in my opinion
@kamalila (193)
• United States
18 Apr 07
I have had great luck with the Jiffy Peat pellets. However, if your plants get too big, they can get root bound.
Have you made sure to have only one plant in each pellet? I usually plant about three seeds in a pellet, and when they are about a week old I thin them to one or two, depending on the plant.
I have yet to add fertilizer to a peat pellet. I've had more issue with the plants outgrowing the pellets than them using up the nutrients. Peat is very nutritious for young plants.
How much light are your plants getting? Once they use up what was in the seed, they need sunlight. This could be the real problem. On days when it reaches 50 degrees F, I've been taking mine out at around noon to get more sun then bring them back in at around 5:00 PM. They've been very responsive.
