Hey everyone, hope all is well. Just wondering about making a seed starting mix. That's all this will be used for, I won't be growing the plants in this for the duration of their lives just strictly to get them going. Right now I'm in lack of compost and don't currently have the money to purchase any so I'm wondering if I can mix up something without it. Right now I currently have: peat moss, perlite, crab shell, lime, neem, karanja, and I think alfalfa. So with my available materials what can I mix up and at what ratio can I mix it in order to get my plants going? I'm guessing it would be something like peat/perlite/crab shell/lime but since I usually use compost I'm not sure what my ratio should be. Also how long does this have to cycle or does it even have to sit before I use it? Oh and I might have some freeze dried aloe can I use that also, like a wetting agent perhaps? Thanks for the assistance on this. - One love.
if its only for germinating seeds i would go with just peat and perlite. add some lime at 1tbs per gallon. but you will need to transplant once they get their fourth set of true leaves.
Right away is ok. The only thing in there that is capable of spreading is the lime, which is fine diluting into the peat and perlite as you water the seedling.
Make sure the mix has been totally saturated with water and drained before planting in it. Dry peat repels water and the wetting is essential. Kicks the lime into gear too. I use either Ivory liquid or aloe juice as a wetting agent. It really helps the peat accept moisture.
Excellent advice. I like aloe myself. I'll mix up some of the freeze dried aloe I've got and water it in. Would it be better to bottom water so that it absorbs better instead of there being runoff from top watering? Or maybe top water with my container sitting in another container soaking back up the runoff? Thanks again. - One love.
Yes, LOL I've done all those and you'll see what works best for you. I like the container in a container for mixes that have dried out but have been previously wet. The initial wetting of peat moss is a real bear, but only needs to be done once. Lots of hand mixing. I'll explain, since I just made 5 gallons of seed starting/clone mix 2 days ago while expanding 15 gallons of compressed peat for later use. I have an old frame with expanded lath that I used to use for grinding fresh spagnum moss back in the day, very much like a giant cheese grater than a screen. Anyway, I run the compressed peat through this to break up clumps and screen out 'knots' of peat that never seem to break down or absorb anything. Tedious work, but pays off down the road in the mix. Anyway, I got my 15 gallons and did a bit more to fill a 5gal bucket ~half full. Filled another bucket the same with perlite. Neither of these buckets had any drainage holes BTW. To the peat bucket I added a healthy 1/2 cup of dolo lime, ~1/4 cup of kelp meal and most of a party cup full of fresh VC. All this was done in handfuls or partial handfuls except for the party cup, which was just handy.. Everything was mixed with the peat as added, with the lime being first. The kelp meal and VC were there for minerals, trace, and biology rather than for any N-P-K value. Not much is needed. Once the peat was well blended I started adding perlite. Was doing everything in the buckets, but ended up dumping it all into the mixing tub because it got too tiring to mix a full bucket by hand (Old age). Anyway, it got mixed and filled a 5g bucket nicely with no excess. Now the fun part, getting it all wet. If you've ever added liquid to flour in a bowl, it's much the same. Takes a lot of mixing to get it evenly wet. I've also found that it takes a bit under half of the volume of mix in water for the initial wetting. ie: ~2 1/2 gallons of water for 5 gallons of mix. I normally do everything in a wheelbarrow with a bit over 2cf of mix, a shovel and ~7 gallons of water. For this I used 2 - 5gal buckets and my hands. Mostly filled a 2 1/2 gallon watering can with hot tap water and ~3/4 cup of aloe juice. Poured some on the top of the mix, mixed with my hand till I hit dry mix and plopped the moistened mix into the second bucket. Repeat till you hit the bottom of the bucket making sure everything is moistened and no dry clumps. THEN ... I plopped everything into a bucket WITH drainage holes, set it on the driveway and watered it with a gallon or so of hot aloe water and there it still sits, draining and coming to life. I'll move it in a few days. WOW! It took much more to explain than to actually do it, but after a few times it becomes second nature. Mainly, make sure there are no dry spots when done or they will never absorb water. But, once the surface tension of the peat is broken it seems to stay that way, even if it dries out later. HTH