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Crafting the Perfect [#PeatFree] Starting Mix for Seeds & Planting Success
"Seed Starting Mix Ingredients
- #CocoCoir - Coconut husk fiber is the main growing medium in this recipe. Pro-Tip: When purchasing coco coir, pay attention to the product's grade (or coarseness) and salt content. You do not want chipped shells or particulates in it. I recommend ultra-fine premium grade A compressed coco coir blocks that are already triple-washed to remove salt.
- Vermiculite - Vermiculite is critical in your seed starting mix. It is an expanded volcanic rock that is very porous, allowing it to hold onto water and nutrients so they don’t drain through the soil.
- Perlite - Perlite is an expanded volcanic glass used in high-quality seed starting mixes to prevent compaction and allow better drainage. There are different grades of perlite. I prefer using fine to medium perlite. Extra-fine will work, too, but you will need to add more of it.
- Water - Warm water works best and speeds up the process, but you can also use cold water if that is all you have available.
- Fertilizer - Most seed starting mixes do not contain fertilizer. Since we are making our own, we can add it right into the seed starting mix. Choose a well-balanced, slow-release fertilizer, such as Trifecta+ and/or a gentle fertilizer like worm castings." [I plan on using worm castings.]
Learn more:
https://migardener.com/blogs/blog/starting-mix-for-seeds/
#Gardening #SeedStartingMix #SeedStarting #SolarPunkSunday #PeatFreeStartingMix
@DoomsdaysCW
I never use Vermiculite or Perlite. Their production consumes so much energy that the ecological effect of growing your own vegetables is eliminated. Cococoir and sharp sand is enough.
No fertilizer in seed starting mix. It might etch the first fine roots. It's not necessary beause the seeds contains everthing a seedling needs.
@Irisfreundin So, where do you get your sand? Do you sterilize it or wash it before using?
@DoomsdaysCW I can buy Sand for gardening on ebay. It is already washed.
@Irisfreundin Excellent! Thanks again! I have some perlite on hand to use up, but I'll keep that in mind for the next batch!
@Irisfreundin So, I have a source of local sand (not beach sand), and tried to use some for my plants, but it needed to be sterilized. I'm going to try this method (I've used similar ones to sterilize soil).
How To Sterilize Sand For Plants? 3 Proven Steps!
shameless plug:
If you don't want to use Perlite, then consider #biochar. It is actually CO2 negative in production.
And it works pretty well to store water etc.
@coalburner3000 @DoomsdaysCW Grinded lava is the best.
That's probably why plants grow back like crazy after a volcanic eruption! @Irisfreundin @coalburner3000
@DoomsdaysCW @coalburner3000
I use the fine grinded ganules (1-3 mm) to mix into every potting soil.
The size 5-8mm I use to cover the soil around trees and bushes.
Yeah, vulcanic ash has loads of minerals and basically counts as fertilizer.
(mineral fertilizer not nitrogen based one)
@coalburner3000 @Irisfreundin @DoomsdaysCW Where does one buy biochar?
@InkySchwartz @Irisfreundin @DoomsdaysCW
I burn my own, #biochar is just a fancy word for good quality charcoal ^^.
The easiest option would be to just check your hardware store. Many of those stores sell earth with coal added.
For the pure coal there are online shops specialized for that, like https://www.pflanzenkohle24.de/. In principle i don't want endorse a specific vendor and but that one seems to have good processes.
But while burning you produce CO2. Maybe this will be fixed during the coming 30 years by a tree, you produce it now.
To tell it's CO2 neutral is only true when you count in decennia.
right. Sorry, i didn't mention that in detail, i should have done so.
The coal takes millenia to decompose though, so it is considered CO2 negative after the initial CO2 debt.
The wood used needs to be sourced responsibly or it will have negative effects.
And at the end the coal needs to end up buried not burned. Or it won't be CO2 negative at all -_-
@coalburner3000 I know this argumentation. I don't believe it. Producing charcoal produces CO2 _now_ and we have to reduce CO2-production _now_.
The argumentation of CO2 negativity comes from the wood exploiting industry.
I DO understand your point. But there is science for it:
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1053
The CO2 neutral for wood burning is not true, because transport etc makes the whole thing CO2 negative. But #pyrolysis conserves quite a lot of CO2 as pure C. Way more than is needed for transport etc.
So on a decades+ view is CO2 negative for sure.
Your point about it not being CO2 negative short term might true.
I personally use collected dead wood so CO2 should preferable to methane.
But i'm actually happy about your skepticism :-)
I'm kind of going insane on the fact that there is CO2 negative energy production and nobody cares for it.
Like you CAN actually produce electricity and e-fuels as byproduct of the the coal production -_-
The better framing i worked on is that it is a carbon negative way to use solar power using trees as self reproducing collectors ^^
And if you don't like burning wood:
You can use basically ANYTHING that is a carbon hydrate:
waste wood, harvest waste and literal shit :-)
For feces you might need extra solar power to dry it though.
@coalburner3000 I do not wish to use charcoal anyway. For me it's a sort of back door to let unecolocical things which bring nothing but profit into gardening. And e-fuel is a big lie anyway.
not sure what the point of that statement is.
#biochar is very ecological by about any metric you can put on it.
And like i burn and donate away my coal, that can't be called profit oriented.
It is even very traditional and thousands of years old. Check terra pretta as keyword.
But it seems you just don't like it based on gut feeling. Nothing i can do about that.
@coalburner3000 When someone has made profit with a specific product (wood) and when there's danger to loose this profit, they will find a way to keep it. Arguing with ecology seems very effective for that. And you'll always find someone to prove it "scientificly".
Charcoal hasn't been used in agrar production before at most 20 years. When the discussion about destroying woods came up, sudenly this charcoal movement started. That makes me highly suspicious. It's not a feeling, it's experience.