I get asked a lot which is better for starting seeds for the vegetable garden, Seed Starting Mix or Potting Soil, and today I’m answering.
Seed Starting 101: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV4yju06I54
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Watching several channels Hollis and Nancy suggest using cinnamon to combat gnats. Personally haven't done it yet but worth a try
New gardener here. I've been watching videos like crazy, ……which may be why I'm confused. Will moving my tiny curls of green from the "incubator" into the light before they have true leaves hurt them?
Hello, what if you’ve got larger pots to start your seeds? Do you still use seed starter first? But then be ready to plant it in the garden?
I mix seed starting mix 50/50 with potting soil. It gives me the nutrients and a fluffier mix than potting soil.
I'm so glad you made this video! I personally think seed starting mix is a scam. I've been using potting soil to start thousands of seeds, just like you, and my plant starts always look better than the nurseries' plants near me. I like Promix the best right now after trying lots of others. I get great germination. I also use the Espoma Grow and dilute with water to feed them once a week. When I tell people I start my seedlings with potting mix they always look at me like I'm crazy, but now I'll just point them toward this video!
Stores around here didn't have seed starting mix, did have potting soil – so I used potting soil!
Seeds and seedlings don't need nutrition until later. After a few weeks a very weak water soluble fertilizer is perfect.
Then again I'm also lazy… I prefer to feed a 1/4 strength solution of fish emulsion every few weeks to having the mess and bother of potting up. I start in larger containers like the solo.
Jess, you look extra radiant in this video!! The joy is evident!
Fantastic info. 🙂
Thank you so much. I have tried everything except potting sail. Time to test.
I've always bought transplants from the nursery. This is my first year starting seeds myself. I did a 50/50 mix of seed start and garden bed potting soil. My seedlings are doing so well!! I'm having a hard time thinning them out because they're all looking so good! But alas, I don't have the shelf space to keep them all, and it's time to up-pot. My family will probably get my castoffs.
I have watched "lots" of people getting started with their gardening and none of them have ever explained why they use what they are using and why like you have.
I am so glad to learn that potting mix is just fine! I always have that on hand for houseplants but the seed starting mix is an extra. Thank you Jess for sharing your experience with us!
Jess – This was perfect timing.. I have been transferring my seedlings for awhile and I just decided I wasn't going to do that next year. I was going to start them in a pot first. (first year doing this) It also explains why my tomatoes seedling leaves are turning yellow. Your videos have let me know it is okay to make mistakes, it doesn't have to perfect, and just love what you are doing. I love what I am doing. Cant wait to get my babies in the ground.
100% on your seed starting advice. I DO make my own seed starting mix, but I never sterilize anything, and reuse the same pots for YEARS. In my experience (knock on wood) 90% of issues people have are from overwatering. I've learned that the hard way through the years. Water less. Allowing the surface to dry out a bit cuts way down on fungus/damping off and other disease issues. I often water my seeds in, and then don't water again for 5 or 6 DAYS if I have a cover on the flat.
Do nats mess up the soil and if nats are in the soil how do you rid of them.
I had the exact same reasoning, wondering why the hell I am pulling my tiny onion seedlings from coconut coir only to transplant them in potting soil a week later (?). I decided to start my tomatoes and peppers in some potting soil on a whim (despite being advised otherwise), but was full of self-doubt as a relatively new gardener. I feel so much better now!
After watching this video I had an idea and decided to do an experiment with it and I am coming back here to update that it worked perfectly! I decided to start some seeds where the majority of the soil in the container was potting soil but the top 3/4 ish inch was the sterile coconut fiber starting mix. I started others with just potting soil and others with just the coconut fiber starting mix as my two controls. The plants started in the coconut fiber starting medium with potting soil beneath it did the best and grew long healthy root systems because the seeds got to start in the loose substrate first but then as they grew roots they reached down into the more fertile potting soil. I would recommend trying it out yourself but I think I will start seeds like this from now on!
Tomatoes and peppers started from seed in potting soil: I got a late start, and they are only about 3 weeks old. They have been separated out into larger pots. They have multiple sets of true leaves. My question is this: since we are in no danger of any more frost (8a), should I baby them a little bit longer under grow lights, or go ahead and plant them as soon as possible after hardening them off?
You explain well and I understand you a lot more than others. I am staying here for a while as my primary instruction! 🙂 My other favorite is Migardner (because I live in Michigan!), but I tend to get lost in listening to Luke and have to listen to it again.
Another downside to seed staring mix is they often have peat moss in them which is a non-sustainable resource. The harvesting of peat bogs is starting to take a toll on wildlife habitat and the peat grows so slowly it takes the places they harvest it from decades to regrow.
Edit: Research the company you buy it from and avoid companies that harvest it wild. Some peat is harvested on farms and I haven’t done enough research into the practices they use to say whether it’s sustainable or not. Maybe it’s an issue that’s being fixed!
What if I just use potting mix
What an amazing adventure! Thanks for taking us with you. Bless you