Get Near-Perfect Germination Using This Seed Starting Mix
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- Опубликовано: 24 июл 2024
- Starting seeds indoors doesn't need to feel like trial and error! Making the right peat-free potting mix can get you near perfect germination every time. The beginner's mistake is to buy an all-purpose compost but by picking a compost designed for seeds and adding two extra ingredients you can get high germination, eliminate surface mould issues, have both great water retention and drainage (I know... amazing, right?) and avoid root and seed rot issues.
Honestly, this seed mix has changed how I grow food - a literal game-changer, not just hyperbole - so in this video I'm going to share what ingredients I use to make my 'perfect' seed starting mix and in what ratios you need to mix them. I'll also show you a few other tricks I use to help get the seeds to germinate faster.
If you want to make my signature seed starting mix you'll need the following components:
The base ingredient: amzn.to/3I2xSrr
The light and fluffy Goldilocks material: amzn.to/49jQ2Rv
Those (dusty) pebbles: amzn.to/42GATY4
These are affiliate links to products I've been using for a few years. Affiliate links support the channel but legally that makes parts of this video an advert and I need to disclose that fact to you because as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
I also have strong feelings about bottom-watering so the seed isn't disturbed and the soil isn't compacted. But maybe that's a topic for another video....
And, as always, Happy Gardening!
Garden equipment I love and think you might too:
⛏️ Dig, remove weeds & hammer stuff in with one tool: amzn.to/3OD1boy
🏡 Grow food for longer with this: amzn.to/3QkaafN
💧 Water your plants directly at the roots with this: amzn.to/3EP1abv
🪴 I'm growing aubergines and potatoes in these collapsible and breathable containers:
amzn.to/45a4j0O
🌍 Love organic peat-free compost? I'm using this in my containers: amzn.to/43Uu5oP
🌱 Maximise germination with these propagator cells: amzn.to/45cJqC1
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This doesn't affect the price you pay but helps support the channel.
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🌐 Website: www.alexgrowsfood.com/
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And I get almost all of my music and sound effects from Epidemic Sound. Upgrading to a paid service was a game-changer. There's a 7-day free trial at: share.epidemicsound.com/76meao
Credit to the following artists courtesy of Epidemic Sound (this isn't a requirement of using the service, I just think they are banging tunes):
Victor Lundberg / 'Down By The Creek'
Blinkley / 'Lovely Ghost'
Victor Lundberg / 'Tell Me I Should Have Known'
Chapters
0:00 - Why Your Seed Starting Mix Determines Your Growing Success
0:42 - The Base Compost
2:31 - Coconut Coir
4:28 - Add Perlite To Improve Drainage
5:38 - How To Make The Perfect Seed Starting Mix
6:18 - Sow Seeds, Speed Up Germination and Proving Enough Light
#growyourownfood #startingseeds #vegetablegarden 
Хобби
Links to each component of my mix are in the description and if you want to get started growing food then you can sow these seeds now: ruclips.net/video/y9Wf76jMTbQ/видео.html
No lungs were damaged during the making of this film! Seriously though, it does get pretty dusty (I got something in my eye at 2:56, that’s why I twitched) so be sure to ventilate when using the third ingredient & consider wearing eye protection for ingredients 2 & 3. Wearing gloves is probably a very good idea too if you use some of the less reputable composts...
Just coming across your channel for the first time- great video!👏👏👏
Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it
Great video as always! I've been stock piling stuff and I'll hopefully get some seed started this week. The area in the basement is getting better all the time. I've learned that if you aren't ready, don't start. I've learned this lesson the hard way so just a bit more clearing the space and I'll have a clean slate to work from. I'm getting pretty excited.
Thanks Chris! Yeah it can be a bit like Tetris sometimes fitting all the plants in and moving them around to water or transplant - doing that whilst clearing out space each time is probably a nightmare, I've left plants in unlit hallways for weeks. I've got stacks of boxes in alcoves that would otherwise be great growing areas but maybe that's for another year. Hope all your seeds do well and are ready in time for that short season up there
I watched a gardening video, and he even said to use cat litter as a cheaper option.? just wondering what your thoughts on that would be 💚🌱💚
You know, I'm glad you asked this. I had this thought the other day... I've got some of the non-clumping stuff that comes as white pebbles. It's definitely not the same because cat litter does retain moisture and doesn't provide as much air. Perlite also floats while I think my cat litter would sink. I'd probably compare it more to a grit than perlite which would help with drainage at least.
But right now I can get both perlite and Catsan for about £10 for 10L on Amazon, so I'd probably just go for the perlite. There are cheaper brands which might work out better but they behave differently and the wood shavings style litter and the wood pellet style cat litters wouldn't work at all (too absorbent). Also check there's no active or toxic ingredients. Catsan is limestone and quartz which might be fine (I'm not an expert) but it might break down a bit better over time in the ground than perlite maybe.
Interesting question though. I bet it would work, just a little different. Fancy giving it a go and reporting back to the class?
@@alexgrowsfood definitely would like to give it a go as a science experiment would be interesting to do,thanks for the reply
❤
Thanks Roshan!
Goodness Alex I have been growing seeds in multipurpose compost all these years and I always find they get mouldy 😅 . Every year it’s like a race to get them big enough to transplant before the mould gets them. Now I know why! Thank you soooo much. I’m going to try this. I’ve just sown 1000’s of foxgloves but I’ve still got more seed so I hope to do a fresh batch with your recipe 💫🙌
Thanks Andrea! I've not tried foxgloves but I suspect it should be just as good. I didn't get into it much but capping the pot off with coir (which should dry faster than the mix underneath) and bottom-watering (so it doesn't compress) seems to do the trick - I've not had mould this way anyway! Maybe some algae if I leave the pots outside sitting in water for six months or so.... but that seems fair to me.
😄tough love @@alexgrowsfood
Is it more important to have 100% germination and average plants or 75% germination and Amazing plants? It’s all about the end product, yes?
It's a fair point but I don't think you sacrifice plant quality this way either (I've just not done a side by side comparison to show in this video). Mainly it's not an issue because the compost here is pretty darn good but also because at the early seedling stage nutrient uptake isn't high and it's root development and good drainage that is super important. Heavier composts might actually hinder seedling growth. Most will be transplanted anyway which means they only need to be in here for a month or so at which point we can think about using a different mix - swapping a seedling mix for something richer and maybe reducing the coir & perlite content. The end product during this phase is really the seedlings at the point of transplant.
It could also be argued that 75% is a little low and it might get impractical handling all the extra trays or expensive losing seeds like chilli peppers. At 90 or 95%, then the time saving by not transplanting might balance out but it depends on a lot.
I hope that makes sense - I think it comes down to the fact that these seedlings will outgrow their pots so they don't really lose out and can benefit from the looser soil.
The problem with coir is not the environmental issues. It's the terrible conditions the workers who process it have to deal with. They suffer from respiratory conditions, eye problems and also some muscular disorder like headache, back pain, hand pain, leg pain, and knee pain so we can feel good about not using peat. Even they are healthy they are subject to very low wages below the poverty line. The choice here is between human welfare and environmental welfare which is not really something you can win.
This is why I prefer to use composted bark but will also use a small bit of peat (in trials it improves germination) and don't feel bad about that. This reason I don't feel bad is I try to minimise the amount of 'product' I use in general (all but the largest beans I sow in 1" modules) and try to use my own compost in beds. This means that I 'only' use maybe 50L of peat to grow thousands of plants a year. I use 50% bark, 25% peat, 25% perlite.
My 60 cell tray is ~1.3L of material. If I'm using 25% peat that's 3 trays per litre and 150 trays (9,000 cells) per bag of peat. It's not this high I admit because I do beans in about 8x the volume and I also pot on tomatoes/chillies/cucurbits. So it ends up being more like 4,000 cells + pots. However I feel like the carbon and wildlife habitat that I'm providing with that amount of plants offsets the loss from the bog. I've been 'forced' to bulk buy 10 bags instead of the usual 1 this year due to the ban which should do me for 5-10 years.
p.s. if you have space you can buy 100L of perlite for £20 instead of 10L for £10.
So not all coir is created equal. There are definitely bad players but some companies are more responsible. As it happens I actually put your point to the MD of one of the nicer compost manufacturers today (who uses coir and recycled coir in their mix) and they ensure certain standards are met or they won't use that supplier. I also spoke to another manufacturer who won't use coir because they want it all to be local - they are a peat free option and they are a third choice (you can win).
And it's not just about feeling good about not using peat. Coir is a great product on its own. And of course we obviously feel very different about peat, I'm not going to be able to agree with your justification - but given it's going away anyway, our view on it doesn't matter. I personally hate it for its properties - I think it's rubbish and unnecessary, but that's because I've (almost) always grown differently. In thirty years time I'm sure I'll be upset when there's a coir ban or something like that
@@alexgrowsfood I mean they are not going to come back to you and say 'yeah bro we have sweatshops across India in terrible conditions to bring you the cheapest product possible' are they? Companies are always going to tell you positive things about their products.
Pure peat isn't great on it's own for seeds. It needs something to give air to the mix but a little helps a lot. This is commonly shown in a multitude of tests people have done comparing composts on this platform.
End of the day though, we all garden how we want to and whatever makes you happy is fine by me.
Utter nonsense, Peat is good .Unsubscribed.
Oh I'm sorry you feel that way. Care to elaborate?
Troll I’ve found this video after having problems with peat please explain 🤔
It is good to use, but it's true that it can stay too wet for too long, you can have issues like he talked about. If you're a beginner seed starter, it can be easier to use something g else.
In their defence, I think a lot of people struggle moving to a different material especially if they've been using it a long time. When I started I had a bad experience with peat and then tried alternatives and ended up with this blend. From my perspective I can't comprehend why someone would prefer peat or hate coconut coir. They probably have the opposite issue with us not liking peat
I would be curious if they had a good reason though. I think Rocket Gro overcomes the issue with drying out that some peat-free-haters seem to complain about but that might not be their complaint...
I think also the quality varies a lot more between manufacturers because they use their own proprietary blends. When you start out, a coir brick will more or less produce the same consistency each time. In the UK the up-coming peat ban is definitely causing issues for some producers and causing a lot of resentment from some older consumers