Hi everyone, Spring is on the way and I would love to hear from other members what is your "winning recipe" for seedling soil? Thanks a lot!:clap:
Purple Pear Propagation Hi Ellen. Not sure of availability in Africa but we use equal parts of cocopeat and crusher dust. They are both by-products and have in the past been pollution to some extent. The crusher dust come from crushing basalt for railway ballast and the coco peat from making coconut and coconut milk. The crusher dust is a local product here but the peat comes from OS unfortunately. Still we ate very happy with the job they do in raising seedlings with drainage and moisture retention taken care of and the added bonus of minerals injected by the dust. We add another part of compost to this to make potting mix for growing the seedling on before planting out in the mandalas.
Well it is spring time and it is best if you soil the ground and plant some trees on the ground. I thought of planting commercial tree so that it will result in prosperity. Are there any conditions or rules. It will be grateful if you can tell me.
The most important thing is that it be sterile. Especially if using organic seed It should be light, friable and not contain too much fertiliser, hold water but drain well
MA why does it have to be sterile? Seeds germinate in the dirty old garden like nobodies business with lots of bacteria / fungi around. Is it just an issue in commercial nursery settings or am I missing something?
You can get 'damping off', but I've never had it. My pots are filthy, I make weird mixes with my potting mix and put all sorts of stuff in. I have some indoors with some serious fungus on top, I assume if a seed germinated through it... I use commercial mix that I take from a backyard commercial nursery. I just put my fingers in my ears and shout "La-lal-la" when I pick it up. It's usually used with a chemical slow-release, I leave that out and add worm castings. Perhaps finely chopped comfrey may be a good addition too...
Your success rate is higher. This is important in Commercial set ups or if your seed is rare or takes some time to germinate. I too have a big box of potting mix that i throw any seed into that I collect in my travels, at the moment it is sprouting several Macadamias Personally I think all commercial mixes are a better bet than a home made one. I use, $3 a bag, cheap Coles Home Brand potting mix and sterile Vermiculite surrounding the seed, if I really want seeds to germinate as well as they can. I despair of people using say, horse manure, to grow seeds in and then complain about their failure