
Fri Oct 02, 2015 9:43 pm
Sat Oct 03, 2015 2:41 am
Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:18 am
Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:31 am
Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:56 am
Sat Oct 03, 2015 12:28 pm
Sat Oct 03, 2015 1:45 pm
Sat Oct 03, 2015 2:39 pm
Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:05 pm
Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:24 pm
rainbowgardener wrote:Peat moss by itself really is not good for starting seeds or growing in. Surely you can find something to lighten it up with. I don't know if you have told us where you are located. It would be a big help to change your profile to reflect that. There are hardly any garden questions that can be discussed without regard to location/ climate.
But I looked back and saw that you mentioned a walmart at one point. You know any of the big box stores, you can order on-line pretty much whatever you want and have it shipped to your local store for free and just pick it up from there. I know WalMart.com has perlite, coconut coir, a variety of potting soils, mushroom compost, etc etc. Just order what you want and have it shipped free to your local store.
In the meantime, mixing your peat with crushed lava rock, decomposed granite, coarse sand or whatever you can find would help to improve drainage. Pure peat holds water like crazy, until it starts to dry out and then it sucks water away from your plants and becomes very difficult to wet again.
And your peat by itself is sterile - no nutrients. So you definitely have to be fertilizing your seedlings regularly while they are in sterile medium.
Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:43 pm
Sat Oct 03, 2015 3:59 pm
rainbowgardener wrote:Sorry, I couldn't find anywhere where you told us you were in Egypt. I did skim through your previous posts, but maybe I went too fast.
Your backyard sand would help mixed in with the peat. Just look up pictures of what the seedlings of what you planted should look like to distinguish from weeds.
But still a sterile mix that will require regular fertilizing.
Sat Oct 03, 2015 4:56 pm
Sat Oct 03, 2015 6:49 pm
imafan26 wrote:1/4 to 1/2 strength sounds good but no more than once a week. I still prefer to use a slow release fertilizer instead. It is less expensive in the long run. I do agree with rainbow that peat moss by itself will be too heavy but it is a good medium. Adding 50% coarse sand helps but sand will be much heavier than perlite. If the seedlings are small bottom watering is better but they should not stay in the tray longer than 10 minutes. You don't want to keep the media soggy or you will have problems with dampening off.
Sat Oct 03, 2015 9:19 pm
Mon Nov 16, 2015 6:25 pm
Mon Nov 16, 2015 6:47 pm
Tue Nov 17, 2015 4:15 pm