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PunkRotten
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Soil for starting seeds?

Hi,

Do you folks just use seed starting soil you buy from the store or make your own? If you make your own, what do you use? Thanks

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soil
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homemade soil is far superior.

I use my homemade wormcastings and compost mixed with crushed local lavarock(very cheap) and some sand(free from the creek beds), size sifted depending on the size of the seeds. simple and effective.

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rainbowgardener
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I tried making my own from a little bit of sifted garden soil, compost, peat moss, and vermiculite. But the compost has to be sterilized if you don't want to bring a bunch of creepy crawlies in the house. One time I thought I could skip the sterilizing by using frozen compost, thinking freezing would have killed them. As soon as I brought it in the house and it warmed up and thawed out, creepy crawlies started pouring out of it! There's probably more of them holed up in a block of frozen compost than an equivalent amount of ordinary compost. Imagine my surprise! Compost baking in your oven smells pretty awful. And by the time I bought the peat moss and vermiculite, I was spending as much money as buying soil.

So I just buy potting soil. Not the special seed starting kind, just regular potting soil in giant bags. It's pretty cheap that way and works for me.

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gixxerific
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I make a mix out of purchased soil and my own compost.

If you go with buying soil I start about now and go Lowe's and Home Depot every week and buy the ripped bags. They are half off so I stock up. I go for the organic (OMRI if possible) stuff like mushroom compost, manure, potting soil etc. The mix changes year to year. I also buy Dr Earth's potting soil and use that as a base for Mycorrhiza benefits.

Whatever you use keep it light and fluffy. The little seedlings need ease of movement when starting out.

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PunkRotten
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Thanks for sharing all that info. I didn't really think about the discounted bags. I will probably look for it next time I visit a lowes/home depot.

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Kisal
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Location: Oregon

Like Rainbow, I have found it least expensive just to use regular potting mix. For seeds, I often use a soilless mix, because the seeds already contain all the nutrients they need, and the absence of soil helps protect against fungal infections. At the first transplanting, I move the starts into regular potting mix. :)

garudamon11
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Location: Sharjah, UAE

I like using soil that is mainly sand mixed with something that stays moist



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