Which Grow Medium Works Best For Germinating? Seed Starting Experiment
Which Grow Medium Works Best For Germinating? Seed Starting Experiment
#germinatingseeds #growmediums #seedstarting
I was thinking to myself there has to be a better way to germinate seeds. What grow medium works best for germinating? Let’s get seeds starting. So the seed starting experiment began. I experimented with 5 different grow mediums-soil, vermiculite, rockwool insulation, sphagnum moss and peat moss. Each grow medium had the same seeds -lettuce, kale, spinach, bok choy and arugula. Off the experiment went. Right off the bat i’ve noticed that the rockwool had a super hard time soaking up the water. Once it did though, it worked. MAJOR downside is that it doesn’t hold on to water so literally every day I had to water. Vermiculite was super small and crumbly but once it was moist then it was fine. it dried out fast but not nearly as fast as rockwool. the seedlings germinated the FASTEST with vermiculite. I personally can’t stand peat moss. It takes forever for it to rehydrate and it could get incredibly messy, although I’m just super picky. Peat moss is used in gardening so in the end I still have to use it but it is good to hold on to water. Downside is that when it dries out, it DRIES out! like bad and it’s one hell of a time rehydrating. The mosses were up there with the vermiculite in germinating fast. Soil was the SLOWEST in germinating, Go figure! Fungus gnats were predominantly in soil. Definitely an interesting and informative experience germinating seeds in trays.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapters
Experiment explained 00:30
Grow medium options 1:02
Water Comparison Chapters 1:42
Rockwool 1:55
Soil 3:00
Vermiculite 4:00
Sphagnum/Peat 4:52
Fertilizing 5:07
My Thoughts 6:40
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Part 2 video- https://youtu.be/kzagmAvSnwY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Amazon Affiliate Link- If Purchased I get a small Commission
Some of the stuff i’ve used in this video
-Seedling Trays-https://amzn.to/3rMzxHE
-Vermiculite-https://amzn.to/2Oo3TBE
-Peat Moss-https://amzn.to/3b0vaBL
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You can follow me on Facebook and Instagram @
wwww.facebook.com/theadhdgardener
www.instagram.com/theadhdgardener
Thank you for the video and comparison
Yes loft insulation is fiberglass and is bad for your lungs
If you drown your moss with hot hot water before using it it kills them before they start :_) And Sprinkle cinnamon on the top of the soil.
😂 girl you speak my language
you should test your growing mediums on things that are much harder to germinate, like insane hot peppers or hybrid cannabis strains. i went through things like temperature/light/moist and found the vermiculite far supreme for germinating, until the point that your sprout will start to need firtiliser, then simply shake off most of the vermiculite and plant over in ground mixed with perlite and vermiculite. i don’t use growing lights so close to my seedlings, it is a stupid thing to do because it will vaporise the moisture out of almost any medium. try to cut the heat of the light down using leds and one or two extra layers of clear (or matt, depending on the plants needs) glass inbetween the source and the sprouts. the reason your moss dries out is because moss actually holds the water inside the moss and denies it to the seed/sprout
fungus gnats are attracted by wet decomposing bark/wood media. use peat or coir instead and no more fungus gnats.
standard seed raising mix by australian horticultural society is vermiculite and gritty sand, in 2:1 ratio.
use normal potting soil and do top dressing of the seed with vermiculite
For fungus gnats, the vivarium hobby uses Bti for managing the larvae. Its a bacteria that targets thebgut of maggots- they eat the bacteria, stop eating, and die. Sold as a powder online, or can buy at most any home store as Mosquito bits/bites/dunks. Couple Bti with yellow sticky cards and its a great management for the maggots and for the adult fliers.
30 minutes at 400 degrees in the oven works wonders on seedling soil.
I just found your channel and where have you been my whole life?!? You speak my language, in a way my adhd self understands!!!
Super helpful. Glad you decided to run this experiment
I had the same problem. Now I bake my potting mix for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Haven’t had a fungus knat since. Worked like a charm. Got this tip from @Gary Pilchark’s channel.
Let me know down in the comments below what kind of grow medium do you use? Im partial to a 70/30 mix of the moss and vermiculite but more experimentation is needed for me to get a good set amount.🌻
Amazing video. My first one, and definitely loved it. Very personable yet scientific. Keep it 🆙 Subscribed
I just started hydroponics and I am already tired of rockwool and finding alternatives.
Great test. Thank you for doing this experiment. I was wondering the same things myself. I’ve been using coco coir mixed in 1:1 ratio with vermiculite because it was recommended on the packaging of the coco coir, but for microgreens I use only coco coir. For hydroponics I use rockwool or pool noodle. I like using the pool noodle in hydroponics but the seeds have to be sprouted on a napkin in a bag or container first.
The coco coir and vermiculite are stored outside at the stores so after it’s mixed I pour boiling water over it to get rid of any critters/fungus/molds, the rest is stored outside in a tote. It’s ready to use when it reaches room temperature.
Cheers.
Love the video and your personality. Glad plants are good therapy for you . How about fungus growing on the mediums ? That’s the problem I’m having. Tryna grow succulent seeds . They’re so tiny ya can’t see em well when planting . Very tricky .
boil the soil to kill the fungus gnat eggs
For soil – pour boiling water on each cell 2X – this will kill any fungus gnats eggs
best video
Thanks for sharing this…the fungus gnats are killing me with the moss!!!
Get yourself a couple drosera plants (sundews). They will prevent fungus gnats and knock them out in a day if you already have them. Their only drawback is you have to give them distilled water.
Add systemic granuals mosquito bits to soil for fungus gnats.
If you moisten the soil with boiling water it will kill the fungus gnat eggs.
maybe some harmless spider pets could take care of gnats? if you still have them 2 years later haha
I have used soil with pear lite vermiculite and a little bit of MIG fertilizer
Tried coconut coir for first time, dries out unbelievable, will not use again. Use neem oil insecticide, your gnat problem will disappear.
Kinda surprised you didn’t try per lite, clay beads, or pea gravel. As for sphagnum moss most people who use it, use trays like you have with the bottoms filled with water. or some type of hydroponics system which allow the roots to get misted with water and the fertilizer gets added to the water. Looking at you system you could achieve the same results with a custom made water pump drip system on a timer. Would just need to use plastic gutters or something for your water to flow back into the holding tank with the pump. Reason I suggest holding tank is because if something goes wrong your on an indirect water supply and your home doesn’t get flooded,
I don’t know which! But now I have a lot to go by! Ty for doing and sharing your results!
AAAA+++++ Yellow sticky traps for fungus gnats, will reduce them but not eliminate them, thet are always trying to crawl up my nose…Most people think they are fruit flies, but yes they are technically fungus gnats that eat organic particals and roots in the soil.
Do you speak another language?
It seems to me that to understand grow media you first need to understand your plants needs. Grow media basically allows structure and allows access to water, oxygen, and storage of nutrients.
If you then take what your plants needs are you can create the ideal media. If your plant needs a lot of oxygen (like conifers) then use a lot of air containing media like perlite. If your plant does not need a lot of oxygen(tolerate wet soil) and if you don’t want to water as often then use dense clay based media. Inorganic media will not store nutrients very well so using inorganic media like (perlite, pumice, lava) requires fertilizing more frequently.
If you want to avoid insect then use sterile media like inorganic or if you use soil then consider heating it in microwave for indoor seedlings. Sterile soil removes insect eggs and both harmful and beneficial microbes. Microbes are not very important for most seedlings. Spagnum moss is an excellent media that inhibits a lot of fungal growth. It tends to hold moisture very well so don’t over water when growing in spangnum.
Don’t forget all roots need exposure to some oxygen. Root rot and overwatering is probably the number one reason we loose plants.
Happy growing to you,
My generic development media is 80/20 perlite/coco coir. This seems to work well for almost everything. It’s light weight, available and inexpensive.
❤
I found an old pamphlet from 1936 titled "Growing Seedlings in Sand" written by A.A. Dunlap for the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station that does a pretty good job of going over several ways to use sand when starting from seed. It tells you how to clean and sterilize for repeated use, and what and how to fertilize with. I am going to start some fall harvest veggies and flowers in either a peat moss and sand mix using a 1:4 or 5 ratio by volume or just layer some peat on the bottom of our small containers and fill the rest with sand.
maybe you can try this experiment as well to see how your results go?
here is a link to the PDF file I referred to in case anyone wants to read it over. Its only 12 pages long.
https://portal.ct.gov/-/media/CAES/DOCUMENTS/Publications/Circulars/C117pdf.pdf?la=en
Are you a pisces? ♓🤔
Loved the experiment. I just started gardening and I tried a mix of peat moss, vermiculite and pearlite (5/1/1 ratio). I had good results for the most part, however, I recently learned that peat moss is quite acidic. Is it a good medium to use as a general seed starting medium considering its acidity?
Great!
I boil water & then add soil … no fungus gnats
I’ve been sprouting squash in sand. Anybody else do that?
I am trying espoma organic potting mix with coco coir seems to be working well so far on some plants I am trying it on.
The primary reasoning that fungus gnats become an issue is that the top 1-2” of soil are chronically wet and that there are no natural predators to keep their population down.
You can combat this by:
A) adding predators in the form of Beneficial Nematodes, BTI, or Mosquito dunks/bits to kill the larvae and adding things like Rove Beetles and Hypoaspis Miles/Stratiolaelaps Scimitus (predatory mites) will help as well. Then use yellow sticky traps to catch any adults.
B) avoid surface irrigation and instead only use Sub-Irrigation (bottom watering). This allows the upper most layer of soil to remain relatively dry while still providing the plants with access to water at the bottom of the containers/tray
Hope this helps. ✌️
Thanks for the video. 🙏
To get rid or reduce the gnats,a saucer or small tray even an empty pill bottle,some dish soap and apple cider vinegar.
I works well.The pill bottle could be near the starter or maybe use a starter tray and put in saran wrap in one with the vinagar.
just get some nematodes and they will eat the fungus gnat eggs…
Don’t you need to experiment with a single seed type? It seems to me hard to know whether the seed type might be a factor.
You using the wrong rock wool
Sounds like you got some tainted soil that already came with the fungus gnats. Vermiculite holds onto nutrients and water. I use it as a top dressing over my seeds.
You can microwave the soil for a few seconds or use hot water to wet the soil.
By the way , peroxide kills fungus gnats . And mosquito bits . There are instructions for it online . I just water my plants with straight peroxide when I get the gnats . But they’re succulents and pretty tough . Hope ya have gotten rid of them ! I hate them too !
Nice. How about 50% Coco Peat , 40 % Compost and 10% Fungicide Powder for Seed Germinating Medi a ???
Vermiculite actually contains quite a bit of silica, strengthening your plants a cells making it harder for them to dry out, get frost damage and they are more resistant to pests