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market-farming - Re: Seed Starting

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  • From: suzyr AT netos.com (Suzy Roth)
  • To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Seed Starting
  • Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 23:21:03 -0800


What growing medium do you organic growers use to start seeds in?

I grow starts for sale, and for space concerns I start seeds in plugs in a sterile peat based soiless mix, then uppot into a compost based potting soil when the starts are large enough to handle. Having compost in a potting soil is wonderful because it, of course, holds moisture and you don't have to constantly water pots of plants everytime the sun shines. Just be careful not to overwater.

And
what do you fertilize the young plants to help them grow before you set
them out?

I fertilize with a mix of fish fertilizer and Maxicrop. I use one-fourth what the directions on the bottles of fertilizer say to use and water my starts once a week after they have been in their pots for a week. Depending on how warm your greenhouse/growing area is, you might want to fertilize sooner--the plants will tell you! Last year I experimented with dipping the flats of plants in the fertilizer solution after watching how Michaele Blakely fertilizes her starts. This worked very well for soil blocks of tomatoes I was holding back before potting into 4-inch pots or gallons.

Suzy Roth
Thistle Ridge Farm and Gardens
Issaquah, WA





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