How To Plant And Start Seeds In A Sterile Medium
When planting seeds in an “artificial growing medium” we must remember that you have planted the seed in a sterile medium that contains no plant food. You need to furnish food by using a nutrient solution. Any of the soluble plant foods will serve as long as they are complete, that is, as long as they contain all the elements necessary for plant growth.
We have used Rapid-Gro, Hyponex, and Plant Marvel and others with good results. We prefer that the first feeding be at about one-half the strength recommended by the manufacturer. This can be applied at planting time or just as the first seedlings emerge. Subsequent feedings will be needed every week to ten days until the seedlings are ready to transplant.
When seedlings reach the four to six-leaf stage they should be transplanted to other flats and spaced two inches apart each way. The same sterile medium should be used as insurance against disease.
When the weather warms up they are taken from the flats and transplanted to the garden where they make their first contact with the soil as big, husky plants with an extensive root system. Rootlets and root hairs are largely intact, and separate readily with many particles of the growing medium clinging to them. Transplanting shock is far less than with plants shaken from soil.
If you have rare and valuable seed and want the maximum number of plants from it; if you like big, husky plants that transplant with minimum loss; if you are tired of losses from damping off, try soilless culture. You’ll like it!
As an afterthought, here’s a last tip. Try the mixture – mixture of 1 part sphagnum, 2 parts perlite and 2 parts vermiculite – as a rooting medium for cuttings. Results are excellent.- You can space your cuttings two or three inches apart and not even transplant until time to put them out in the ground. Just feed ‘em and get out of the way – and watch ‘em grow!
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