Making your own seed starting mix can be very rewarding and save lots of money. But if you just mix ingredients, there can be some negative effects from mixing in not enough or too much of any one thing. In today’s episode we are going to be discussing the dangers of using too little or too much vermiculite.
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48 Comments
I love the way you explain the how's and whys.Another great lesson.Thanks so much
So is this percentage by mass or volume?
I have coconut coir. Does it need to be soaked?
Love a good experiment
If I have an expanded brick of coco coir that makes 8 quarts how much is 15%?
Thank you this was very useful. How can I measure 15 % when I mix my potting soil?
there are 2 signifigant differences between peat and coco. 1 is ph. peat is 4.5ph and coco is neutral 7 ph. 2nd is water retention peat doe not drain or wick water near as fast as coco. coco you need less perlight/vermiculight. seed starting mix should be strile and no nutrients. potting mix no need sterile but should have nutrients.
I use soil from my garden and sift it to very small size based off one of Luke's previous videos. (I use shade cloth) Then I'll just throw in a hand full of some larger size soil after I get it sifted and mix it in. So like 90% small stuff 10% medium. Ill just hand pick any larger peoces that made it in. I understand ver and per are better ways to do it but i have had pretty good success with this method as a completely Free option.
Also Luke is the GOAT! Love all his content
I've been experimenting and came up with putting potting mix in the bottom 3/4 of the seed starting container and coir in the top 1/4. The seeds easily germinate in the loose material and the roots travel down for nutrients.
How about adding sand to clay soil. Would that help with drainage?
Can we get that converted to parts? Some of us don't use a calculator when making the seeding mix. 😂
Do wool pellets replace vermiculite?
Great video, Luke! I appreciate you taking the time to demystify perlite and vermiculite and their individual benefits within your growing medium. We get to learn something new every day. ❤🌱
I read in comments elsewhere someone used plain sand to start seeds, another used moist paper towels. Has anyone tried? I assume you’d have to up pot pretty quickly though
Wow, I literally bought vermiculite for the first time last night. Just sprinkled what felt right for my mix. But this video method is way better. Thanks Luke!
That is not a bulk amount of verm. 3 cu ft is bulk
I understand the idea of how much water is retained and shown quickly this is a good video. When it comes to a grow that would be interesting, if it is a non-tomato plant. And to see how the result is from the grow to labor result. So water accordingly, feed accordingly and what the differences are. And to measure grow result.
I do 1 part potting soil, 1 part peat moss, 1 part Black Kow compost, 1/5 part Perlite, 1/5 part vermiculite and i filter the soil to get all of the big pieces and bark out of it and my plants grow fantastic.
Thank you for the information– I learned something! Any other videos about soils, mixes, compost, etc would be welcome!
I will try the vermiculite. Can we also put it in the raised gardens to hold water in drought?
I use compost and perlite at about 50/50.
The compost holds a ton of water so the high percentage of Perlite helps make air space and keeps things from getting too dense.
I'm also generally not starting veggies, but perennials. So far it's worked for me…your milage may vary of course.
Hard to understand the measurements when using percents. Parts would be clearer…
And yet your recent winter sow video used soil from the garden😂😂. However, they are grown outside without indoor heat to cause problems.
Years ago there was building vermiculite used for insulation and it did contain asbestos. I’m sure that’s off the market.
Do make sure you get agriculture grade vermiculite. It also comes in fine, medium and coarse grade. If you know you will continue gardening and grow many plants the savings comes in buying large bags—not 8 qt bags. Same with fertilizers.
Do wear a mask when working with perlite and vermiculite.
I see ready made seed starting mix as a useful planting medium Only to germinate the seeds and to pot up shortly after true leaves appear as there is no added nutrients. It’s not necessary, but some prefer it.
I’m not fond of Coir as it can mold and it has salt that is not thoroughly washed out. I read an interview with Premier brand peat moss and it is a sustainable product. In Europe not so much because they don’t have the land mass of peat bogs that Canada has. So I will use peat moss.
Perlite can be very useful especially for those that tend to overwater. Mostly I use potting soil and add a bit more perlite because the potting mix tends to breakdown and compact before transplanting and prefer a bit more air to the roots.
It would be nice to get a recipe done up in cups instead of %ages for people like me that have problems with the math
What about substituting activated biochar for the Vermiculite?
In the seed starting mix what all do you add and the ratio
15% by weight or volume?
How would you measure the percentage? By overall starting weight? Good stuff in this video. Valuable for newbie like me.
Great demonstration, helpful information.
I buy 3.8 cubic feet of Promix at the end of the season on clearance. No mixing and works perfectly.
What do you estimate the cost for your mix per cubic foot?
Very informative. Thank you.
I use vermiculite on top of my seed starts. Didn’t thinking to put it in my indoor pots or other pots🤔
I use soil blocks and see different information out there about adding vermiculite to soil blocks. I do add vermiculite to my soil block mix. I’d be interested in your thoughts on it.
You gotta measure the water, what the hay hay! Oh perfection???? What are we looking at youtube for? Get it Luke, your doing awsumm….! I love your videos
Are you using a peat moss and pearlite mix or is it a potting soil for your test 🤔
Yes, learned something new. And understand now why my seedlings damped off last time. I covered the soil with vermiculite. Thought I had heard that somewhere. Guess not 🙈
Sorry if I'm getting too pedantic but I've seen two methods of notating percentages
One where you start with final volume desired as 100%:
65 units peat
15 units vermiculite
20 units perlite
= 100 units final product (100%)
Another (baker's) where the base ingredient is considered 100% and the other ingredients are percents of the base ingredient's volume:
100 units peat (base=100%)
15 units verm (15% of 100)
20 units perlite (20% of 100)
Which one is used here? They've both got pros and cons.
Well… This is great timing of the video for normal people who haven't started seeds yet, but in my excitement to start gardening, I've already thrown my soil ingredients together. I just tossed so much stuff together – promix, compost, perlite, and vermiculite – and mixed it all up. I hope things turn out this year, but if it doesn't, I'll remember this for next year 😛
Thank you so much for helping me. Your videos are excellent. You are exactly right about this being the biggest issue with my starters. Looking forward to doing better. Also do you have a video on winter sowing in jugs?
Great video as normal.
What do you use to sift? I have a 1/4" screen but after sifting some compost, the particles seemed too big for seed starter.
For those going on about "dirt". Dirt is NOT soil. Dirt is a component of soil. So when he says soil, he MEANS soil. And dirt does not grow plants well because it has no nutrients. Soil does. So no, they DIDN'T grow crops in dirt ages ago. No, "professionals" aren't calling dirt soil. YOU are, because you don't know the difference. So before you give attitude to his video, or to my replies to your comments, get a clue. Know what you are talking about. Read something. And learn something.
Do you have a video on the differences between a seed starting mix and a potting mix? I will start my own seeds this year and assume I will transplant them into bigger containers over the 8-12 weeks before moving them outside to the garden but am not sure if I make a different potting soil mix. I feel like I do but I watched your potting soil mix video and it has the same ingredients. Are ratios different?
@migardener do you have any research on vermiculite? I read that it did contain something that caused cancer and that the two remaining mines in the USA were considered to be free of the substance that caused cancer. However after testing both mines they found the existence of the cancer causing substance. So have you heard or seen anything about this? Thanks.
15% by weight or volume?
Thank you, I learned so much and this video gave me more confidence with mixing my potting soil for my garden this year.
I was wondering what you think about adding worm casting to your seed starting mix ?