I'm sure that this subject has been touched upon in the past but I can't find anything specific. I have tried all sorts of mixtures, none of which have been particularly successful.

For seedlings, I use fine coconut coir with maybe a little matured cow manure at the bottom, some of the useless stuff they sell in sacks as compost (spent mushroom compost I believe).

For potting up, I'll use coconut chips for drainage, then a mixture of garden soil (which in my case is infected with tomato blight), the stuff that is sold as compost and fine coconut coir, some cow manure as before. I haven't mixed in my garden compost in there yet.

Any other magic formulae out there?

Are you talking about a "starting" mix to start seed or to pot plants?

To start my plants(from seed) I usually use 50-50 coir and a peat tray

substrate, like in the picture and this is for dirt and my hydro growing.

No SHIT in starting plants, they don't need food till the are on about

their second set of leafs, then you can use a shit based tea or whatever.

Another guy on TV that grows hydro, just uses coir.

I'm setting up to grow again.

If you search the web, most garden self help/forums will say a sterilized

mix to start seeds, cowshit can have weed seed and other nasty stuff,

unless you done a hot compost that the bad bugs and things are killed.

The coir is Bt.20 a bag and the tray substrate is about Bt.300.

rice555

Are you talking about a "starting" mix to start seed or to pot plants?

To start my plants(from seed) I usually use 50-50 coir and a peat tray

substrate, like in the picture and this is for dirt and my hydro growing.

No SHIT in starting plants, they don't need food till the are on about

their second set of leafs, then you can use a shit based tea or whatever.

Another guy on TV that grows hydro, just uses coir.

I'm setting up to grow again.

If you search the web, most garden self help/forums will say a sterilized

mix to start seeds, cowshit can have weed seed and other nasty stuff,

unless you done a hot compost that the bad bugs and things are killed.

The coir is Bt.20 a bag and the tray substrate is about Bt.300.

rice555

I don't seed in trays as the dogs eat them. A little manure at the bottom of the pots I use will, according to my theory only be reached by the roots when they are at a stage when at least two additional leaves have formed.

Hello All, what ever works for you, that's why I do it the way I've tried and works

best in my situation, no dog and I don't share my plants with the cats.

rice555

Do people soak their coir first to extract salt?

Do people soak their coir first to extract salt?

? Where did that idea come from?Just asking.

I sea no salt problem, here's what mine are doing now,

probably coir 60/40 peat substrate. 1 & 2 months old and

fresh seeded in the foreground.

I see problems with old seed, but nothing caused by salt.

Coir was used straight from the bag, no washing.

And, no shit used.

rice555

3 years ago I planted 430 good start seeds in coir and had 5% germination. Asked a local farmer what the hell happened and he said salt in coir needed to be soaked first. I do not assert this as true, just reporting.

BTW--what is substrate?

Substrat indicates that the writer is French or German. Substrate in English is the the material in or on which the plant grows, anything from clay pellets to gravel to cow manure. They don't use the word 'earth' as obviously earth is often absent from many substrates these days. Googling desalting coir came up with http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=14972

apparently coconuts absorb just about everything available so if you are buying coir on an island, buyer beware. Never had this problem in Isaan.

Hello All, what do you mean good seed? From back home or local ag source?

It cam be several things that can be the problem, including over watering.

Coir or peat the surface should dry off before watering, then only lightly, through

out the day, not soaking like a fruit tree.

My trays are under green house film and shade cloth and get full sun.

See the M/T spaces in the trays, thats bad seed, not the mix or damp-off.

Substrate is a growing medium.

On one of the TV farming threads I did a side by side test of coir/50-50/peat

in the same tray, (2 or 3 trays?), so 1 ray with 3 mixes and one verity in one tray

and another in the next and so on. The seed germaned and grew almost the same,

again, the coir used is right out of the bag, no rinsing.

rice555

Seed from back home. No germination problems there. I only water from a tray beneath the seeds.

Hello All, were they OP or Hyb. seed?

95% of the plants you see me post pics of are from the US,

usually Hyb's, Mex chilies or Tom's usually through TGS FL, because

she will mail here through OL ordering.

Most of the plants that didn't germinate in my previous post were OP

Thai egg and chili seed, just purchased within the last month.

If you are bottom watering to start seed, they maybe TOO wet.

rice555

OP

"open pollenated", you can save seed for your next crop.

rice555

There was a Brazilian experiment done a few years ago on pre-soaking seeds in different strengths of EM prior to planting. The best brought germination rates from 60% up to 90%.

Regards.

Hello All, TT, what crop and the type of seed? OP-Hyb. If it's cheap OP seed

at 60% germ, it cheaper to double seed or buy better OP or Hyb seed.

If your hand seeding, with wet seed(treated seed, you can't use a hand seeder

or mechanical one on a larger scale directly in to the rows.

Seeding plug trays, most commercial growers plant 10% over, 1K = 1.1K.

Out of all of my past seeding, OP Thai seed was the poorest, with 1-2 plants

out of 50 seed. The import Hybs I was getting over 90-98% and the poorest

was my OP Carolina Reapers at 21 plants out of 25 seed.

rice555

Hello All, TT, what crop and the type of seed? OP-Hyb. If it's cheap OP seed

at 60% germ, it cheaper to double seed or buy better OP or Hyb seed.

If your hand seeding, with wet seed(treated seed, you can't use a hand seeder

or mechanical one on a larger scale directly in to the rows.

Seeding plug trays, most commercial growers plant 10% over, 1K = 1.1K.

Out of all of my past seeding, OP Thai seed was the poorest, with 1-2 plants

out of 50 seed. The import Hybs I was getting over 90-98% and the poorest

was my OP Carolina Reapers at 21 plants out of 25 seed.

rice555

Good to see that you read the title of this thread.

Sent from my GT-S7500 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Sorry I got OT and got your panties twisted!

rice555