I potted up some of the little seedlings today. I was amazed that at only 12 days from planting the seeds the little seedlings have outgrown the first smaller soil blocks. This is as a result of using the heat mats and the availability of oxygen getting to the roots since they are not in the plastic potting 6 packs.
We did have 2 serious mishaps the first week which totally wiped out the herbs, brocolli + eggplant seedlings but not so with the tomatoes or romaine lettuce.
Somehow the temp prob fell out of the tray so it was sensing the air temp instead of the soil temp which resulted in the temp being turned off to soon not warming the soil enough for good germination.
I have plenty of time to start a few more trays. I like to start early to allow for failures.
The 2nd mishap was not realizing how fast the lil blocks dry out. You MUST water them daily once the dome tops are removed ( after 50% of the seeds germinate ). This killed off the few herbs that had sprouted. They were dried up.
The potting mixture recipe that I am using for these soil blocks is:
16 cups sifted peat moss
4 cups mushroom compost
1/4 cup green sand
1/4 cup of rock phosphate
I found all of these items at my local feed & seed store.
This soil blocking technique is pretty labor intensive. It takes time to measure and sift numerous batches of the potting medium and to make the blocks.
The larger blocks have a square hole the perfect size to accept the smaller block.
Some survivors...lol
