Seed compost and the Quarterly

Replying to your own post might seem odd but that's only because I managed to get no replies from anyone else!

Finally we have had our first couple of days with the temperature reaching 10^oC and I've had two seedlings appear. One is Dianthus superbus and the other is in a pot labelled Geissorhiza corugata. Unfortunately it is clearly not what I'm waiting for (not a monocot) but neither is it any of those in-house things which appear on their own so it's potentially interesting although not yet more than potentially.

But then I do have about 68 other pots - all in the cold frame - which I'm still looking forward to.

I counted my own pots yesterday - and tallied about 200! I put some outdoors in a snow heap (this year, normally we haven't snow for more than a day or three) but bring them inside after a month or two. We have only had 6oC so far and the last two days the snowy weather has returned. About 10 species have germinated, two different Helleborus and some others. One of the hellebores I sowed two years ago!

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I counted my own pots yesterday - and tallied about 200!

I never get that far although by the time I've finished this year I will be up to around 120. Last years could be added to this but they have moved to other places - I'll report on them sometime. Still seeing new things from last year including tulips and paeonies. Now I'm waiting for the surplus seed to arrive.

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I put some outdoors in a snow heap (this year, normally we haven't snow for more than a day or three) but bring them inside after a month or two.

That was what I did this year - three weeks under snow (never been known till this year so it was too good to miss) and then in the coldframe although the NARGS seed got cold and wet rather than the snow because it was he last to arrive.

And is your seed mix like mine?

My seed mix is peat-based which is common in Norway. I often mix with additional coarse sand, perlite and vermiculite. I have no standard recipe but use what I have. But I like to feel it with my fingers. I also buy "såjord" (special compost for sowing). Some of the brands can be quite good.

I have read about John Innes but we have nothing like that in Norway. Different firms use their own recipe and you can get compost with different pH, nutrient additives etc.

I tend to start some plants from seed every year as well.  I also start with so-called "soil-less potting mix" (peat-based) and mix in sand, vermiculite and perlite... no strict proportions.  The pots I use each year are the vast collection of 2 1/4" square alpine pots that I've amassed.  I never sterilize anything, nor do I even wash out the pots.  Damping off and fungal growth have never been problems.  
My seed-starting stand - which is a rough cedar frame with 4 shelves - is located in the furnace room in our basement... conveniently next to the cold room where I can also stratify those things that need it.  (I have also often used the Dr. Norm Deno baggie method for germination - very space-efficient! - with the baggies placed in the fridge for stratification, but this year, I happened to start everything in pots.  I also usually chuck some trays of pots outside to stratify, but didn't this year.)  
There is also a table with a big rectangular plastic basin for mixing soil, handling pots, writing labels, etc..  It's not actually a very big space, but it is sufficient!
Each shelf on the seed-starting stand has two 4 foot fluorescent light canopies, each with 2 bulbs.  The bulbs are regular warm white, cool white - whatever happens to be around as a replacement if one burns out!  Each shelf holds 4 commercial plastic plant trays; each tray holds 48 of the 2 1/4" black plastic alpine pots (commonly used around here).  The light canopies are suspended on chains so that they can be lowered to sit right atop the seedlings initially, then raised as the plants grow.  It seems to provide enough light to get seedlings through the 13 weeks or so that I'm usually growing them inside, before I can chuck them outside after most of the frost risk has passed.  
We did have a 1000-watt halide light system once in our basement for overwintering tropical water lilies and other tropicals - a hugely better quality of light (incredibly intense - looking at it causes retinal damage), but not pleasant things to have around.  I'm happy with fluorescent light...  

This year, I went a little out of control... I participated in the seedexes of both NARGS and SRGC, and then made substantial orders to both Pavelka and Holubec (irresistible stuff  8)).  And, as we speak, I have actually run out of pots for potting-on!  Unprecedented!   :o

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I have also often used the Dr. Norm Deno baggie method for germination - very space-efficient! - with the baggies placed in the fridge for stratification, but this year, I happened to start everything in pots.  I also usually chuck some trays of pots outside to stratify, but didn't this year.

I cdertainly found this approach - sowing in the fridge - invaluable for saxifrages from Magadan in Far Eastern Russia (Alexandra Berkutenko seed). Sprinkling the seeds on damp paper towels, then folded over and kept in bags in fridge. Checking for germination and moving on as germination occurred.

You both (Hoy and Skulski) say that you use peat and mix in sand, perlite and vermiculite - and you have no strict recipe. But do you think the mix is roughly 50% peat by the time you finish or less than that?

McGregor wrote:

You both (Hoy and Skulski) say that you use peat and mix in sand, perlite and vermiculite - and you have no strict recipe. But do you think the mix is roughly 50% peat by the time you finish or less than that?

The "soil-less" mix which I use is composted peat... it can look very peat-like when it dries out, though it also varies fairly significantly in appearance from bag to bag from different suppliers.  Volume-wise, I suppose my mix is still at least 50%* composted peat at the end.

* Acckk!  I've edited this 2 or 3 times now; I think it finally says what I mean it to!

I always find problems with peat-based composts. The main one here is that they can dry out too much - living in a low-rainfall area (less than 24 inches a year) means that they can dry right out and surely that's a particular problem with seeds and seedlings. Do you water a lot, keep them under cover, or what .....

The pots are kept under clear plastic covers (covers that fit the 48-pot seed trays are readily available) until germination, then pots are moved out from under the cover.   I give them a dribble of water daily while the pots are indoors.  When they are later put outdoors for hardening off and as they are awaiting planting, they are also watered daily... but regular plants with large root runs that are planted in pots with humousy/peaty/compost soil, regardless of pot size, must be watered daily outdoors here for best results.   (This doesn't apply to troughs, however.)

I need to review the definition of "loam" and of John Innes mixture and the variations thereon!

Further:
"Loam":  40% sand, 40% silt, and 20% clay?  

The big difference is that instead of your peat-based mix I'm using a soil-based mix so that doesn't dry out in the same way (and they are kept in a fairly shady area) but I spend time in the spring and early summer trying to make sure they don't dry out too much but I wouldn't water as often as you by the sound of it. Once they have germinated and have got started I want them to adapt to the local conditions so I don't water any more than I absolutely have to.

And troughs only get watered in very dry conditions - although I have to say that we do often get very dry conditions! The approach with them is to have a lot of rock across the surface so that there evaporation is cut right down.

Hello folks, i have been out in the garden today. Although a little cloudy the temperature was nice and I tidied up a little. Lot of broken branches due to snow pressure.

Regarding soil mixture I have about 50% peat and the rest is sand etc. But it depends on the species sown. I often sow woodland species and then I use more peat (or soil from pine or spruce woods), if sowing alpines I use more sand topping the pots. I cover with a sheet of plastic and water as necessary. When germinating I move the pots nearer to the artificial light or into my cold greenhouse. If put outside in the open I have to water, April, May and June can be very dry here, but still slugs can be a serious problem (and the more special plants are the better slug-food). I always plant out in beds, or more often, as natural as possible later on. The plants I have in pots (or urns) are tender and I have to bring them inside the worst winters.
In fact I am not bound to peat-based either. It depends on what I can get hold of.

I also start with a soilless peat based mix, then add sand and perlite.  I don't use vermiculite anymore because if I need to hold seeded pots that didn't germinate into the following year, the vermiculite becomes dense, negating its value and reducing total volume of the medium.

Peat in the final alpine mix is less than 50%.  I don't have set proportions either, but I would say it is around 2/2/1, peat based mix, sand, perlite.  Continually trying new or different applications, too.  Another MN Chapter member uses houseplant potting mix straight, and transplants early with the first set of true leaves, sometimes even before.  I am on the other end of that spectrum, as my job is correspondingly weather related, and I never have enough time in May.

Wow, I didn't think there was anyplace in the UK with less precipitation than me (at around 26 inches per year).  I think us Americans in general have an erroneous picture of rainfall in the UK.  Malcom, would you say you are in the driest area of the nation?

RickR wrote:

Wow, I didn't think there was anyplace in the UK with less precipitation than me (at around 26 inches per year).  I think us Americans in general have an erroneous picture of rainfall in the UK.  Malcom, would you say you are in the driest area of the nation?

And what do you think of precipitation in Norway then, RickR or others?

Probably a bit drier in Norfolk but not much - otherwise pretty much one of the driest. We have a range of low hills to the west (the Wolds) which get more rain but we get very little for much of the time. We can have weeks of cloud without any actual rain.

You know, up until you mentioned "weeks of cloud"( !!  :P), I was almost prepared to revise my generalized impression of UK weather, LOL!