I start my seeds and grow my plants in Pro Mix BX or Fafard #2--both are made primarily from peat. I know lots of otheres who use the same products .

John

I'm not a big fan of peat pellets or 100% peat as a starting medium. It carries too much baggage.

Paul B.

I guess peat wasn't as bad as I thought

thanks

Jesse

I'm noticing Peat Pots are not effective. I dont know if its because they're drying quicker or what, but the seeds I started in the peat pots are never as healthy as the cell trays.

Just buy an inexpensive bag of Miracle Grow potting soil, plant your seeds in it......! Peat moss like fallen leaves is a bit high in acidity....tannic acid or what have you....just use soil!
Tom

I don't like peat pots either. In my experience they sometimes restrict the growth of the roots when planted out and they are an unneeded expensnse. Go to a local nursery that starts their own plants from seeds and see what they use.

John

I agree with you John,
Several years ago I started some pepper seeds in peat pots....they were greatly restricted by the pressed peat material....and were the slowest plants to grow! I ended up freeing them by removing that infringement!
Tom

The main brand I use. Their professional division. Look around.

john

Here is a link that might be useful: Pro Mix

Let's be careful. We are talking about using straight peat as a starting medium and not as an amendment to outdoor gardens or lawns.
Peat as an amendment is highly advisable. I'm not disputing that.

I'm referring to peat pellets or ALL PEAT as a seed starting medium in cells. This is not advisable as peat compacts when it becomes wet, then dries.
Characteristically it has NO nutrients for the seedlings to thrive from. And it becomes a balancing act if ALL PEAT is used. It can be either over-saturated (poor drainage) or it dehydrates when you're not paying close attention.
That's what I mean by "too much baggage".

On the other-hand it lends beneficial properties when used in conjunction w/ soil and drainage components such as perlite or vermiculaite in seed starting medium.

Used as an amendment in outdoor gardens it can fluff up compacted soil (clay) or add body/substance to sandy soil.

Paul B.

Thank you for your insight Paul!
Tom

Another thing: dry compressed peat becomes a moisture barrier. When planted in the soil, it'll cause problems if the soil dries out, as can happen in a sunny afternoon's time.

That said, it's good in a seed starting medium because a sprouting seed doesn't need soil nutrients, whereas some harmful organisms may benefit from them, or from a more pH balanced environment.

If you don't want peat mixes for whatever reason, you can try this:
http://www.moodoo.com/moo_start.htm

I use Moo Start mix and have had good luck with it. I get it at my local farm supply. I also use ProMix, and Coast of Maine products, depending on the specific use ...

http://www.coastofmaine.com/soils.shtml

Goodluck!
Maryanne in WMass

I like the jiffy pots just fine. They can be soaked and break down fairly easily after planting. I've never seen a plant have trouble with them. Jiffy pots are cheap at Lowe's, try some and see if you like them.

Peat Pots works if you slit it down the sides in several locations

The only Jiffy product I like is the seed starting mix, The MG soil turned moldy real fast.

I find that peat pots promote mold and mildew when used as starter cells.

Then when you're potting up and you are left with several peat pots with peppers still waiting for potting up, they tend to dry out fast over a day or two and wick all the moisture away from the pepper sprouts.

Basically, I think peat pots are useless as starter cells or as transplanting containers.

But the original question regards peat moss, which I think of as Canadian sphagnum moss, and I think it is an integral ingredient in soilless starting mixes when used in appropriate proportions.

I like to thin in out substantially with perlite, vermiculite, and those diotomaceous earth type oil absorb granules or baked clay kitty litter type oil absorb. That way water penetrates the starter mix faster without all that dry peat floating atop the cells or over the top of the cells when you first water up.

Bill

"But the original question regards peat moss, which I think of as Canadian sphagnum moss, and I think it is an integral ingredient in soilless starting mixes when used in appropriate proportions."

EXACTLY! I agree 100%.

Straight peat - NO

Peat as an additive / amendment - YES

Paul B.

And the main reason is pH. If you look at all the soilless media mixes you'll see that limestone was added to bring the acidity more in line with vegetable growth needs. The bagging companies have better mixing equipment than we have at our disposal. The other major ingredients: perlite, vermiculite or chopped bark mulches tend to loosen the mix and aid in various properties- aeration, moisture retention, etc.

If you were propagating blueberries peat alone would work OK, although some would add sand or perlite too. Peat pots are not a growing media, just a biodegradable pot pressed out of peat. Whether the pot breaks down properly as the plant roots grow is a legitimate topic for debate.

Its bad enough to argue the preference of hundreds of available mixtures on the market; some brand names like Fafard or ProMix must offer 20 or more different mixtures, each, to meet various demands. And almost all of them do contain peat as a major ingredient. But if you tried to make your own mix you would likely same $2-$3 on a 3.8 cu ft bale.

> same (assume SAVE)$2-$3 on a 3.8 cu ft bale.

With this method you also have 4 bags of left overs at the end of the year.. Is it worth $2 savings on a single bale, add dust mask, man-hours, mixing equipment and storage.??

Maybe a GH operation with 20 or more bales per year??

That's my point, Byron. It hardly is worth the effort. Even GH operations nowdays just order the commercial mixes by the trailer load and save 25% or more.

One point no one brought up is that with the peat pellets, you can move individual plants under the lights after they germinate. If you're starting an entire tray with pro-mix or fafard or whatever, you're stuck with an entire tray of some germinating, some not..so in that case, once you have one sprout, do you put the whole whack under lights? Or do you wait until you have a majority? Is it detrimental to peppers to be under lights if they haven't come up yet?

Just wondering,
Julianna

I use a 200 cell tray for germination and as the seeds germinate transplant them to a tray with larger cells under lights.

I move mine out of the 20 row tray's as soon as I can see green above the soil line, They are moved into 3.5 x 5" newspaper pots, under grow lights.