I start seedlings which are destined to be grown into full sized plants somewhere else. It is not that uncommon that the seedlings go to people who have a limited gardening expertise, and who can easily kill the seedlings. It makes me sad to hear about a whole flat of seedlings killed by inexperience. I've developed a special potting mix for use with these seedlings which I believe helps the seedlings to thrive in inexperienced hands, and also helps develop an appreciation of organic materials for a new gardener. With the beginning of the new year, and seed starting season, I thought I'd share this technique. I start the seeds in a standard peat based mixture, which includes a bit of perlite, some wood chips, fertilizer and lime as needed. Once the seedlings are ready to be transplanted, I prepare a mix of 50% vermicompost and 50% wood chips. The chips are from a local government chipping facility, and are about 1" and smaller for the most part. I make my own vermicompost. I transplant the seedlings into this mix, and let them grow until they are ready to go to others. This mix would be a disaster if used for more than a fairly short time; the wood chips decompose, and the mix is then like a sticky mud. The trick here is that the seedlings are transplanted before the chips have a chance to decay. In the first couple months of using this mix it is very well drained because of the wood. The very rich vermicompost tends to cause plants to put on more vegetive growth than would ordinarily be the case. The strong vegetive growth may delay flowering and fruiting, but when they do occur, there may also be a larger crop. A big advantage is that seedlings tend not to be as root bound in this mix as they would in standard mixes. The excellent drainage encourages roots throughout the root ball. I've done this for a while, and explain to the inexperienced that the potting mix is basically all organics, and that if some organics are mixed into the soil when the plant is placed that the soil can continue to help the plant to grow. Looking at my healthy seedlings helps to give people confidence in this concept. My potting mix often has a few worms or cocoons in it as well, so people may get an introduction of worms to their garden as well. People have even gone to get their own wood chips to enrich their gardens after seeing some of our plants. I see this as a great and gentle way to encourage people to adopt some organic methods; they see the results and want more of the same. I do not use this on any of the seedlings I will grow to full size except some peppers. (Most of my own seedlings go from small container right into the final planting location.) I want the peppers to not flower too young, and to put on good stem growth. The rich mix really helps in this respect. The peppers get tall and bushy without too many early flowers. My peppers might be a little later (2-3weeks), but I get more of them. Since most are in a greenhouse, I don't mind waiting a bit. Hope this helps others who are in a similar situation.
Renais