bad dog ....

how long will you keep them in it?? .. will you be culling and potting up rather quickly???

if so... it barely matters what you use..

and.. imo .. the paper towel thing is a waste of time ... but if you prefer it.. knock yourself out ... if it works for you.. and makes you happy who gives a flying leap what i think ...

i prefer the term media for what goes in pots.. or seedling tray ... and soil for mother earth ... mother earth is not good in either ...

if you think of media as a water management system ... engineered to hold and shed proper amounts of water for your plants ... you will quickly learn .. that mother earth in a pot usually doesnt work well ...

but i presume.. you mean media when you say soil ... so lets move on ...

i used to use a finer milled seed starting promix ... but then i found that since i was potting up at the 3rd or 4 true leave .. and it didnt matter.. because i was moving out of it pretty fast.. and it wasnt worth having 2 types of media around ...

and imo.. NEVER use a media with fert ... i would rather be in control of such.. rather than rely on the media... i used water barely tinged blue from water sol fert .. with every watering ... kept a couple gal milk jugs around ready to go ... when i watered ... and i used it with every watering ...

probably more than you wanted to hear.. lol .. but ive been jonesing for something hosta related to talk about .. lol ...

ken

btw .. how did the dog destroy it ... in one end out the other????

sure you cant just sweep it up ... sterilize it in the microwave... and reuse it???

short of post-digested ... i might just use it .. i mean.. they are hosta seeds .. not some foo foo delicate PIA ....

ken

My Dh set the bag outside on the outside porch and the dog dragged it along with a bag of vermiculite all over the yard. I found some organic seed starting mix at my local Ace Hardware store. I'll probably start my seeds in that. Maybe I will skip the paper towel method and go straight to the seed starting media. 😁

if you try both.. you will learn something ....

moisten your media first .... helps keep down dust.. as well as the need to heavily water it after planting ...

keep us posted ... pix if you have the time. ...

ken

Will do.

Not an expert on hostas, but poking around the usual places, it doesn't look like they need to be started in paper or any special medium. Rather, it seems like sterile seed starting mix is great. The resources I checked indicate that seeds should just barely covered with soil and kept between 60 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. But, if you've done them before in paper, it should actually be easier to start them on soil--you just skip a step :)

one trick the served me best ... was to sterilize my media ... BEFORE hand.. regardless if a new bag ...

just moisten what you need... plus a little extra ... put in a plastic grocery bag ... and nuke it until it steams .... then let cool until tomorrow..

this insured there were no bug eggs... aka gnats ... and also.. reduced algae to a great extent ...

it might not matter if you do cull and pot up rather quickly ... but some peeps leave the seedlings in the tray a long time.. and this helps ...

ken

https://tipnut.com/sterilize-soil/

i figure when i see steam ... thats 212 degrees ... who needs a thermometer ... eh???

also ...back in the day when i needed huge amounts... i got a dollar store turkey pan ... mounded up the moist media... and baked it until i saw steam coming out of a couple holes in the alum. foil top ... it looked like a giant jiffy pop.. lol ... https://duckduckgo.com/?q=jiffy+pop&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

also on repeat ... in the dead of winter in ground freeze MI .. the smell of moist warm media made me very happy .... it was like spring in february ....

Thanks Ken! You helped me with a media issue by posting about the sterilizing tips I have tried to wintersow using some mixed recycled media with a nice layer of seedling mix on top. I will bake my older soil first this year. I have been trying to get working on this real soon. Today is the winter solstice so time to get my rear in gear. Lol

One thing I forgot to mention last night (but it occurs to me now that you might not know this because you usually use paper towels) when seeds are sown on or very near the surface of a medium, it can be difficult to keep them moist. I always use a dome or a piece of lexan over a plastic pot. You can use a Ziplock bag or a grocery bag, too. I don't use bags because mold spores are literally everywhere and tend to like stagnant air. So, if you do seal the seeds in something, make sure to circulate air through that something regularly to prevent mold growth. A small piece of lexan (or just a piece of plastic) makes it easy to circulate air by lifting it up and letting it back down.

these are hosta seeds ... throw some in the cracks in the driveway.. they will sprout in spring...

throw some on the carpet and wet it.. some will sprout ... lol ...

btw .. the sterilizing will also helps avoid the mildews referenced above ... no real need for the cover with hosta ... and.. you can 10% bleach an old or new spray bottle.. [i just put in a tablspn or so of bleach ..... and quarter cup of water or so.. and swish it around.. and do some sprays to get the tube ...] ... and spritz the media when i think about it ... and of course.. i forgot to mention.. bleach the seed tray.. and any tools ... go all hospital when you start.. and you will avoid many problems later ...

the real key.. is if you properly pre moistened the media... it should not dry out all that fast.. unless you put it over the furnace vent ...

ken

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5, There is no amount of moisture that will keep the surface moist for more than a day in our house in the winter. After a few days a small pot might be totally dry. Do hostas sprout in a day or two? ...So, speak for yourself, and quit acting like everybody else is ridiculous.

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5, I started my seeds in the least recommended potting mix in this forum (MG). Everything was sterilized and I'm seeing germination!!!

I'll try to send pics from my phone but it's not that great. I always sterilize.

no mold..no mildew .... no algae ... and hosta babes ... oooowwwweeeee .. lol ..

addison.. if i upset you.. forgive me ...

ken

beverlymnz4 - you should try to wintersow some seeds and see if that will up your luck for better germination.

Yes. no mold..no mildew .... no algae ... and hosta babes ...

I had some old seeds and they did not germinate at all using the paper towel method. They were experiments. The ones I planted in the 'media' were gifted to me so I just put them in the only media I found in the stores. It was sterilized in the microwave.

Ken, I was just testing to see if they worked. Well they did. I feel they are in a container that's too shallow. Can I move them? Carefully.