Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

it is still much easier to sow the seeds in a tray or pot. I space them so their roots have room.

Is it possible to fill a pallet wood seed starting tray with potting soil, plant the seeds, and then later just carve the soil up like pieces of a cake for transplanting? I have always had separate compartments or pots for my transplants. But if you don't even need pots, that would be great.

 

[gtaus]

by may 30 our first part of growing season is almost over, lol.

Yeah, it gets hot in Greece early. Does anything grow in your summers? I know when I was a student in Europe, we would visit Greece before June because it would just get too hot afterwards.

I live in northern Minnesota and we enjoy all 4 seasons of the year. We have winter, June, July and August!

 

[ChicksnMore]

by may 30 our first part of growing season is almost over, lol.

Same here... summer's our dead time when we plan for next season.

 

[Sally PB]

Is it possible to fill a pallet wood seed starting tray with potting soil, plant the seeds, and then later just carve the soil up like pieces of a cake for transplanting? I have always had separate compartments or pots for my transplants. But if you don't even need pots, that would be great.

I've thought about doing that. I'm just afraid that the plants' roots would get too entangled. I even thought about using a sharp knife and cutting lines between them a few days before planting, to give them time to recover. Never tried it though.

 

[gtaus]

I've thought about doing that. I'm just afraid that the plants' roots would get too entangled. I even thought about using a sharp knife and cutting lines between them a few days before planting, to give them time to recover. Never tried it though.

Yeah, it does not sound like a good idea to fill a tray with soil, plant the seeds, and then cut them out for transplanting. I have never tried it, either. But everything I was taught goes against that idea.

FWIW, I think the soil blockers are probably considered the "best" option for transplants because the roots air prune when they hit the end of the soil block wall. The roots also do not spiral around inside the pot like you might find in plastic containers.

 

[Sally PB]

Of all the plants I've started in my "upside down" pots, I've only seen 2-3 that had roots beginning to spiral around the pot. The pots are big enough to give the roots room to grow.

It does take a lot of potting soil to fill them, if you're starting a lot of plants. That's why I mix my own. The only thing I've bought in the last two years is some peat moss. The big bag of perlite and vermiculite have lasted 4 years, and are only half gone. Glad I bought them when I did; I haven't seen any like that since.

 

[saysfaa]

I started seeds in undivided containers one year. It works better to pull them apart than it does to cut them apart. At least, it does if they like to be transplanted, like tomatoes. Since then, I've had enough trays and flats saved from the flowers and veggies bought at nurseries in previous years for all I wanted to start.

Those trays last at multiple years for me. Usually, the first or second year they crumple, the next year or two they rip a bit. It isn't until after a year or two or three of being ripped that they shred too much to use.

I tried peat pots one year. They dried out much too fast.

I bought one tray of the silicon cups last year. I wasn't very impressed: too small, and they didn't release as well as I expected, and watering was trickier than I expected. I will try them at least one more year, though. It may have been user error. If I can figure out how to use they, I like the long term reusability of them (I assume they will have that anyway.) I expect to buy fewer plants from nurseries as I get more experience starting seeds.

On the other hand, so many people buy them, it shouldn't be too hard to find someone willing to give me their unwanted trays when they plant.

 

[NanaK]

I start and save seed on almost everything I grow. I haven't always but have added more and more over the years. Now I rarely buy plants or seeds unless I want to try something new. I can't begin to guess how many plants I start in spring and late summer. Lots of flowering annuals, vegetables. Sometimes shrubbery cuttings and perennial flowers, too.

I've made the toilet paper roll and newspaper pots in the past. They didn't hold together all that long unless I packed them in a cardboard flat. I also didn't like that I had to make them every year.
I've never used the soil blocker but seen them in catalogs and thought they looked interesting.

Now I use a lot of yogurt, deli containers that I've drill holes in the bottom. I also buy a tube of disposable pint containers from a party supply store. I was getting about 30 for $2.50. They last several years so I haven't bought any recently.

There is a commercial nursery not far from my home. They dump lot of small and large pots at the landfill. So when hubby sees some in good shape he brings them to me. No need in all that plastic getting buried at the landfill.

I've been thinking of making my own potting mix. I would love to know how you mix yours @Sally PB .

 

[Sally PB]

I've been thinking of making my own potting mix. I would love to know how you mix yours @Sally PB .

I mix it in big plastic totes, the 16-17 gallon kind. WEAR A DUST MASK! Even if you're using stuff that isn't very dry, mixing it makes a lot of dust.

I use about 1/3 peat moss (this stuff can be very dry and dusty), 1/3 compost, 1/3 dirt from the garden. I add some perlite and vermiculite, and usually some organic fertilizer, like a 10-10-10 or 5-5-5. Some people add wood ash. I did the first year, forgot the second year, and haven't done it since.

Get it mixed as well as you can. I get in touch with my inner mud pie maker and use my hands. Then I wet it down. Using a watering can or sprayer will help; just dumping in some water usually doesn't wet it well. I usually take a couple of days to get it nice and moist, as it takes a while for the water to soak in.

I make my own compost = free. Soil from the garden = free. Vermiculite and perlite are left over from the first year I did this, so not free, but I don't know how much they were. The big bags are still about half full. I use probably 2-3 quarts (dry measure) of each when I make a big batch of mix. For the fertilizer, I'd say I use about 1 cup in big tote. Sprinkle it as you go, so it get dispersed better.

Peat moss is not free, but I get the best price at the end of the season. I get the biggest bale/bag they have, and it's usually enough for 2 years.

When I scoop the mix into the pots, it's still fairly dry. I try to wet it down over a couple days then, too, so that it's more uniformly moist. Fill the pots, give 'em a good drink. Water the soil again after planting seeds, depending on how moist it is.

Peat moss is really dry, I've found. It takes a while to soak up water. Just dumping some water on top doesn't work as well as sprinkling.

 

[NanaK]

Thanks!
I've been purchasing a commercial potting mix that's mostly peat. I've noticed less and less perlite and fertilizer in it for a while. The price has gone up a lot too. I've already been adding perlite and some slow release 10-10-10 to compensate for the quality. I believe I have half a large bag of peat in the shed and some perlite too. And of course chickens + yard, kitchen, garden waste = compost. I can get compost from the run too.

I think this is a go for the coming season!

Sometimes I have to dampen down the store bought stuff just like you describe. When it's dry, it's dusty!