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Experiment! Coco Ones

runswithscissors
11 years ago

Coco coir is becoming the rage. They say it's much better for germinating seeds than peat.

Last year I tried mel's mix...and it worked good, but I still love experimenting! (smile)

Peat thingy's - Jiffy 7's I think they're called. They swell up, you plant your seed, the seed sprouts, then dies. Why, because moisture is such a fine line. One minute they are bone dry, the next minute soggy...it's hard to find the right balance. I would water them in the morning, but by supper time they were little lumps of charcoal. Water them a little extra and your sprout dies of damping off. Plus, moss grows on them easily. If by chance, you get a sprout to survive long enough to be transplanted, be sure to rip the little netting off or it will become root bound...but usually the plant dies anyway. When you dig it up, you see why. The soil is nice and moist around this little lump of charcoal.

This is not to say all my seedlings went this way...but enough of them that I can safely say "I don't like peat pellets.)

This year I'm trying coco ones...I think I got them from Park. First off, it is surprising that they are so tiny...quite a bit smaller around than the peat pellets.
They soak up water quick, and it's fun to watch them puff up so fast. That being said, I noticed the the coir inside is packed hard, so you really have to scrape out a hole for the seed. They are wrapped with a paper-like material, which doesn't seem to be deteriorating yet, so I'm planning on ripping it off before transplanting. These pellets dry out quickly too, but they don't get soggy...it's like there is air flow to the root zone even if you over-water them before going to work.

Two radish seeds. One poked down 1 inch, one poked down 1/2 inch. Naturally the shallow one sprouted quicker, and grew itself right off the top of the pellet, because it's root couldn't seem to penetrate enough to grasp ahold. The deeper radish popped up and is growing really well. My surmation: these will be good for big veggies that you can poke way down, but will not be so good for flower or veg seeds that need to be surface sown. Also, because of their size they will have to be transplanted fairly quickly.

Has anyone else had results with these little things?

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