You are looking for a material that will retain water, and have air spaces.... so yes peat & vermiculite mixes work well.... the material is not steril so may wish to heat in oven to kill spores..... If mix & seed is in a air tight container & soil was steril there will be a very low case of mold... Yes sand. paper towles etc will also work...

Mold should not be a problem at stratification temperatures. I use for most seed damp paper towels sealed in zip lock bags in the refrigerator. Some seed does better with paper coffee filters as the radicals do not penetrate into the paper as quickly. Al

I usually use chopped LF sphagnum or sand in small tupperware containers for cold moist stratification.

Hi,

For my cold moist stratified seeds I don't use any different soil than my warm seeds(exm. tomatoes). I use a soilless mix(I like fafards or sungro)...just check at your local greenhouse...I am sure they will sell you what they use if they don't carry some of the name brands. Now, I do usually add chicken grit to my outside treatment containers...making a crumbly mix for good drainage. The chicken grit you can get at a feed store.

And don't worry about the mold...never had a problem with it. And I get my sharp sand at the concrete plant...more coarse with lots of rock sizes in it...many times I use this mixed into the soilless mix as well.

m

I use 75% vermiculite, 25% coarse, washed sand and I douse the container & mix with 3% hydrogen peroxide. It makes for easy mixing into a seed starting mix for flats or cells.