How to Make Your Own Seed-Starting Potting Soil
5 Materials
Thinking about starting some seeds for this year’s garden? Try this mix recipe to create your own sterile seedling mix. Seedling potting soil mixes should be light, firm, and able to retain moisture to help the baby seedlings thrive. Sterile seed-starting mixes also shouldn’t contain outdoor soil or compost, as it may include fungi, pathogens, or weeds that could harm the seedlings. The mix in this post is sterile and weed-free.
Full tutorial and free printable instructions available at http://www.homefortheharvest.com/diy-potting-soil/
Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients
Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients
-3 Parts Coconut Coir
-3 Parts Peat Moss (pH-balanced with limestone if possible*)
-3 Parts Perlite
-1 Part Worm Castings
-Filtered Water
*These ingredients are to be mixed by volume rather than by weight.
Step 2: Gather and Prep Your Supplies
Step 2: Gather and Prep Your Supplies
-Estimate how much soil you’ll need to fill up your seed-starting containers.
-Find a mixing bowl or bucket that will accommodate the amount of soil you’d like to mix up.
-Find a small measuring container to use when measuring out the parts. The mix above is a 10-part mix. This means that you’ll need to find something small enough so that 10 of the smaller measuring units will fit comfortably in the mixing container you’ve selected. Recycled food containers (pictured) work well!
-Find a trowel to mix up the soil with.
-Ensure the bowl/bucket, measuring container, and trowel are clean and sterilized.
Step 3: Mix it Up
Step 3: Mix it Up
-Mix all ingredients except for the water together in the bucket/mixing bowl with the trowel.
-Slowly add filtered water, mixing with the trowel. Stop when the soil becomes moist. Don’t add so much water that the soil becomes wet and muddy.
Step 4: Place Mix Into Seedling Trays
-Use the trowel to place the seedling mix into your seed-starting containers or trays.
-Compress the soil gently before planting your seeds.
-Plant your seeds in the seedling mix while the mix is moist.
-Keep the mix moist as the seeds germinate.
-When the seedlings are ready to be transplanted out into the garden, the seed-starting mix can go right into the ground with your outdoor garden soil.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
Comments
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4 comments
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sooo pretty!
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Thanks Brenda! I'm so glad you liked these photos :)
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Such a great recipe, thanks for posting. I can't wait for spring :)
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Thank you! Me neither lol :)
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