PeeJay explains seedling mixes (w/pictures)

PeeJay;2493326 said:

Mr. Teddy, the big girls are looking quite robust! I do think that your seedling mix is a little hot for babies, however. You are not getting out of the gates as quickly as you could. I'll justify that comment with a comparison.

By my reckoning your babies are about 11 - 12 days out of the dirt in this picture. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Here is my current brood of babies @ 15 days.

I know that you have embraced the idea that we don't want to feed the babies steak and Bearnaise or you wouldn't have made a specialized seedling mix. Based on your first post in this journal the mix you are using is roughly equal parts of peat, perlite, and forest humus. Let's contemplate the humus.

That humus mat on the forest floor is strong stuff! It feeds the soil underneath from the top down. In the forest environment it does not get spaded into the soil. Respect it for it's power! A little dab'll do ya. Next time try something like 6 liters of peat, 4 liters of perlite, and about 1 liter of humus. That would be about 9 % humus by volume and might even be a bit too much.

In general, soil builders rarely err on the side of prudence. Same with the bottle crowd.

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