A Seed Saver's Garden

[Branching Out]

One small bag of Pro-Mix organic starter mix soil for the early seed starts and I've got gnats again.
As soon as I cut the bag open and poured out the mix I remembered how terrible the quality of these small bags are, not near enough peat and too much sand. Shoot! The XL bales are where the quality is, and those are not easy to find right now. So, I wound up with bugs after being totally bug free all this time. So far, the chiltepin is where they seem to have migrated too. I keep spraying with neem & castille, but it looks like this might be a challenge. We'll see.

Need to replant about 4 of the 15 or so peppers I planted a little while ago. A few didn't germinate or the seedling that came up was genetically a dud. I'll need to look for some new soil somewhere I guess. The flexuosum pepper is actually flowering, which is a really positive development (will post a pic when I get to taking one). I keep flicking the blossoms just in case they need a little help. It would be SUPER great if I got some peppers (and therefore seeds) from those plants; I paid $10 for the original 10 seeds, and only one germinated. I had no intention of trying again if they all failed. I might even keep the plant as a perennial, it seems to overwinter exceptionally well. Very curious to see how they taste, they certainly don't look like peppers in photos, they look more like berries really. A taste review I read said they have the texture of a tiny grape & have fruity sweet papaya notes.

I think my seed acquisitions are complete for this year. Lots of exciting new beans, peppers & tomatoes to try. If my last order goes through I'll get a bunch of neat new pea varieties that don't exist in the Canadian seed marketplace. I'm considering also growing Prince Albert, Large Manitoba, Serpette Guillotteaux, Charlevoix and a few others I have only a few handfuls left of. I also want to grow Vikotria Rimpaus in 2024. It'll be enjoyable to firm up my grow out lists for the upcoming year. Me, a cup of tea and some garden dreams. ✨

I have been using some ProMix Premium Potting Mix (rather than the seed starting blend) and I like the texture of that one, but recently I have switched to mostly peat moss. My fungus gnat situation is at its best level so far, perhaps because I am not potting up my amaryllis yet; they are magnets for fungus gnats at my house. I think it would be a good idea to pick up a bale of ProMix HP in late summer and bring it indoors for winter seed starting, because as you mentioned it's difficult to source these seasonal products during the winter months.

 

[heirloomgal]

I have been using some ProMix Premium Potting Mix (rather than the seed starting blend) and I like the texture of that one, but recently I have switched to mostly peat moss. My fungus gnat situation is at its best level so far, perhaps because I am not potting up my amaryllis yet; they are magnets for fungus gnats at my house. I think it would be a good idea to pick up a bale of ProMix HP in late summer and bring it indoors for winter seed starting, because as you mentioned it's difficult to source these seasonal products during the winter months.

In years past I've actually done this, bought a large bale and put it in my basement in fall. And then I had problems with the mix, so I contacted the Pro-Mix rep for my region. They sternly told me I should not be doing that, to my surprise. Apparently the bales are carefully adjusted for pH (since peat is so naturally off balance) and the adjuster they use has a fairly short expiration date. I assumed that a year was not that long, but they told me it is. Even if I kept it frozen, which I suggested. So, it's a conundrum. Ironically, when I get even the smaller bag of the professional grade Pro-Mix at this time of year, even the stores have expired bags on the shelf. The freshly adjusted peat bales are not available until April, so what to do until then?

 

[heirloomgal]

I had a truly shocking discovery this afternoon. My plants right now are under a light on my kitchen counter, about 12 pots. They were chugging along pretty well, teeny true leaves starting. I flicked the light on this morning without paying much attention, but later in the afternoon I decided to swoon over the baby plants and - to my horror - realized that 1/3 of the plants had been razed. Tiny bare stems poking up from the soil, no more leaves. I couldn't believe my eyes. Something literally ate my plants right on my kitchen counter last night, and I don't have a cat. Must be a da*n mouse. There is no earthly way that he climbed up the front of the cupboards, the counter has a big lip edge too that he can't surmount. He must have climbed the back of my stove and connected with the counter that way. I'm ready for a night vigil with a pellet gun.

 

[Alasgun]

Sorry😕

 

[Branching Out]

In years past I've actually done this, bought a large bale and put it in my basement in fall. And then I had problems with the mix, so I contacted the Pro-Mix rep for my region. They sternly told me I should not be doing that, to my surprise. Apparently the bales are carefully adjusted for pH (since peat is so naturally off balance) and the adjuster they use has a fairly short expiration date. I assumed that a year was not that long, but they told me it is. Even if I kept it frozen, which I suggested. So, it's a conundrum. Ironically, when I get even the smaller bag of the professional grade Pro-Mix at this time of year, even the stores have expired bags on the shelf. The freshly adjusted peat bales are not available until April, so what to do until then?

An expiry date for peat moss and potting soil--- this is a shocking bit of news. I have 3/4 of a ProMix HP bale sitting outside at this very moment, and I never would have thought that it could or would deteriorate. And I have never looked for dates on small bags of potting soil either. May have to start!

 

[digitS']

I didn’t know either, @Branching Out , @heirloomgal

The most recent years have been somewhat frustrating with, what seemed to me, an apparent push by the potting soil people pushing us to use their sterile starting mix while they make use of some more locally available urban compost. Saves them money while lowering the quality of some of their products.

Steve

 

[heirloomgal]

Yeah, I was shocked too when they told me this. I thought, it's dirt? How can that have an expiry? But Pro Mix it turns out is not dirt, it's basically pure peat. Non professional potting mix, which isn't peat based, won't have an expiry though. Just the pro mixes. I re-read the site and it refreshed my memory - they had also mentioned aside from the ph adjuster the wetting agent and starter fertilizer charge degrades too, which also makes for an inhospitable mix. I forgot about that. The lady Susan Parent at the bottom of this link is who I spoke to, and she gave me a huge education about the mix. They say 9 - 12 imonths is the time frame that the mix should be used. The good news is, lots of veggies won't be that senstive to such acidic soil, it's peppers that have the Achilles heel and they definitely die when the pH drifts off course. I'd even say 9 months is too long to wait for peppers, because they so dislike the wrong pH.

https://www.pthorticulture.com/en/training-center/low-ph-of-fresh-growing-media/

 

[ducks4you]

Gosh, @Pulsegleaner , is there NOBODY in the US that carries or would share the seeds you want?!?
A broken clock is right 2x/day, and I am on the side of USDA on this one. Seems like a Small thing, but crickets in Hawaii were dying off a few years ago. A parasitic fly from Asia was drilling into the male crickets, attracted by their chirping. It was laying it's eggs in the cricket, which would hatch out as flies, repeating the process.
SOMEHOW the crickets evolved into same species, but NOW the male crickets vibrate, like a purring cat, attract the females and breed, but it doesn't attract this fly.
Fly eggs are pretty small, and I wouldn't want to be the person who lets loose yet another invasive and harmful species from another continent that doesn't have any natural predators.
We alREADY have been dealing with the asian carp in the Illinois River, and the state monitors the locks in the Calumet Sag Canal to be sure there are no asian carp, where they raise and lower the river height to go to and ship down from Lake Michigan.
Everybody knows if a breeding pair escapes in the Lake Michigan, ALL 5 of the connected Great Lakes will be infested.
Shame, bc for awhile people were harvesting them and eating them. They are a healthy fish to eat.
They literally fly into fisherman's nets. I think they are being fished now for fertilizer.

A successful 'copi' rebrand of invasive Asian carp promises economic and ecological benefits for the Peoria region

Since first appearing in the Illinois River in the late 1980s and early 1990s, copi have largely crowded out native species like catfish or gar.

www.wcbu.org

New fish processing facility to open in Alexander Co., Ill.

A new fish processing plant is set to open in southern Illinois and bring new job opportunities.

www.kfvs12.com

 

[ducks4you]

@heirloomgirl, I might suggest buying a small fish tank or bowl, and starting plants there as a terrarium. You can put a cover on it that a mouse cannot chew through.
Sorry about the mouse problem!
DD's are having a mouse problem. Baby mouse was crawling around in DD's side bedroom--she has a funny 2 bedroom-bedroom, you see, and the other has 2 twin beds, which the mouse was using to hide out.
She threw her 8yr male cat, "Troll Bridge" at the mouse and he killed it.
I TOLD her that their cats were mousers!, including "Purrkins," RIP.
Friend has a 6 wk old kitten waiting for them to take in a few weeks. They will be out of town this coming weekend, and they want to be sure that the new kitten and the older cat get along.
DD didn't like it when I told her that they probably have a nest of mice, more looking for heat than food.
I think they are taking the darker tabby in the middle.
Precious little furworms!!!!!😍😍😍

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[flowerbug]

An expiry date for peat moss and potting soil--- this is a shocking bit of news. I have 3/4 of a ProMix HP bale sitting outside at this very moment, and I never would have thought that it could or would deteriorate. And I have never looked for dates on small bags of potting soil either. May have to start!

reads like marketing BS to me... peat moss is peat moss, slightly acidic, no big deal, whatever they add to balance the acidity can be replaced if you really need to do it. a little lime dust. done...