Adventures in Soil Blocking

[flowerbug]

or one of those square thin metal spatulas for flipping pancakes or serving desserts? i use a small mason trowel for some weeding tasks as it has a sharp point but that would possibly also work for some block moving once you had the edge blocks moved.

 

[GottaGo]

What a great gift idea! I have long 1/2" wide plastic tongs that are very useful for plucking 3/4" blocks from the middle of a tray; a butter knife works too, but only if the blocks are along the outside edge. Each of these items were sourced from thrift stores for about a dollar. The larger blocks I tend to lift with a butter knife and/or a small metal spatula. Sometimes you have to cut along the side of the block before you move it, if the roots have grown in to adjacent blocks. Do not try to move it if the soil is moist, or the block will disintegrate. As long as the soil blocks are fairly dry they hold together well, and you can often just pick them up with your hands.

What kind of seeds are you hoping to start in soil blocks?

I have a number of tongs that might work, I just didn't know if one type was better than another. The spatula sounds like a good idea. I would have thought that the blocks being slightly moist, not wet, would be better for staying together? It applies for removing from cell packs...

Hopefully crop seeds, tomato, squash and yes bush type beans. Since things warm up quickly here, I try to get a jump on the growing season. I stagger my seed starting, so annual flowers and melons are usually second round.

 

[Branching Out]

The spatula sounds like a good idea. I would have thought that the blocks being slightly moist, not wet, would be better for staying together? It applies for removing from cell packs...

I agree that some moisture is best-- as long as there is a solid root mass filling the blocks. Some moisture, but not too wet. The fresher the block, the more prone it will be to structural damage if moved or even touched.

 

[Branching Out]

I pre-germinated some lettuce seeds this week and placed them in 1 1/2" soil blocks yesterday. As usual I was a few days late in getting them in the dirt; the radical was very long, and difficult to poke into the soil block (next time I will try to make the blocks the same day I start pre-germinating the seeds, because they showed signs of sprouting after just two days). This time I did two varieties, Tom Thumb (very diminutive and green) and Parella Rossa (fairly compact and red). I also started some dill and cilantro in 4" pots, just to have some fresh herbs for cooking during the winter.

Fungus gnats have been such a huge problem for me, so for now I placed the trays in a pillow case made from row cover to see if that slows them down at all. If the eggs are in the potting mix it likely won't make a difference. I'm thinking that having less organic matter may help, so I made the blocks from 75% sifted peat moss with just a little bit of sifted ProMix potting soil-- and a dash of dry organic fertilizer. The texture of this mix was beautiful to work with.

 

[GottaGo]

Santa has been reminded what I'm hoping for under the Christmas tree this year, lol. Several times.

 

[Branching Out]

Those little pre-germinated lettuce seeds that went in to 1 1/2" soil blocks on December 10th have really hit the ground running. They are about 2" tall and developing their first true leaves now. I also poked a bunch of mustard seeds into blocks on that same day, including Tokyo Bekana and five kinds of stir fry mesclun mustards. The mustard seeds sprouted within days, and were quite leggy by day 5-- and that is with no pre-germination. They are such a quick crop. Next time I will have to place them under lights immediately, so they won't have to stretch to find the light.

The dill seeds in 4" pots sprouted quickly too and are now several inched tall; the cilantro is just barely beginning to break the surface of the soil, so a slower start for that one. Each of those seeds had been placed under a moist paper towel for several days before I planted them, to begin the hydration process.

 

[heirloomgal]

I pre-germinated some lettuce seeds this week and placed them in 1 1/2" soil blocks yesterday. As usual I was a few days late in getting them in the dirt; the radical was very long, and difficult to poke into the soil block (next time I will try to make the blocks the same day I start pre-germinating the seeds, because they showed signs of sprouting after just two days). This time I did two varieties, Tom Thumb (very diminutive and green) and Parella Rossa (fairly compact and red). I also started some dill and cilantro in 4" pots, just to have some fresh herbs for cooking during the winter.

Fungus gnats have been such a huge problem for me, so for now I placed the trays in a pillow case made from row cover to see if that slows them down at all. If the eggs are in the potting mix it likely won't make a difference. I'm thinking that having less organic matter may help, so I made the blocks from 75% sifted peat moss with just a little bit of sifted ProMix potting soil-- and a dash of dry organic fertilizer. The texture of this mix was beautiful to work with.

I don't know how viable this idea could be for you @Branching Out, but I thought of you when I read about this gnat control on a hort page elsewhere. When I read that they can be active for a full 6 months, that really got my attention.

https://www.optimizeorganics.ca/products/stratiolaelaps-scimitus-10-000

 

[flowerbug]

I don't know how viable this idea could be for you @Branching Out, but I thought of you when I read about this gnat control on a hort page elsewhere. When I read that they can be active for a full 6 months, that really got my attention.

https://www.optimizeorganics.ca/products/stratiolaelaps-scimitus-10-000

yes, they sure can be pests indoors. i've had them here on some plants for months when i've kept them, but now with me only keeping amaryllis and one lone bit of comfrey (shhh!) i haven't had any gnats around. the amaryllis dry out for a few months at a time and dry soil is not hospitable at all to the gnats.

also the spiders are doing their job at keeping all of the worm buckets gnat free this year. last year i had outbreaks in three to four buckets going at times through the entire year but they never had a chance to infect the houseplants because if there was an outbreak in the bucket i would take the bucket outside each time i had to open it up to feed the worms. it wasn't fun and that made me quite glad when spring planting finally came around that i could take those particular buckets outside and put them in the garden and that was it for them.

when i restarted the buckets for this year i made sure to completely rinse out and scrub the buckets to make sure they were ready and then when i put the new garden soil and other stuff in the buckets i also made sure right from the start that i kept putting spiders in them until there were no signs of gnats. it seems that it takes a few weeks for things to settle down and sometimes i have to add spiders several times before a population will get established. either they don't have enough food or they don't have enough of each other to eat (yes, they're going to eat each other if they can catch them). this time i have plenty of spiders in five or six buckets at least and so if i see a single gnat anywhere i can transplant spiders to that bucket and then the gnats won't have a chance to get a population explosion going.

my sure fire method of detecting problems in any bucket that persists is my computer screen. some of the bugs will show up hovering around my screen in the warmer weather.

the other bugs are the small grain moths and i used to see them once in a while but i really cleaned up some things in my room and made an effort to track all of them down and to keep after them if they do show up and i've not seen one of those in months so i'm hoping i finally got rid of them at last. they're annoying to have flying around when i'm typing and i see them in the dimmer light off to the side... it is also possible that the extra spiders in some places in my room helped to knock the population down and now that i've hunted a lot of those and reduced the spider population i may have jinxed myself... we'll see!

 

[Branching Out]

yes, they sure can be pests indoors.

I don't know how viable this idea could be for you @Branching Out, but I thought of you when I read about this gnat control on a hort page elsewhere. When I read that they can be active for a full 6 months, that really got my attention.

https://www.optimizeorganics.ca/products/stratiolaelaps-scimitus-10-000

Interesting product-- thanks for bringing it to my attention. They don't mention using it on food crops. Given that most of what I grow is destined for human consumption I would want to be sure that it is food safe; I will definitely keep this in mind though.

 

[GottaGo]

@Branching Out

Got a soil blocker for Christmas, not the Ladbrook but hoping it will work well. 1.85"x2" blocks. DH wants me to take it for a trial run, he's not understanding how it works.

Cross your fingers I don't make a fool of myself trying to get the right compaction. Only soil currently on hand is Lambert Seed Starter. Plan to use Pro Mix for the real event. Any hints or suggestions?