Experiment: Sand vs Grit for seedlings
Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:18 pm
I had an excess of seeds this summer so i thought i'd experiment with soils.
I primarily use hematite grit to grow my seedlings (and and mature plants) as it's hard to rot seedlings this way. It's not porous or anything special but i can get it in large loads for free. The grit i get has a variable size distribution so i use a window screen to remove dust and sand particles which i later discard. This time i though i can use the nutritious moisture holding sand to start seedlings thinking they would benefit from the much higher humidity. Boy was i wrong.
I had a very bad case of algae that eventually formed a layer 1-2mm thick and rotted off a couple of seedlings. After scooping it off this what was left: With repeated hydrogen peroxide treatment, most of it is now gone.
Now back to the main point, i think they are around 5 months old now and there's a huge difference on health, vigour and size: Grown in grit: 0 cases of algae Picked off the smallest seedling to show roots. They like to grip their roots around the grit particles and wrap around it. It's hard to remove grit without ripping roots. Grown in sand: brown spots are burns. Even though a week or so older, seedlings are half thr size of grit grown seedlings.
I primarily use hematite grit to grow my seedlings (and and mature plants) as it's hard to rot seedlings this way. It's not porous or anything special but i can get it in large loads for free. The grit i get has a variable size distribution so i use a window screen to remove dust and sand particles which i later discard. This time i though i can use the nutritious moisture holding sand to start seedlings thinking they would benefit from the much higher humidity. Boy was i wrong.
I had a very bad case of algae that eventually formed a layer 1-2mm thick and rotted off a couple of seedlings. After scooping it off this what was left: With repeated hydrogen peroxide treatment, most of it is now gone.
Now back to the main point, i think they are around 5 months old now and there's a huge difference on health, vigour and size: Grown in grit: 0 cases of algae Picked off the smallest seedling to show roots. They like to grip their roots around the grit particles and wrap around it. It's hard to remove grit without ripping roots. Grown in sand: brown spots are burns. Even though a week or so older, seedlings are half thr size of grit grown seedlings.