What type of soil did you use for WS?

Hi, I ended up with Miracle Grow Organic with a small amount of polymer crystals mixed in. I'm not doing a lot of containers since I've got a small space. I had seen several mentions of ProMix but was unable to find it at the nurseries in my area. I just wanted to have some more ideas of what to try next time.
Thanks all.
Donna

**runs downstairs to read the bag**

Jiffy mix (For all plants, starting seeds and containers)

I found it at HomeDepot and WalMart

So that is just the sterile seed starting mix right? Like a soiless mixture? I work at WM so I'm pretty sure we have some still available.

yes, i hear sterile is important. and i've also read soil-less.

i'm a newbie -- but been reading a lot.

I get miracle grow moisture control. Since I live in a dry climate it really works well. I don' t want to have to water until spring. I usually pick up the very large bags at the end of summer when they go on sale. I pick up a lot of bags because it is nearly impossible to find a lot of potting soil during the winter

I've heard that alot from the members around here. I guess I'm lucky I live in a semi-temperate climate. Most of the stores here carry some small selection mainly geared towards the indoor gardeners. Since I'm WSing on a small scale by comparison to alot of DGers, those smaller sized bags probably would be OK for me if I manage to get started earlier next year:LOL:
I am going to put some of the moisture crystals in the soil since we've hit a bit of a dry spell and it's beginning to warm up in spurts.

I've had several different brands, all sterile and soilless, and I'm tracking which seeds I sowed in which brand in case I have better luck with one over the other. If I notice a difference I'll post it.

This year I purchased one of those huge, heavy, "almost throw your back out getting it down from the top of the stack", compressed bales of Pro-Mix (BX). It is good stuff and from my understanding Pro-Mix is used by a lot of commercial growers. The place that I purchased it grows a lot of stuff from seed. The bale cost me around $28 but there is a lot of mix in one of those bales.

http://www.premierhort.com/eProMix/Horticulture/Products/GrowingMediaCat/Regular/fPeatMoss.htm

The only potting mix that I have had trouble with was a Target brand that was mostly a rather coarse bark. About any peat based potting mix should be fine for winter sowing.

- Brent

I stay away from store brands these days too. Last time I bought a cheap bag of potting soil at WMart, I found a huge chunk of broken glass in the sealed bag. I would rather pay a bit more and not have that happen again:LOL:

I used mostly ProMix bales last year and some MG. I have used MG so far this year because it was what I could find. Both have worked well for me. You don't need sterile mix- once you open it it's no longer sterile. Plus, the containers aren't sterile (I don't even wash mine) so the mix isn't sterile once you fill the container. You also don't need special seed starting potting mix. Just potting mix, garden soil isn't recommended, though some have used it with good results. I never use soil in any containers because it's too heavy and doesn't drain well. We get too much heavy rain here in the spring.

Karen

I haven't been playing by the rules.... I used about four different kinds of soil... some sterile, one was a bag of potting soil I found in my MOL's garden shed, then I bought something at Walmart with little white chunks in it, and then I had some left over potting soil from last year and some seed starting mix I bought this year. I should have recorded the mix I used for specific seeds, but I didn't. They'll come up or they won't. I figure when you plant seeds in the garden soil in the Spring, you're not planting in sterile soil... it has bugs and everything else so I'm pretty much winging it here! This has been my first year WSing and I've not been very scientific about it. So far I have six out of 50 containers that have germinated. Haven't checked yet today.

p.s. I'm not recommending anyone follow my cavalier approach to WSing, just being honest.

This is my first year of wintersowing. I started Feb 1 and have done several batches since then. I've done 197 containers (mixed jugs, 2-liters, and cups in clear sterilite containers) so I've gone through two of the largest bags of MG (the regular, not mosture control). 152 of the containers have germinated so far, so I've been very pleased with the MG.

I use MG with moisture control. I don't want to water any more than I have to. I have assumed the main reason for sterile soil is so you don't get weeds, am I wrong?

Started out with MG moisture control until it hurt my pocketbook. Started buying Expert brand Perfect Mix. Saved a little, worked ok. Got germination from both and have only supplemented watering once since January and then only recently when temps got into the 70's for a week.

If you have a Costco near you try them for MG. I payed half of what a local big box store is selling it for.

I don't have Costco anywhere in Georgia that I know of, but I wonder if Sam's would have it? I do like MG moisture control best of all of them. I'll check out Sams next time I'm in Albany or Macon.

I know wal-mart has the huge bags og mg during the summer (possibley all year round in your area)- which is a lot cheaper than the small bags.

I believe the reason for using sterile mix for indoor seed starting is more to avoid disease, like fungus. (I think) that that's also the reason for sterilizing containers before planting. But for WSing I don't do either and last year it was not a problem. To be honest, I don't even wash my milk jugs- just rinse in tap water. If I get the jugs from someone else and they're stinky like sour milk, I use Clorox to get rid of the stench.

That sterilizing stuff is too much work for no gain in my opinion.

Karen

I use Expert Gardener, the Wal-Mart brand, because it did so well for me last year. I started with MiracleGro and tried Expert Gardener after reading about it on another forum. The EG was lighter and fluffier and had fewer sticks and chunky debris than MG. I would not use StaGreen. I used that for some houseplants and it turned into a brick.

Peachykeen--I'm from Lincoln and your cavalier method sounds like mine. This is my first year of ws'ing and I've used a little of this, a little of that, and I can honestly say, I didn't even record when I planted what! I'm sure the veteran ws'ers will be rolling their eyes and shaking their fingers, but I had to start somewhere. I didn't want to sweat the details. ;-)

Wow! That is alot of soil:LOL: I punked out and bought a couple of small bags of the new organic MG but next time I'm going for the bigger is better deal. So, what I'm gathering is any decent potting soil will do=) Good info to have!

It really does seem that there are so many ways that work for different people. I am one of the MG people that rinses the milk containers well and cleans the stinky ones I get from other people and that is it. I do use organic since I am an organic gardener. I don't go to SAMS or Wall Mart for political reasons.