Land for seedlings: why your soil is better than purchased
In the old days, all summer residents stocked up land for seedlings themselves. Simply because there were no other options. Now the soil is sold in all garden centers and even supermarkets. But is she good?

Recently, gardeners are increasingly complaining: the soil in the bags is disgusting! Why? All these soil mixtures are based on peat. It dries up very quickly, turns into a dense lump that is not easy to soak. For seedlings, this is detrimental. In addition, purchased substrates contain fibers that, when decomposed, release substances that slow down seed germination.

And manufacturers often hack, pack the soil from greenhouses in bags. Waste that needs to be thrown away. This soil is full of pathogens and pests. So it’s time to go back to basics and prepare the land for seedlings yourself.

How to prepare the land for seedlings with your own hands

For growing seedlings, you can use ordinary garden or garden soil (1). But it’s better to mix. There is a universal option that is suitable for any seedlings: turf, leafy soil and sand. All components must be thoroughly mixed to obtain a homogeneous loose mass.

It is important that there is a lot of humus in the soil for seedlings – decomposed plant residues. This is the basis of soil fertility. In addition, humus makes the soil loose, crumbly, permeable to moisture and air (2) – this is exactly what seedlings need.

Where to get soil

Sod land. If everything is done according to the rules, then somewhere in the meadow you need to cut layers of sod (a layer of soil with grass and roots), lay them down in stacks with grass and leave to ripen for 1 – 2 years. But who will do it?

Therefore, you can make it easier: dig a layer of turf and shake the ground from it – it is loose, crumbles easily. Another option is to recruit it from molehills. It is very similar in composition to turf.

If there is no such possibility, ordinary land from your garden will do. It is poorer in composition, but in combination with other components it will completely serve as a basis (humus can be added to it for nutritional value). It is better to dig it where legumes grew in summer – peas or beans. They enrich the soil with nitrogen.

Leafy earth. In a good way, it also needs to be prepared – collect the leaves in the fall, put them in heaps, and after 2 years you will get a nutritious soil. But even here you can simplify the task – just collect land in the forest. There, the leaves rot annually, and the top layer is literally saturated with nutritious humus. But remember: you can not collect land under pines and firs (it is sour), under oaks and willows (it is of poor quality).

Sand. As a component of the mixture for seedlings, it is best to use river sand.

How to prepare soil

It makes no sense to bother, because at first almost any seedling has the same needs.

The simplest recipe is to mix three components in equal proportions: sod land (garden), leafy (from the forest) and sand (1: 1: 1). It is useful to add ash to this mixture: 1 cup per bucket is a good top dressing for seedlings, in addition, ash partially disinfects the soil and protects plants from diseases.

How to disinfect the soil

In the land for seedlings collected in the garden, in the meadow and in the forest, there are always pests and pathogens. If you do not get rid of them, they will damage the seedlings. Therefore, the earth must be disinfected.

There are several ways.

Freeze. In winter, at a temperature of -15 – 20 ° C, a bag of earth is taken out to the balcony for several days. Most pests and pathogens will die during this time. But not all. Therefore, the bag will have to be brought into the house for a week – the surviving pests and weed seeds will wake up in the warmth. And then the soil must be taken out again in the cold. And so 2 – 3 times.

Ignite in the oven. In this case, the soil is poured onto a baking sheet with a layer of up to 5 cm, slightly moistened and placed for 30 minutes in an oven heated to 70 – 90 ° C.

Steam. A very effective method, which also saturates the soil with moisture. The earth is poured into a colander and, stirring constantly, is kept over a pot of boiling water for 7-8 minutes. But this method is best used immediately before sowing seeds for seedlings.

They also advise shedding the soil with potassium permanganate, but it will only get rid of pathogens. It will not kill pests and weed seeds.

All methods of soil disinfection give good results, but there is a problem: beneficial microorganisms die along with pathogens. Therefore, after the shoots of seedlings appear, such soil must be enriched. This will help preparations containing live bacteria, for example, Baikal, Vozrozhdenie, Vostok EM-1, as well as Ecostyle brand organic fertilizers containing soil microflora.

Popular questions and answers

We talked about the soil for seedlings with agronomist-breeder Svetlana Mikhailova.

Do I need to add humus to the soil for seedlings?

If you use turf and leaf soil for the mixture, you can do without humus – they have enough organic matter. If you collected land from the garden, and it is clay, then it makes sense to add humus. The mixture should be as follows: garden clay soil, humus and sand in a ratio of 1:2:1.

Do I need to add mineral fertilizers to the soil for seedlings?

It is useful to add double superphosphate to the soil mixture – 1 tbsp. spoon on a bucket of earth. Superphosphate “pacifies” the violent growth of seedlings, it turns out strong and stocky. 

But nitrogen mineral fertilizers should not be added – they will provoke an active growth of green mass, and in an apartment where there is always enough light, seedlings can greatly outgrow.

Can seedlings be grown in coco coir?

It is possible – by and large, seedlings do not care what to grow in, they need a substrate to gain a foothold in their roots and not fall. Coconut substrate is good because it is very moisture-intensive – it will be possible to water the seedlings less often. However, it does not contain any nutrients, so the seedlings will have to be fed every 2 weeks. Best of all liquid complex fertilizers.

Sources of

  1. Yakubovskaya L.D., Yakubovsky V.N., Rozhkova L.N. ABC of a summer resident // Minsk, OOO “Orakul”, OOO Lazurak, IPKA “Publicity”, 1994 – 415 p.
  2. Shuvaev Yu.N. Soil nutrition of vegetable plants // M.: Eksmo, 2008 – 224 p.

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