Agriculture Reference
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expanded by placing them in warm water. Once the pellets
expand, the seeds are placed in the center and lightly covered,
then the pellet is bottom watered as needed until time to plant
in the garden. In the case of peat pellets, the seed-starting mix
of a peat pellet is essentially devoid of nutrients altogether,
making liquid fertilizer a must. If you use peat pellets, be sure
to carefully slit and remove the webbing at transplanting time
so it doesn't bind the roots.
Peat pots suffer from the same disadvantages that affect
multicelled containers because of their small soil volume,
plus they don't break down well, and they constrain root
growth in many cases, so I don't recommend them. When I
worked some compost into my beds last spring, I dug up
perfectly intact peat pots that had been planted a year earlier.
Peat pots often fail to break down quickly.
Compressed soil blocks, while not aesthetically acceptable for
commercial sale, are the best available choice for the farmer's
own seedlings. That's because a compressed soil block
contains 400% more soil volume than a peat pellet or
multicelled container, meaning it will contain more nutrients
and moisture. Seedlings raised in compressed soil blocks
using a properly constituted soil mix may require no liquid
fertilizer at all. Because roots grow right up to the edge of the
block instead of twisting around, and the block is made of soil
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