Soil for starting seeds

[Chain Bender]

Anyone here know what/which potting soil companies like Bonnie Bell use to start their seeds in? I've used 4 different soils to start tomatoes and peppers in and they take for ever to get big/strong enough to transplant. I swear it's easier to just buy the plants at Wal-Mart for $1.77 for a 4 pack than trying to keep seeds and seedlings watered and good indirect sunlight. But some stuff we eat you I can't find. So I try to start my own seeds. I've had 2 month old tomatoes and peppers not 4 or 5" tall. A plant from the store has blooms and even fruit on them by that age.

Thanks in advance for any input.

CB

 

[DFB]

Generally soil less seed starting mixes are an inert media and contain no nutrient content.
Pro Mix, Farfard, Peters, and Metro, are all very common well known professional trade names.

Do you fertilize at your transplants at all...most all greenhouse growers fertigate their plants. They use a water soluble fertilizer in the watering system. There are various fertilizer blends to choose from depending on the light conditions and the growth results your trying to achieve. The most basic would be what they call a complete, generally equal amounts of NPK and either conventional or organic.

 

[Chain Bender]

Thanks for the info. I'll write down these product names for next year.

I use a little miracle grow when I transplant and again every 7-10 days depending on how much rain I've gotten.

It's been a rough year already. I had 25 tomato plants in the ground that were about 1' tall. We had a frost coming so I put sticks in the ground around the plants in a tri-angle shape. I use old walmart bags to cover the plants. I put dirt around the bottom to hold the bags down. The wind got so high that night it blew the bags off 19 plants and they got frosted and died. A month later I had transplanted about 60 tomato, 60 bell pepper, 75 banana pepper, jalapeno, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, cantaloupe, watermelons, and we got 13" on rain in less than 24 hours. lost about half of my plants and all of the seeds I had in the ground. In the past 35 days we've had over 28 inches of rain. We had 11" of rain Wed and I lost seven 50 yard long rows of melons and cantaloupe. Every plant still standing has a lot of yellow in them from way to much water. I wish California had some of this rain to put their fires out.

tks again,
CB