Seed Starter

[Hal]

What do you put in it Hal?

If it is for starting vegetables, well broken down manure to which can be added sharp sand if I need some extra drainage.
Alpaca is my preferred at present, though I do use horse, cow and sheep. Alpaca can be a bit hydrophobic but you can fix this with the addition of some sand or another amendment and I usually properly wet the mix the day before sowing.

 

[thistlebloom]

A few years back I got hold of alpaca/llama
breeders and they allowed me to drive through their pastures and pick up all the manure I wanted. That is some great stuff!

 

[Hal]

The place I get mine from has a machine for gathering it up, talk about lucky.
Did you notice they tend to revisit the same place making it easy to gather?

 

[buckabucka]

Oh, I love that alpaca face!
Fedco is local here, so I buy my seed starting mix from them, -not sure what it is called, but I sometimes switch types year to year.

I used to dig up some garden dirt in the fall and mix it 50/50 with the seed starter mix, but I had problems with some of the eggplants, peppers and tomatoes getting some wilting disease, so now I just use the mix.

 

[thistlebloom]

The place I get mine from has a machine for gathering it up, talk about lucky.
Did you notice they tend to revisit the same place making it easy to gather?

Alpacas and llamas are communal, um..poopers, for lack of a more graceful word. It does make gathering the manure much easier. Especially in a large area. They are also very curious and wanted to taste everything on my truck from bumpers to mirrors.

 

[dick]

Here is some more pics of my up potting. I'm going to back up a little with some basic info that may be useful to new gardeners.

This is how I prepare my cups, I poke holes with an old ball point pen and then mark the cup with the variety I'm going to insert.

These are what I'll repot now. (don't pay any attention to the tag, they are San Marzano tomatos)

Here are the seedlings broke out of their cell and ready to plant, the scale is to show their size.

I pinch off the 2 lower leaves (there's a name for them but I"m having a sr. moment and can't recall it) and bury them quite deep, with just a bit of stem and the leaves above ground.

THANX RICH

 

[baymule]

Styrofoam cups! Great idea!

 

[grow_my_own]

We live on an alpaca ranch, where we are also ranch assistants. I can attest to the success of using alpaca manure in my garden. The biggest issue I have with it, though, is that they eat orchard grass hay & sometimes drop it on the ground in the poop piles. Sometimes, the hay contains seed heads. Last year, orchard grass grew in my garden & eventually took it over. I couldn't stay on top of it, in spite of hoeing and weeding a couple of hours every single day. This year, I am letting the alpaca poop cure a little longer before using it. Pure alpaca/llama poop doesn't have to compost, but it does help, especially if there are other things that get scooped up with the manure.

 

[ducks4you]

You could always put blackplastic over your pile after it has sat for awhile to kill any seeds in it. Horses are the world's best re-seeders, so I have the same problem.

 

[NwMtGardener]

@dickiebird - those are nice looking tomatoes! I have a question though, just a curiosity thing - is there a reason you plant them bare-root instead of just putting the whole thing from the The cell into the styrofoam cup?

Ohwait, i just enlarged your picture, i think i see why...you grow multiple plants per cell, so you're separating during the up-potting?