Viewing post #2275763 by legosnell

wibbly said:@legosnell
Interesting Larry,
In my case, when I used the water floated method I found that the germination time was initially fairly quick around the 12 day period, but the development of seeds was far better when planted in washed sand (to remove salt) topped with a thin layer of vermiculite.
Under three weeks later the water floated seeds had only roots about 1/2" long whereas the planted ones had top leaves over 1" long already. I also planted some seeds in coco coir and vermiculite and the results were identical to the sand method.
Personally I now prefer the coir method (or seedling mix) as development is faster and there is no need for the fiddly planting needed after the floating method.

I've used straight horticultural vermiculite for starting rose bush cuttings but never tried it for starting seeds. I'm currently trying out ecoscraps potting mix for most of my new pots which is supposed to be a blend of processed pine bark or wood chips, environmentally friendly coconut-coir, perlite, and compost made from yard trimmings and food scraps.