Thanks for your good wishes as well as for all the details, Camo-the retired teacher in me is fascinated by the experimenting that others report about, I guess! That is quite a significant difference in germination! Tried some moon sign planting this year as well-I need to keep better records for sure and think my impatience to get things done NOW will continue to interfere with waiting until the signs are 'right', you know?!

Camo, You must have gotten the MiracleGrow mix intended for Pittsburgh. Your mix was suppose to have a couple shovels of stone thrown in the mix ;-)[quote=camochef;168476]Dustdevil,
Whatever works for you, but after a large number of their largest bags (I think they were 6 cubic feet, and I was going through 6-8 of them /season), having so much debris and having to go into the emergency room for stitches I was done with them forever!
Camo[/quote]

Dustdevil,
I had them too! From Bluestone to quartz, along with metal that looked like it flaked off the bucket the used to scrape it up with, or the bins they dumped it into. Don't know where the glass sliver came from, it looked like plain window glass about 2 1/2 inches long and running from 3-4 inch to a razor sharp point, and a nice slicing bevel to its length!
I'd really hate to think what one could find in bags going to Pittsburg!
Camo

[QUOTE=camochef;168470]About the only seed starting medium I use anymore is Ferry Morse.
Camo[/QUOTE]

The bag of Jiffy I used yesterday and this morning to start some seed says it is a Ferry Morse product.

All of my peppers and tomatoes died from damping off earlier and i started some more seed in Jiffy. This was about a week ago and nothing except spider web looking "fuzz". Is this a start of damping off?


Oh and hello, i can't believe i haven't known of this place before!!! I've learned a whole lot in a very short time.

B54red,
I was thinking that my Ferry Morse seed starter mix had jiffy mix somewhere on the bags but I wasn't certain and I wasn't about to run out to the shed to check in the rain.
It's probably the same that I use. only mine's always a year or more in my shed. Bone dry when scooped out which is one of the reasons I wet it down for a couple weeks before planting in it. Initially, it seems to want to repel water, but once it's good and wet it woorks great.
Wishing you a successful season!
Camo

[quote=Tim76;168508]All of my peppers and tomatoes died from damping off earlier and i started some more seed in Jiffy. This was about a week ago and nothing except spider web looking "fuzz". Is this a start of damping off?


Oh and hello, i can't believe i haven't known of this place before!!! I've learned a whole lot in a very short time.[/quote]


Tim76,
Welcome to the forum.
I don't think the two are related, sounds like you might have a type of mold or a busy family of web spinners that think it's a great place to build.
I always set my freshly seeded trays in the oven where the pilot light keeps them warm. Thus far, I've never seen any mold form, the heat does require a little more watering to keep it moist but most seeds sprout in 3-4 days, (tomatoes), peppers usually take a little longer. I rarely lose any plants to damping off using this method. Once sprouted they go under lights during day and back into the oven at night, as our night-time temperatures are still fairly cool, if not downright cold this past week!
Good Luck!
Camo

Well, how about only having the very top layer consist of jiffy mix, & the rest directly underneath be a proprietary potting mix or potting soil. That way the jiffy is only for keeping the seed moist & having an easily penetrated medium; once the seed's radicle emerges, it immediately encounters the potting mix/soil.

I have had great germination from the seed I planted a couple of days ago. So it seems that this bag of Jiffy is just fine unless something bad develops over the next few weeks before potting up. So far I have planted seed in three different seed starting mixes and the Jiffy has been the best of the lot. I think I'll keep using it as long as I have success with it and they don't start throwing rocks, sticks and other debris in it like Miracle Grow did to the last couple of bags of MG I used.