Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - Diatomaceous Earth as a seed starting medium

paradajky · May 1, 2022

Mrs. J: FloorDry from autozone is 100% natural DE. You are welcome to read the whole thread if you are interested in using DE as a seed starting medium and learning about its benefits and drawbacks. There are nearly 900 posts in this thread

Ray: your answer to my question is helpful in teaching those who are thinking about this process with root-sensitive seeds, and why they should try other methods, so they can avoid the mistake I made. When I posted my question, I had already sowed the seeds in DE. As such, I was looking for ideas on how to safely transplant them into either their final destination or an intermediary pot with regular potting mix, now that they've germinated since I realized the mistake. I was probably not clear about that. Would be easy to resow properly if I had more of the seeds, but I do not.

The trays have a hole in the bottom, I'll just try sticking something from below and maybe they'll pop out in one go once they are ready, and hope for the best.

EDIT: to clarify, I'm trying to figure out how to get the cucumber and squash seedlings out of the seed starting tray filled with DE, with minimal disruption to the roots.

May 1, 2022	#860
paradajky Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2021 Location: Coastal Southern CA Posts: 164	Mrs. J: FloorDry from autozone is 100% natural DE. You are welcome to read the whole thread if you are interested in using DE as a seed starting medium and learning about its benefits and drawbacks. There are nearly 900 posts in this thread Ray: your answer to my question is helpful in teaching those who are thinking about this process with root-sensitive seeds, and why they should try other methods, so they can avoid the mistake I made. When I posted my question, I had already sowed the seeds in DE. As such, I was looking for ideas on how to safely transplant them into either their final destination or an intermediary pot with regular potting mix, now that they've germinated since I realized the mistake. I was probably not clear about that. Would be easy to resow properly if I had more of the seeds, but I do not. The trays have a hole in the bottom, I'll just try sticking something from below and maybe they'll pop out in one go once they are ready, and hope for the best. EDIT: to clarify, I'm trying to figure out how to get the cucumber and squash seedlings out of the seed starting tray filled with DE, with minimal disruption to the roots. Last edited by paradajky; May 1, 2022 at 01:13 PM.