“Just got in from cutting some asparagus and dumping about 40 starting cups of mix that wouldn’t produce a plant.”
That’s what happened when I used Jiffy seed starter, NO PLANTS. The Espoma seed starter is magnificent. I’d use potting soil mix before I would use Jiffy seed starter. What kind did you use?
Miracle Grow starter in little styro cups and plastic cat food containers. I had posted back in Jan/Feb that this year’s mix of pnp was a different formula than last year’s and wondered if that would make a difference. The seeds were 2-3 years old which would cause a lower germination but only 35% of the cole crops made it to the garden.
The peppers and tomatoes have done much better if you don’t count two whole trays that didn’t do squat. Those were planted during the barren time according to by the moon planting. Not that I follow the moon’s phases but it proved true. FYI, various baking pans and plastic plant flats are what I call trays.
The runner variety peanuts were started in one of those little plastic teeny tiny starter trays with a mixture of about 3/4 potting soil and 1/4 this year’s MG starter. The only reason they were in that teeny space was just a test to see if they’d even germinate. I wasn’t going to hold my breath or waste mix. Despite being in the freezer for 15 years (not a typo!), they had nearly a 90% germination and were growing great guns by the minute. Wish I’d known they were going to be so vigorous as it’d have made a great hour by hour slide show.