Soil Blocks
As I was starting this venture, one core value I wanted to implement was being as sustainable and organic as I could possibly be. This has carried into what type of vases we use and how we package it to how we grow. Soil blocking is something that helps us grow healthier plants in a more sustainable way. Here are a few things I love about soil blocking and what helped me make the easy decision to switch to soil blocks.
It saves space.
Transitioning from a home gardener to a flower farmer, the number of plants I needed to grow dramatically increased. I went from growing about 100 plants to growing close to 1700 in our first year.. That was quite a jump! My indoor space is just a small corner in my basement. Because I have two kids (ages 2 and 5 years old) and 2 indoor cats, I needed to find a safe space to grow them so they would be out of reach from my little one’s tiny hands. Most flower seeds like Snapdragons, celosia, strawflower, ect can be started out in the mini (¾ in.) soil blocks. You can fit almost 300 mini soil blocks in a standard 1020 tray! Say what?! Larger seeds like sunflowers and cosmos start out in the 2 inch soil blocks.
More efficient germination rate.
This is a great benefit to solid blocking and connects to saving space. Let's say only 70% of my flowers germinate. This gives me two options. I can either move the 30% of soil blocks to reseed them or simply remove them without disturbing the germinated ones to make more room for the flowers that are growing healthily.
Air pruning.
Soil blocking is a game changer and a time saver to getting your plants to bloom healthier and faster in the garden. Because there are no walls or containers the soil blocks the roots do not become root bound, which can cause transplant shock. Instead, they grow a healthy root ball in a process called air pruning. A good example of this is if you were to think of a tree, you don't see the roots sticking high out of the ground. When their roots reach the surface they sense the air and grow back down to more nutrition in the soil. They don't continue to grow and spread up in the air. This is similar to the soil block; when the roots reach the end of a soil block they sense the air and ‘reach’ back down into the solid where they can find more nutrients to feed on. This creates a healthy root system that is the essential building blocks to your plants.
Healthy soil to give your plants the best start .
Having strong building blocks is essential to building healthy plants which leads to building beautiful blooms. Most seed starting mixtures are made up primarily with peat moss which has no real nutritional value. I like knowing exactly what is going into my plants. In the recipe I use, I mix organic compost with cow manure, coco coir, an organic 4-4-4 fertilizer, garden soil from my own garden, and perlite to help with the drainage. For the 4-4-4 fertilizer, there are recipes so you can make your own from scratch with green sand, blood meal, and bone meal among other things. There are several recipes out there. I based mine off of Elliot Coleman’s book but replace peatmoss with coco coir.
More sustainable.
Now, some of the recipes you can use call for peat moss. When I was researching soil blocking I went down the rabbit hole of how peat moss is not a sustainable resource. The way it is harvested releases a lot of carbon into the atmosphere. As I said, peat moss does not have real added nutritional value to your soil. In fact, it has a higher acid value you will have to counteract with lime. The role it adds to your soil blocks is organic matter to help maintain moisture. But this can easily be replaced with coco cior, which is a sustainable substitute with a neutral PH. So there is no need to add lime to your soil block mixture.
With all of these positives, I have come across one set back. They are not cat or toddler proof. Last year my daughter was toddling around and I had the seed trays in her little arms reach. Within a blink of the eye, she was able to put her hand in the tray and grab a handful of soil and destroy about a dozen soil blocks. So this was a rookie mom mistake and I set up a more toddler proof location up and didn't have any more problems with that. But this year, our family added two kittens to our home. We love them, and they love to take naps on the heat mat under our bright grow lights. They knocked the humidity domes off and decided that that was going to be their official snoozing spot. So after a few trial and errors with that situation, we ended up setting up one of our portable greenhouses in our basement. The kids and I had fun frankensteining the parts of two greenhouses into one to create deeper shelves and it seems to be working great! I did need to invest in a few things to keep the humidity at appropriate levels, but it is well worth it!
Now that we have gone through these reasons, I want to make it clear this is my opinion that I have formed through reading and personal experiences. I do not want this post to deter anyone from planting or scare you off from starting your own seeds indoors. Let's say you want to try soil blocking but are not too concerned about the soil you start your seedling in- That’s okay! I've seen some flower farmers use regular potting soil and they seem to come out just fine. This is just the method I have used and has had the best results for me. Just be sure that the soil you are using will hold up well enough through the whole time until you transplant them outdoors. I just want you to walk away feeling equipped and excited to start your own seeds and partake in the wonderful experience of gardening
Happy Growing,
Ami S
PS: For more info on peat moss and soil block recipes, please check out the following resources:
The New Organic Grower, 3rd Edition: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener by Eliot Coleman
