Various types of grow media can be used to start plants indoors for your outdoor garden
Starting seeds indoors is a great way to not only scratch your gardening itch but get a head start on this summer’s bounty.
The Les Verts Terrace™ indoor garden systems are an excellent alternative to windowsills and cold frame greenhouses and can save you money on seedlings. With its open-shelf design and flexibility for plant placement, the Les Verts Terrace™ makes starting your outdoor garden transplants easy and efficient. Read more here about how to use an indoor hydroponic garden system to easily start all your plants from seed.
To ensure that growers are successful with their seed starting efforts, Rachel Green, co-founder and Research Director at Les Verts Living, has the following advice on selecting appropriate grow media for the Les Verts Terrace™.
“I get a lot of people asking about what types of grow media they can use in our systems for seedlings,” says Rachel. “Stone wool (also known as Rockwool) is always the best choice. Stone wool is designed specifically for hydroponic growing. It maintains good moisture content for roots while offering sufficient aeration, does not shed particles and is pathogen and pest free.”
Growers looking to start outdoor plants in their Les Verts Terrace™ can use stone wool Mini Blocks, which transplant easily to soil for outdoor production. “Once the roots have grown through the Mini Block, it can be planted outdoors directly into soil. By the time you remove it from your garden at the end of the season, barely any stone wool is left as the roots have taken over the media entirely,” adds Rachel.
For growers that would prefer to not use stone wool, there are several other viable options available. Les Verts’ featured partner, T&T Seeds, offers several grow media alternatives for use in our indoor garden systems.
More soilless grow media options
T&T Super-Plugs: These polymer-bound plugs incorporate an organic material like peat or coco coir and bind it together with a polymer. This makes the plug very contained. “These plugs are a great alternative to soil, plain peat, or plugs made of loose media, as there aren’t any bits of material that will break off and clog up the hydroponics system,” says Rachel.
Jiffy Organic Pellets: The self-contained plug of sterilized peat soil expands upon watering and the mesh around the peat soil contains the material. “Many growers are familiar with Jiffy brand products and tests in our Les Verts Terrace™ systems have shown these to be effective options for seed starting and transplants. Just be aware that there may be some shedding of the peat so the trays and reservoir of the system may need to be cleaned more frequently than when you are using stone wool media,” Rachel advises.
Jiffy Peat-Based Pots: These pots are made from Canadian sphagnum peat moss, wood fiber, and lime. They are biodegradable and can be used indoors or outdoors. “They can be an effective option for growing in our systems as they contain the grow media while allowing moisture from the system to access plant roots”, says Rachel.
Growers need to use caution when selecting the growing material for these pots. “We only recommend soilless mixes like peat and coco coir. Most pests and disease come from soil which is why indoor systems tend to steer clear of it,” says Rachel. Additionally, these pots break down over time, so growers need to adjust their watering and plan the transplant growth periods effectively to ensure that the pots remain intact throughout the seedling growth period. “Because many of these peat-based pots incorporate lime as a binding ingredient, growers will need to adjust the pH of the hydroponic solutions to optimize plant growth,” emphasises Rachel.
A note on cleaning
Finally, Rachel adds, “If you choose to use soilless options other than stone wool, you may have to clean your system more frequently. If using stone wool, our recommendation is a full clean out of the system every 4 months, if you are using other media that tend to shed, you should be doing a full clean out every 2-3 months.”
For more tips and tricks about using your Les Verts Terrace™ indoor garden as a seed starting system, check out our blog post here.
All of Les Verts’ indoor garden systems are suitable for use as a seed starting system.
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