Soil Block Trials

In his book, The New Organic Grower, Elliot Coleman describes a new, yet ancient, technique for growing seedlings.  A simple hand held device is used to create a cube made purely of soil in which the seedling happily grows. This cube replaces the common plastic plug trey that most American growers currently use.  Instead of being contained in the plastic cells, the soil, with the help of the plants roots and a lot of moisture, stands by itself.  The plants grown in a soil block do not get rootbound like its plastic dwelling counterpart.  Once the roots reach the edge of the soil block they simply stop growing, waiting until they come in contact with soil again.  This phenomenon is called air pruning, and has the potential to greatly reduce transplant shock.  Seedlings grown in soil blocks are said to be more vigorous,  produce sooner, and are more resistant to pests.  Not to mention all of the plastic saved.  This is just one of those things that resonated with me as soon as I discovered it.  So far, the trials have worked great.  Here is a four block maker in a bucket of very wet potting soil.    

Simply fill a container with soil, add lots of water till a peanut-like-butter consistency is reached, press the soil block maker firmly down till it is tightly packed with soil and...

Walla, four beautiful soil blocks with indententations for sowing a seed into each one.   

If the block was made properly, you should be able to pick the individual cube up without it crumbling in your fingers

And it gets even better... block makers come in a variety of sizes, as do the plugs that make the seed indentation.  One example is the 3/4 inch mini-block.  The 2 inch block can be made with a 3/4 inch hole in the top.  So when it comes time to transplant, the small (3/4inch) block can simply be set in the hole in the larger (2 inch) block.  A 4 inch block can be made with a 2 inch hole in the top.  This would be perfect for larger plants like tomatoes and peppers.  For now, most of my sowings have been directly in the 2 inch blocks.  This is because the early crops like kale and broccoli are very fast growing.  By the time they fill out the 2 inch block, its just about time to plant them into the garden.  Below is a trey of 50 blocks.  If I had used plastic, only 36 plants would have fit in this trey.  The young kale sprouts have just come up, but before you know it, they will be the size of their older brothers to the left.   

After the addition of a few more lights and many more plants, this is what the sunroom is lookin like these days...

Also not pictured is another 4 foot flourescent light, and an unlit table that holds 5 trays.  All in all, I can stuff up to 30 trays in this room.  Allthough that is a heck of alot of plants, its still not enough so I am currently concocting outdoor greenhouse plans.  This will act as a hardening off space, a place to put older seedlings that are soon to be planted into the soil.  An update on whats growing...

 Decisso Broccoli
Bloomsdale Spinach
Collard Greens
Winter Density Lettuce
Rainbow Lacinato Kale
Rainbow Chard
Sherwood Leek
Moss Curled Parsley
Bunching Onion
Tatsoi
Veronica Cauliflower
Cassius Cauliflower
Purple Vienne Kohlrabi
Evergreen Hardy Bunching Onion
King Richard Leek
Slow Bolting Cilantro
Krausa Curly Parsley
Astro Arugula
China Choy Chinese Cabbage
Texas Early Grano Onion
Paris Island Cos Lettuce
Eary Jersey Wakefield Cabbage
Starbor Kale
Samantha Savoy Cabbage
Gonzolas Cabbage
Super Red Cabbage
Vates Kale
Bellstar Broccoli
Snowball Cauliflower

some kale and kohlrabi and lettuce have already been planted outside and are growing well

these were direct seeded into the soil outside...

Bloomsdale Spinach
Tyee Spinach
Space Spinach
White Egg Turnip
Rover Radish
Cheriette Radish
Cherry Belle Radish
Detroit Dark Red Beet
Chioggia Beet
Mokum Creamy Carrot
Chantanny Red Core Carrot

And soon to be sown are snow peas... and much much more!