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Dear Jeff,
I am in my third year of running my one-woman, one-acre
market garden called Peacevine Farm. I use organic methods,
with this one embarrassing exception:
I don't know of a readily available and affordable seed starting
soil mix that is certifiably organic. I have been using Pro-Mix
BX, which has a wetting agent (don't know what it's called)
that discludes it from organic approval.
What are some of the options for organically-approved seedling
mixtures that will stand up to the quality of seedling produced
in Pro-Mix BX? Thank you!
Sincerely,
Trista Scheuerlein
Peacevine Farm
Coordinator, Farm-to-Table Program
Woodville, VA
Dear Trista,
The ATTRA website has a comprehensive section on “Potting
Mixes for Certified Organic Production” http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/potmix.pdf,
which lists several national sources for approved organic
potting soils and includes a host of information about making
your own mix and pertinent issues surrounding different ingredients
you might choose.
Here at The Rodale Institute, we produce our own potting
soil using leaf compost, perlite, vermiculite, a small amount
of topsoil and some organic peat. We pasturize the compost
to kill off any weed seeds, screen it and then mix everything
together. We seldom have any trouble with the mix. We've never
used any purchased potting mixes, so I have no personal recommendation
from the list they provide. Hope this information is helpful.
Jeff
Have some questions to Ask Jeff? E-mail
him directly at jeff.moyer@rodaleinst.org.
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