The Most Important Thing: Root Systems
The time for seedlings is just around the corner, so this is the most appropriate time to talk about how to have the best seedlings. One of the main reasons we start seedlings in protected and heated spaces is because we want a plentiful and rich harvest as early as possible.
A decisive factor for such results, however, is the health of the root system that is formed during the first days or weeks of a plant’s life.
Today I would like to talk about one of the most effective methods to grow seedlings with healthy roots. But before telling you more about it, I will tell you about the conventional method and some of its disadvantages.
If we look at this picture, we can see how the roots are developed by conventional methods in plastic cell trays. First of all, because of the cell’s conic shape, the amount of dirt is much less than in cubic shapes. Plants have, therefore, less space to develop. The second aspect that greatly harms the development of roots is that, when the roots reach the walls of the cell, they coil around in circles. When transplanting, this hinders the roots from starting to develop rapidly and robustly in the soil.
The method I like to use, out of all the others I have studied and tested, is the use of soil blocks.
I like very much how Eliot Coleman describes them in his book The New Organic Grower:
How Soil Blocks Work
"A soil block is pretty much what the name implies--a block made out of lightly compressed potting soil. It serves as both the container and the growing medium for a transplant seedling. The blocks are composed entirely of potting soil and have no walls as such. Because they are pressed out by a form rather than filled into a form, air spaces provide the walls. Instead of the roots circling as they do upon reaching the wall of a container, they fill the block to the edges and wait. The air spaces between the blocks and the slight wall glazing caused by the block form keep the roots from growing from one block to another. The edge roots remain poised for rapid outward growth. When transplanted to the field, the seedling quickly becomes established. If the plants are kept too long in the blocks, however, the roots do extend into neighboring blocks, so the plants should be transplanted before this happens. Despite being no more than a cube of growing medium, a soil block is not fragile. When first made, it is bound together by the fibrous nature of the moist ingredients. Once seeded, the roots of the young plant quickly fill the block and ensure its stability even when handled roughly. Soil blocks are the answer for a farm-produced seedling system that costs no more than the "soil" of which it is composed.
Advantages
"The best thing about the soil-block system is that everything that can be done in small pots, "paks", trays, or plugs can be done in blocks without the expense and bother of a container. Blocks can be made to accommodate any need. The block may have a small depression on the top in which a seed is planted, but blocks can also be made with a deep center hole in which to root cuttings. They can be made with a large hole in which to transplant seedlings. Or they can be made with a hole precisely the size of a smaller block, so seedlings started in a germination chamber in small blocks can be quickly transplanted onto larger blocks. Blocks provide the modular advantages of plug trays without the problems and expense of a plug system. Blocks free the grower from the mountains of plastic containers that have become so ubiquitous of late in horticultural operations. European growers sell bedding plants in blocks to customers, who transport them in their own containers. There is no plastic pot expense to the grower, the customer, of the environment. In short, soil blocks constitute the best system I have yet found for growing seedlings."
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Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (Ephesians 3:17-19, NLT)
Additional Resources:
by Larry Lesher and Alan Seiler
Growing good transplants is an important skill for any gardener or farmer to learn. During this class we will be covering how to make potting mix for for starting your seedlings, and different potting, blocking and paper pot methods to put your soil mix into.
by Paul Dysinger
Cristian Sipos accepted God's call to be a farmer, despite his growing up as an office guy. For the last three years, he has been involved in farming and gardening, first as an apprentice at Bountiful Blessings Farm in the US, and then starting his own farm in Romania. Realizing God did not call him to do this alone, he joined fellow team members from IMPACT Romania to start a new farm--a place where other young people can experience a life closer to God and nature and be prepared for Christ's soon return.
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