The Case for Soil Blocks in the Market Garden 

It's tru tho

@Tørøntø Äqüätïçs, płäñtš åńd ānīmãłs Just use the black inked sheets. Papers use soy based inks. Colored pages, especially glossy pages, aren't as adsorbent.

Nice to hear, jason! A respectable endorsement coming from you

Me? I'm just a retired Olde Pharte dabbling in Market Gardening. I'm no one to take note of.

Guess I will finally give it a go! 👍🌱

I’m just a home gardener but soil blocks were a game changer for me when I discovered them last summer. Plants TAKE OFF when planted in the ground. And I started my cucurbits too early this spring and they held really well in the soil blocks until it warmed up enough outside

@@cindyeoo Thanks for the information cindy! Looking forward to using them. Should I make a block maker or what would you recommend using?

Right, that's a good point. That stuff is not the best. Needs amending and sifting probably. Good addition -- thanks!

Mmmm interesting! I was wondering if that would be a good soil block soil amendment since they have a stickiness to them.

Thank you! I’ve got plenty of that!

I would like to see that too. I do get a little rootbound in winstrips but not as badly as cells. The one major challenge with winstrips is moisture. Needs to be bottom watered IMO. Dry out sooo fast.

Natures always right has a decent comparison video on RU-vid

How did it work for you?

@@TheRainHarvester pretty sure it broke ! I was just thinking about water collecting.. hmmmmm

@@gavinbrinck Oh no. The soil blocker tool broke? They look indestructible. You can see the cistern in my 2nd to last video.

There’s a learning curve but so worth it

ALL DAY EVERY DAY

Yeah we did that once. It worked okay. If cells were too wet or not well enough established it didn't pop well. It could have been the popper but didn't allow for the same level of flexibility as the blocks. Again could try a better popper

Any reason to stop using them?

Same question

@@TheRainHarvester Yes you can make ahead of time! They actually firm up and you can grab them easily or just leave in trays! And to re-hydrate them all you do is bottom water (which will keep them from falling apart too) and maybe spray bottle any stubbon top part that dont wick all the way up.

I saw elsewhere somebody mentioned you can pre-make trays of these, let them dry out, and then they can even be stacked in storage. Then they can be rehydrated just prior to use.

We must them at first then light shower after 1st true leaves. They do well with bottom watering. Dont dry out as much as cells or winstrips.

Been thinking about that. Maybe I'll give it a try this winter!

Get someone with a laser cutter to make one. They don't charge much and can find many a group on say Facebook where hobbiests would be keen to make it.

​@@69erbennyyou can drill lexan amd plexi with a little soap and water as a lubricant for the drill. Super easy, and great results

@@stevescuba1978 that's good to know as well.. 👍

A good quality Coir works as a substitute for peat in the recipe. I've found the blocks tend to dry out faster, so timely watering is important

Good questioa! So we have done the minis but I don't think it's worth it. We prefer to just skip that step and go straight into 2" blocks. For tomatoes four instance we'll sow a couple extra seeds in every tray so if there are any misses we just pull the extra plant out and transplant it into the empty blocks. Saves a step.

I've been exploring soil blocks. I was going to use the 2inch blocker for all starts. But one comment on a video said the larger seed block can hold too much moisture and rot the tiny seeds? So I decided to used a block that fits the size of the seed. I have no idea if this is going to work.

i have made origami paper pots to pop them into [tomatoes/peppers], or just use recycled trays that you get fruit or veg in.

Don’t support Walmart. There should be a local farm or feed store near by. Please support them instead💜

@@jenniferpresnell9558 My local feed store only carries miracle gro.

Rose A that’s too bad. Do you have any other option in your area? I know it can be tough. The reason there aren’t any other options is because Walmart (and the like) put them all out of business 20 years ago.

I make all my soil blocks with hand blocker inside my house. It cleans up easily and I’m only doing about 20 trays inside. Might not be as messy as you think.

I also am a home gardener making soil blocks in my house. In my basement though, but it’s not that messy. I keep the soil in a flat bottomed plastic tub with cover to keep it moist. And I put a layer of maybe 2 sheets of newspaper in the bottom of the tray. Then I water with a squirt bottle. Not spray, but squirt like your mom used to do to dampen linen before ironing. You can get cork squirt tops on Amazon, which I’m trying not to patronize as much either, but they do have them

Lots of plastic with cell trays. We use the Johnny's trays

I use the heavy duty trays from Bootstrap Farmer. They stand up to the weight of the soil blocks, the solid trays have deep channels for bottom watering and they last many seasons. Some of mine are 5+ years old and still going strong.

Use a brass misting nozzle to water your seed trays. Never use a wand/ breaker

Check out gardenersworkshopfarm on Instagram she does a lot of 3/4 inch block seedlings. Seems to work for her. The post is from april 14th.

No but that's interesting. Not sure what I would be able to transplant from those minis... hm. Maybe could work for spinach or lettuce but they are super small. Not sure you'd get a substantial enough plant, but maybe!

@@carlkistner1235 great, thanks! I looked up some of her pics and these are impressive. I am doing some trials myself and now knowing this gives me more confidence. Less space, less pottingsoil, less work sounds like a nice idea. Thanks again😊

Use a brass misting nozzle. Buy at or Amazon. Don't use a regular watering wand with breaker/spray head

I’m not positive but I think it’s your moisture level, either to wet or to dry. It took me a few times to figure out what the mix should feel like and also make sure you are packing it tight. Scoot out he mix to the edge of your pan so it’s deep, then plunge down on a big pile of deep mix, it helps pack enough in there without having to make several small plunges to fill the blocker. Good luck, don’t give up, just play with it a bit until you get the hang of it 😍

@@rnupnorthbrrrsm6123 Quite funny how techniques differ. I found that I need a thin bed of substrate so I can squeeze it into the mould against the bottom of the container. Trials continue however, now that I can make nice blocks I manage to 1) wash / float out the seed while watering and 2) get germination and the seedlings then just ... freeze, neither failing nor actually growing beyond cotyledons. I suspect anaerobic conditions or lack of watering. And yes, I know those are kinda contradictory :D

Wouldn't recommend it because the blocks will dry out. The moisture content of a fresh made block is ideal for germination or a seedling.

Well, I cant say from personal experience but most growers say carrots cannot be transplanted (save for paperpot but even then I'm skeptical). Could try it but I worry about root damage making it not worth the work. Who knows tho!

@@notillgrowers Well, we shall see.... ! I never woulda dreamed of starting carrots, but seeing all u market growers starting so much, incl. Richard perkins doing carrots in his paper pots I think, inspired me.. . I started some in taller-ish plastic drinking cups this spring, in a hurry to get some going, but waiting on place to ultimately put them ( in apartment, sharing a friend's garden, long story) . Ended up w em in some pots/pails. other than the compost from a neighbors horse yard being more sandy than I realized, and they kept drying out & now w all this rain, staying too wet, they been looking good. Let ya know ! BTW< u look super tired, like me when I during some very gruelling yrs on my folks dairy farm. Get some more sleep somehow, as I suspect you're not in your 20s, either ! Drink extra nourishing broth too maybe. God bless & stay funny !

Kevin Adkinson I transplanted carrots carefully , they were O.K but the ends all grew bent.

Yes and no. We’ve done larger soil blocks and wrapped them in burlap. But that’s a lot of work. I think you could also transplant them into pots and sell the that way but I’m not sure it would be more worth it than just growing them in pots? Good question though!

@@notillgrowers I'm wondering if you could premake the bags and reuse them yeah plastic waste is no good. And I'm not a big fan of plastic recycling either. All the plastification can't good for the Earth either. But that being said I don't think that we shouldn't be doing anything with petroleum all together it can be pretty useful in chemical applications. Like making ammonia and nitrogen-based fertilizers. Like for example a chemical based fertilizer such as Monoammonium phosphate will have a cleaner NPK(12-52-0) and will not contain any potassium. Which is good if you have too much which in some cases potassium interfere with the uptake of other cations. Both ammonium and dihydrogen orthophosphate ions exist in nature. Adding them to a acreage at levels to meet the needs of your crops and the soil organisms would be no different than adding an organic fertilizer as the plants take up the available nutrients. You won't go over on something that you already have too much of. If that proportion of nutrients is needed. The phosphate won't immediately bind to the soil. And it's pH in solution should effect the soil microorganisms. It all depends on circumstance and timing

I've used small fiber trays to hold soil block seedling for sale, but the trays I've found don't hold a full 6-pack of soli blocks and it's an extra step to put them in the fiber trays

Mostly blocks. I continue to prefer them. We use Winstrips for early tomatoes and peppers then late brassicas . Everything else in blocks

@@notillgrowers awesome, thanks for the response! Have a good season!

Have u tried it ? Not meaning to be rude, truly ! Just that I have, it sucks, and that's just for lil old home garden, no way to make that work efficiently for a market grower. Very (!!) hard to cut up without spilling seedlings all over ( and to cut up prior to sowing...well, u try it), too shallow for most things, too small all around for many others. Maybe if have good greenhouse environment ( I did not) they would be easier to maintain decent moisture levels, but since I know people who can re-use egg cartons for their chickens, there's no waste is not doing this.

@@ajb.822 I heard of it being done and thought I'd try it soon. 😁

Might work for a little herb garden but it's not scalable.

Part of the point of soil blocks is that the soil block on a mesh tray is surrounded by air, not paper or plastic, which allows the roots to air prune.