Potting Mix Vs Sprouting Mix??
 

I have been using potting mix to start my seeds in my indoor heated and lit space for the last couple of years. My soil person at the local nursery says that I should be using sprouting mix instead, something about the potting mix having fertilizers that might damage the roots? Is the true or is she just trying to sell me the very expensive sprouting mix?

For may years I have used soilless mix often called potting mix. Just be sure there is no actual garden soil in the mix. Many swear by using mix especially for seed germination which is soilless mix in a finer form.

The soilless mix I use is Miracle-Gro or Schultz or Master Gardener or the other brands available. I have used the mixes with fertilizer with no problems with roots. The actual fertilizer content in the mixes is so small all it does is give seedlings a little boost. My personal opinion is to not use the potting mix with moisture control.

For years all I ever used to start seeds was the yellow-bag Miracle Gro potting mix, and I got great results. For the past few years, I've been trying various brands of seed starting mix, and my results have been erratic and often disappointing. I think one problem is that the lack of fertilizer in some of the seed starting mixes means you definitely have to start giving your seedlings fertilizer pretty quickly for them to do well. I've also had some of the seed starters stay too moist for too long. One starting mix that was basically just coir really stunted my seedlings and I had to repot them all to rescue them. Not sure if it was contaminated or what.

My main complaint about Miracle Gro potting mix is that in recent years they've really increased the amount of large chunks of bark and sticks and pieces of wood in it. I pick all that out by hand for seed starting, which is time-consuming. I keep meaning to buy a coarse screen but so far I haven't remembered. I saw someone on Youtube use a minnow trap in a bucket to screen out large chunks, and that seemed to work well, but I don't have one of those, either.

If you've been having success using potting mix, I don't think there's any reason to change.

Potting mix works for me.

For the last 9 or 10 years I have used Magik-Moss seed starter with great results. It works better than Jiffy Mix or any other product I've tried over the years.

Dan