Fellow grower pointed out my soil was too compact and it saved my seedlings

I had been starting all my peppers and tomatoes in this heavy bagged mix, wondering why they kept damping off. A guy at the local garden center asked why my soil looked like mud and told me to add perlite until it looked like cookie dough. I switched to 40% perlite, 60% fine coir, and my germination rate went from maybe half to nearly 100% this spring. Has anyone else had a pro call out a basic mistake that you just never thought to question?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_jason12d ago

Read somewhere that the main issue with compact soil is that it kills the air pockets that roots need to breathe. Used to think seedlings just needed moisture and warmth but apparently oxygen is just as important. Your perlite trick makes total sense after hearing that explained.

brian_ramirez12d ago

Man that's exactly it. Feels like everything I learned about plants was backwards until someone spelled it out simple like that.