Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[chickengr]

Is it possible to fill a pallet wood seed starting tray with potting soil, plant the seeds, and then later just carve the soil up like pieces of a cake for transplanting? I have always had separate compartments or pots for my transplants. But if you don't even need pots, that would be great.

I do not need pots. as I said before tomatoes and peppers grow better if you disturb their roots.

soil in the tray become compacted by the roots. I take it out as it becomes a big block. that's why trays should be smaller size in order to be manegable.

 

[chickengr]

Yeah, it gets hot in Greece early. Does anything grow in your summers? I know when I was a student in Europe, we would visit Greece before June because it would just get too hot afterwards.

I live in northern Minnesota and we enjoy all 4 seasons of the year. We have winter, June, July and August!

we use shade cloth if we want to grow something in summer. otherwise drop by drop watering 24/7 is needed. water is not cheap so not worth it.

 

[chickengr]

I've thought about doing that. I'm just afraid that the plants' roots would get too entangled. I even thought about using a sharp knife and cutting lines between them a few days before planting, to give them time to recover. Never tried it though.

you can put pieces of cartoon and make compartments. I sometimes do that.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I mix it in big plastic totes, the 16-17 gallon kind. WEAR A DUST MASK! Even if you're using stuff that isn't very dry, mixing it makes a lot of dust.

I use about 1/3 peat moss (this stuff can be very dry and dusty), 1/3 compost, 1/3 dirt from the garden. I add some perlite and vermiculite, and usually some organic fertilizer, like a 10-10-10 or 5-5-5. Some people add wood ash. I did the first year, forgot the second year, and haven't done it since.

Get it mixed as well as you can. I get in touch with my inner mud pie maker and use my hands. Then I wet it down. Using a watering can or sprayer will help; just dumping in some water usually doesn't wet it well. I usually take a couple of days to get it nice and moist, as it takes a while for the water to soak in.

I make my own compost = free. Soil from the garden = free. Vermiculite and perlite are left over from the first year I did this, so not free, but I don't know how much they were. The big bags are still about half full. I use probably 2-3 quarts (dry measure) of each when I make a big batch of mix. For the fertilizer, I'd say I use about 1 cup in big tote. Sprinkle it as you go, so it get dispersed better.

Peat moss is not free, but I get the best price at the end of the season. I get the biggest bale/bag they have, and it's usually enough for 2 years.

When I scoop the mix into the pots, it's still fairly dry. I try to wet it down over a couple days then, too, so that it's more uniformly moist. Fill the pots, give 'em a good drink. Water the soil again after planting seeds, depending on how moist it is.

Peat moss is really dry, I've found. It takes a while to soak up water. Just dumping some water on top doesn't work as well as sprinkling.

I mix my own soil too. My recipe is about the same as yours. I substitute pine wood bark chips for the peat though. It's sold here as pathway bark ands a lot cheaper than peat. I've been very happy with it in place of peat. Our soil and water are both very alkaline so the acid it provides is a must. Sometimes I add a little gravel as well...my swordfern needs about 50% gravel to thrive. And I mix it in the wheelbarrow with a shovel.

 

[gtaus]

The big bag of perlite and vermiculite have lasted 4 years, and are only half gone. Glad I bought them when I did; I haven't seen any like that since.

Yep, I used to buy a big bag of vermiculite insulation at Menards for about $18.00 for 3 cubic feet. Have not been able to buy any for the past 2 years and it looks like they will no longer sell it in the bulk bags. You can buy vermiculite in the garden center for about $8.00 for a very small bag (maybe half gallon?).

I asked the master gardener at one of our local nurseries and he told me just to mix compost and a good top soil 1:1. Since I have no end to chicken run compost supply, I have been mixing it 1:1 with top soil for the raised beds and it works fine. I don't know if it might be too heavy for small pots. But you have to use what you have available.

 

[gtaus]

Since then, I've had enough trays and flats saved from the flowers and veggies bought at nurseries in previous years for all I wanted to start.

Yeah, I don't throw out those plastic veggie packs unless they rip or tear apart. Probably better to use them then trying to fill a pallet wood seed tray and pulling the plants apart before transplanting.

 

[gtaus]

I use about 1/3 peat moss (this stuff can be very dry and dusty), 1/3 compost, 1/3 dirt from the garden. I add some perlite and vermiculite, and usually some organic fertilizer, like a 10-10-10 or 5-5-5. Some people add wood ash. I did the first year, forgot the second year, and haven't done it since.

For potting soil, I use your mix. For my raised beds, I now just use chicken run compost mixed with a good top soil 1:1. I am not opposed to 10-10-10 fertilizer, but a good compost probably is just as good. I still have half a bag of 10-10-10 and will toss in a cupful into a mix. Won't hurt.

Peat moss is really dry, I've found. It takes a while to soak up water. Just dumping some water on top doesn't work as well as sprinkling.

I have read that peat moss has to be really soaked initially. If not, it will actually shed off the water and not retain it. So, I always soak my peat moss before I add it to my potting mix. Then add additional water to the whole mix as needed.

 

[Sally PB]

I have read that peat moss has to be really soaked initially. If not, it will actually shed off the water and not retain it. So, I always soak my peat moss before I add it to my potting mix. Then add additional water to the whole mix as needed.

Yeah, it takes a lot of water for peat moss to get damp. I tried wetting it down before mixing, and that made a mess. Well, mixing up dirt/soil/compost is messy anyway, right?

IIRC, last year I mixed a big tote worth of potting soil, dry. I poured at least a gallon of water over it, left it overnight. It was wet on top, damp down about halfway, dry at the bottom. So I got really dirty, and mixed it again. And added another watering can of water and left it overnight again. That seemed to work pretty well.

I think a big tray would be a great way to dampen peat. Spread it out, then mist it, mix it, mist it, mix it, etc.

I'm just not that patient. And I don't have a big tray, but that could be a pallet project...! Line it with a decent tarp for water proofing and ease of mixing and scooping up the peat when it was all set.

 

[saysfaa]

Yeah, I don't throw out those plastic veggie packs unless they rip or tear apart. Probably better to use them then trying to fill a pallet wood seed tray and pulling the plants apart before transplanting.

They work pretty well ripped. Better, depending on how you water. I use several watering methods as the plants grow. I have very little inside space for the number of plants I start so they move to different kinds of pans/trays/pots and trays several times. It makes it easier to move them to keep enough light on all of them. They go outside as soon as possible to get even a couple of hours of sunshine.

The pallet box trays would be too bulky and heavy for my current situation. In different set up, they look like they would work well and look a lot better.

 

[ChicksnMore]

They work pretty well ripped. Better, depending on how you water. I use several watering methods as the plants grow. I have very little inside space for the number of plants I start so they move to different kinds of pans/trays/pots and trays several times. It makes it easier to move them to keep enough light on all of them. They go outside as soon as possible to get even a couple of hours of sunshine.

The pallet box trays would be too bulky and heavy for my current situation. In different set up, they look like they would work well and look a lot better.

I have one rolling shelf I made out of a big metal aquarium stand that I added lights to for my starts growing. My space is limited too. There was a pet resort going out of business here that had a bunch of unused smaller sized cat litter pans. I bought a bunch of kennel panels from them and they threw the pans in free. They're such great trays for all my starts. I fill em up with my little pots and just add water to the tray. I love watering from below where I can.
Think the pallet wood trays would look a lot better. I'd love to make two exactly the same size as my shelves...about 4' long. But I'd need them to be totally water proof to really be happy with them and I'm not sure how to do that.