Topic: Soil blocks - advice wanted please!

[supersprout]

Does anyone use soil blocks to get plants started? I know where to get the presses, but the company says I should make my own and I just know I'll never get around to it  ::). Has anyone used soil blocks - it looks like a great idea, but what would be the best compost to make the block mix, and are there any downsides? Thank you! :D

[Palustris]

Sorry, but the last time I made and used soil blocks was over 30 years ago and even my memory does not extend that far back to answer with any certainty.

[supersprout]

thank you for your reply! I now know that I am a really modern girl wiv my soil blocks;D

[Hot_Potato]

I bought 2 soil blocks way over a year or more ago - one I gave away because I thought I'd made a mistake & wouldn't use it and the other still sits in the boot of my car in it's packaging.....maybe I'll get round to using it one day but as I've only a tiny patio at home and nothing to 'mix it all up in' it becomes difficult to use for home use.....will probably end up taking it to the allotment and tipping it out there & mixing with water & dig it in!!

[jennym]

If you mean like compressed compost plugs - like those used by growers - they aren't any better than using compost in pots or modules - I've tried both and the only good use for blocks is commercially when sowing automatically by machine, otherwise there is no advantage.

[supersprout]

When you tried them Jenny, did you use ordinary seed compost to make the blocks with? ::)

[jennym]

No, I didn't make them, the grower I visited used them - they were part of a mechanised system called Ellepot, all high tech stuff. The company who makes the system is in Denmark, Ellegard I think.
But what happens is the machine makes a sort of paper based pot with compost in it, compressed under vacuum. Then when the grower wants to use them, they are watered and the compost expands, but I'm not sure whether they sowed the seeds before or after the water was added. This is more suited to high volume production.
I think Jiffy peat plugs are a similar idea.