[GreyScales]

I spent a good chunk of the winter scouring the Internet for anything I believed would make my plants better come time to transplant them from the propagator, and looking at them now I wonder if I over think things a bit too much

I got a silicon builders bucket and mixed Levington compost for better water absorption. Vermiculite for drainage, water and nutrient retention, insulation and its other properties. Worm castings for its extra nutrient density, but not too much because I know it can cause problems. Rock dust, which I know there are questions as to its mineral and trace elements advantages; but many seem to swear by it. Root grow mycorrhizal fungi which is supposed to help roots extract nutrients from the soil. Finally a little fish, blood and bone for some balanced NPK.

My plants have been in this mix a few weeks and they seem to be growing quite happily. The courgettes are much bigger, peppers and chillies have new leaves, there is growth on all the tomatoes and there are new roots visible where the stem is under the mix. So it didn't kill them!

But the spare tomatoes that were just left in the cheap compost/vermiculite seedling mix, just in case the others didn't take, all look like they've grown just fine. Rather than chuck perfectly healthy spares, I've potted them on in a compost mix with a few of the above ingredients; and will see if I can give them a home with someone else. If not, cannot complain about more tomatoes 

Pic 1
Pic 2

Now to be fair while they're the same age; the one on the left has been sat in a low nutrient seedling mix, while the other has had an abundance of food and more root area. But I'm wondering if the neglected one was sat in its own pot the same duration, with normal compost, if there would be any worthwhile difference between the two?

I guess what I'm asking is if it's worth trying to cram as much goodness into the mix as possible (at least my attempts to!) or I would have probably gotten similar and more economical results just using good old fashioned compost and some feed when needed?

[agapanthus]

Blimey....talk about being spoiled !!!! I just bung mine in the cheapest compost I can get without all the extras!!! 

[jay001]

Blimey....talk about being spoiled !!!! I just bung mine in the cheapest compost I can get without all the extras!!!  :

  me too but our toms and pepper seedlings are only a quarter of there size  . . .and strength from the look of things  aaah    great pics by the way  . . . we think you did right ! and besides it killed a few hours over winter  . . . on tinternet 



edit to fix quote

[Mark's Sussex Allotment]

The one of the right looks bigger to me. Stronger stem, better foliage.....

[solway cropper]

Apart from the cost of bunging all that stuff in the other drawback is that you are probably adding far more than the plants can use so, in effect, wasting it. Levington compost on its own should be fine for plants at the stage of growth yours are.