How to Make Soil Blocks

[@VegetableAcademy]

Kickstart your vegetable game with my Free Workshop: www.vegetableacademy.com/yt-freeworkshop

[@BarbaraGill]

You are a great teacher!! I appreciate your style of teaching. I’m pretty new at gardening. We just bought a greenhouse. Looking forward to trying this. Thank you so much!

[@wendyperez8714]

I didn't realize that the 2-inch block fit into the 4-inch block. That is so convenient! Nice job with the video. It's my first year using soil blockers; got the method down but am still blown away at how much I can fit on a try on my heat mats.

[@markluke8447]

Great job explaining this process.

[@homebuddha]

Jared this was awesome stuff! I loved learning how to make your mixture & printing the soil blocks, but to see the matryoshka doll effect of popping the smaller print blocks into larger ones blew me away with excitement! Thanks a million!

[@VegetableAcademy]

You're welcome. I'm glad you found this helpful.

[@flatsville9343]

I made a 4 in soil block maker out of two 1/2 gal plastic milk jugs. A 1/2 gal plastic milk jug is about 4 in square. Cut the bottom & top off of one jug to get smooth sleeve (from the center.) Trim sleeve to the desired height. Use the other one (whole jug) as the plunger. (Flat bottom end through the sleeve first.) Fill the sleeve with soil mix. Push the other milk jug down through. Lift the sleeve wilth one hand. Push down with the whole jug plunger. You can fashion a square dibble hole to accept a 2 in block on the plunger. Just duct tape it in the middle of the bottom of the plunger jug. I stffened the plasic sleeve by hot gluing paint sticks on all 4 sides. Also makes it easier to grip when lifting it up with one hand. I about had a heart attack when I priced the 4 in soil blocker...and that was some time ago. Your 4 in block may be a bit wonky, but you will be $100+ better off.

[@Microx3]

Excellent Tutorial, Thank You.

[@glomontero6011]

Thank you for all this info.

[@VegetableAcademy]

You're welcome Gloria.

[@bjevans01]

Great video!

[@ellellbee]

A question for you, please. When you mention compost, is that homemade compost or store bought in bags? I have been using my own compost but I am finding a few worms hatching out in the mix once it is wet. There must be worm eggs in it.I sifted it last fall and stored it dry indoors over winter in big plastic bags. Any harm in that or should it be sterilized compost for the ¾ inch seed starting blocks?

[@brandynash1409]

Thank you for this. How many bags of peat do you go through in a growing season? I’m trying to get a good idea on how much I will go through with the large blocks. I grow 135 tomato plants and 66 pepper plants. That’s not counting all the squash I grow. We are a family of 6 and grow in 2500sq ft at the house and have a 2 acre field we work. I’m thinking this will save my some money in the long run, but need a visual of how many bags of peat I would need to buy.

[@ardenthebibliophile]

Silly question, but how do you water the blocks? Just top water? I've seen a lot of others bottom water blocks which is why I ask

[@VegetableAcademy]

That's a common question actually. Indoors, I use a watering wand with a fine spray so the water is easily absorbed into the blocks and not too powerful to erode the blocks. You can a photo and link to this fine watering wand on our Tool Shed page here: www.vegetableacademy.com/toolshed

[@CM-ty9zl]

Have you ever tried using biochar in place of vermiculite or perlite

[@sherryhayhurst3027]

Please ..feel free to let me know...I'd love to hear about that! Ty!❤

[@ellellbee]

Are your soil blockers made by Ladbrooke's in the UK? I see the handle is different but other than that they look the same.

[@christophmuller830]

Hi, I also have the 4x Ladbrooke Soil Blocker. It came with the normal nips. It works absolutely wonderfully for making soil cubes. They are accurate and come out whole. But when I insert these black cubes where I want to insert the small soil cubes later, the soil cube gets stuck in the Soil Blocker. The whole soil cube is pushed out completely, but the part of the black cubes is so stuck in the soil cube that it does not come out. When I pull up the Soil Blocker, all four soil cubes are hanging only on the black cube inserts. Trying to get the soil cube out usually ends up breaking it. I dip the Soil Blocker in water beforehand, which doesn't solve the problem. The only thing that helps is the opposite. Dust some dry soil dust into the Soil Blocker. This gets them out quite well, but it is inconvenient. Do you have any ideas what could be causing this?

[@VegetableAcademy]

My 2" blocker is almost 10 years old now, so perhaps the manufacturer changed the material of the cube inserts and that made a difference. I haven't had any students express difficulty with this though. I'd try adjusting the moisture level of your potting mix to help it release better. A quick rinse is still all I use to help eject the blocks cleanly.

[@jeffmeyers3837]

@VegetableAcademy What slow-release fertilizer do you recommend for the mix to feed young seedlings?

[@jeffmeyers3837]

3:05 He says Gaia 4-4-4 fertilizer (he said it quickly but that's what it is for anyone else interested).

[@erdalderici7577]

Hello, I have a question regarding seed starting plug. I think these sponges are bound by a particular polymer. Does anyone know the name of this polymer used in production of the seed starting sponge plugs? I am open to any documents and information regarding the production of these sponge plugs as well. Thank you

[@johnbrown1249]

How do you water your seed blocks?

[@VegetableAcademy]

When watering my soil blocks indoors, I use a small sprayer wand usually found on pressurized tanks. This type of wand sprays water broadly and lightly so the water is easily absorbed by the soil blocks. You can see photos of this and get links to examples on my Tool Shed page here: www.vegetableacademy.com/toolshed

[@erichgallardo9772]

what’s a replacement for perlite ?

[@VegetableAcademy]

Vermiculite has many of the same properties as perlite.

[@GlitterForeverr]

Do you start off in the smallest block every time you plant?

[@jaredregier]

No. The size of the block used totally depends on what I am planting. We typically start brassicas, celery, tomatoes, and peppers in the 3/4 inch blocks.

[@Raul28153]

commercially available compost has ( at least this year 2023) been a serious problem So much of it is river bottom muck with tons of uncomposted matter in it making the compost itself the largest demand of nitrogen and god only knows what heavy metals and other horrid things are scraped off the river bottoms. I bought Kellogs Organic and every plant I put in it died. Care to expound on the compost you use?

[@caroltomkovich9491]

check if a nearby local municipality has a compost operation. I am luckily in the Dallas area the city of Plano collects tree cuttings from landscape companies along with food scraps and composts them. It's great stuff! If not, check with a local independent nursery (not big box hardware stores.)

[@jamiekabzinski6910]

What volume of pearlite, peat moss, and compost are you pouring in from the white buckets in the large scale batch?

[@VegetableAcademy]

There would have been 20 cups of perlite, 30 cups of peat moss, and 25 cups of compost in those buckets. I have a large 10 cup scoop that makes the measuring quick. If I have got a lot of blocks to make, I will usually do a double batch. I wouldn't want to mix much more than that at once with the method shown here.

[@jennifermisquith5606]

Very well described video, thanks! How much fertilizer, lime and rock dust do you add?

[@jamiekabzinski6910]

@@VegetableAcademy thankyou! We have a very tiny back yard so I'm looking forward to trying out your method and optimising the use of our space ☺️

[@VegetableAcademy]

@@jennifermisquith5606 Here's a short video that shares the full recipe. kzbin.infoTpdc6geQdJI

[@lesleyhoban6559]

@@VegetableAcademy I cud not get the recipe

[@mikehasson6146]

Peat Moss is environmentally unsustainable. What could be substituted that doesn't have such an issue?

[@VegetableAcademy]

Peat moss management practices vary around the world. Here's more about the current state of the peat moss resource in Canada. www.vegetableacademy.com/post/can-peat-be-beat

[@CM-ty9zl]

It also contains some PK and trace nutrient

[@sshat]

Coco coir is sustainable

[@mikehasson6146]

@@sshat I've done more research since I made that comment. @ Vegetable Academy is right that peat harvest in Canada is better regulated than most places, and I think as long as you aren't buying truckloads of the stuff to build an entire large garden with it, it's not a bad choice for a seed starting mix. Coco coir, on the other hand, has some issues. Unfortunately, palms are being planted plantation-style, and something else is being cut down to make way for these plantations. Also, it has a lot more carbon footprint (at least for those of us here in North America) than we should be promoting. I have not bought peat for years based on my assumptions about its unsustainability, but next year I'm going to buy a 1 cubic foot bale of what I will make sure is Canadian-produced peat for my seed mix.

[@sshat]

@@mikehasson6146 that being said,bottom line is both can be viewed as environmentally problematic so it really is a matter of what's locally available to the user. I happened to find some local growers that buy cococoir by the pallet,so it was the best deal I could get. I like the fact that it is basically a waste product put to good use.

[@wardsdotnet]

Block makers are so so expensive

[@p3productions145]

peat moss is probably the most unsustainable soil supplement you can buy, why not use one of the many alternatives?

[@reneebaranoski9576]

Horse sht