Sowing in cold compost

[Primrose]

I was planning to sow my peppers and aubergines today (to germinate on a lounge windowsill to get an early start) but the sowing compost, stored in a semi-exposed potting shed area is very cold. I was wondering how much cold compost delays the gemination process and whether it would be better to leave the filled pots indoors for a couple of days to reach room temperature before sowing?
And has anybody sown their leeks yet in a cold greenhouse? (Or am I jumping the gun yet again in my sowing times?)

[Johnboy]

Hi Primrose,
I think it would be very wise to allow the compost to reach room temperature before you sow Peppers.
However if you have only a cold greenhouse I feel now is a bit early and would advise delaying sowing for at least three or maybe four weeks. The best way to grow peppers if to have no check to the growth whatsoever. Sow them allow them to get to 4 true leaves and then pot on and they will grow away very fast but if they have to linger and get too overgrown and floppy then they don't make very good plants in the long run.
Leeks will germinate in a cold greenhouse now as they are relatively cold germinators however they may take a couple of weeks to show any signs of germinating.
JB.

[Geoff]

I warm compost by watering with slightly warm Cheshunt solution for the early sowings.

[Monika]

I am going to sow my onions tonight (Rijnsburger and Southport Red Globe) and the compost has been in the root trainers since this morning, getting warm next to the boiler!

[Primrose]

Thanks everybody. I'll hold off for a few days.
Johnboy, I've always been a little puzzled by the practice of "potting on" and wonder what difference it makes to very small seedlings in terms of their growth? I sow peppers, aubergines, chillis and tomatoes in 3" pots, (two to a pot) and remove the weakest seedling, and leave them there until I'm ready to either plant the tomatoes into open ground, or in the case of the others, into their final larger pots. Does repotting actually encourage growth? I've always wondered if it hindered it because of the possible root disturbance when repotting?

[Colin_M]

I often warm chilly compost by putting the filled pots into the microwave for 20-30 second bursts (timing depends on all the usual things - power, size etc).

This isn't completely standard practice and does need to be done in secrecy to get away with it


Colin

[Primrose]

Colin - not a bad idea ! Probably this is a good way of sterilising the soil too. I once read that the best way of sterilising kitchen "wiping cloths" was to bung them in the microwave for a quick blast, so I don't see why it wouldn't work with soil.

Am just wondering whether a 10 second burst would kill off the whitefly on the basil plant on my kitchen window sill without killing the basil as well.

[Di]

I've used a microwave to sterilize compost, but if its good fresh stuff you could be doing yourself a dis-service -

are some microbes in the mix beneficial? Does it have microrhyzal(?) fungi in it?

If you're having to hide what you're doing why not go the whole hog... start hiding your compost round the house where its nice and warm: a bag under the sofa, one in the wardrobe behind those things you never wear...the possibilities are endless

[Johnboy]

If you are going to use your Microwave may I make it abundantly clear that this must only be Multipurpose compost and that it is sieved before the operation.
A person in this district took some garden soil in an enclosed plastic Ice Cream Carton and after 10 seconds at full temperature there were small stones in the mix and it all blew up and wrecked the front door of the machine. Never to be used again.
I would suggest that by simply standing compost anywhere indoors for 24 hours would be sufficient and that actually physically heating it is totally unnecessary.
JB.