Making Soilblocks
At our farm we use soilblocks for all of our greenhouse starts that will eventually be transplanted out into the field. A lot of people don’t know about soilblocking and it may be due to the fact that many folks feel that the extra labor is not worth it.
We’ve found for us here in southern Oregon, where we have highly unpredictable springs as far as weather goes, the soil blocks work really great. Having the plants in the blocks gives us several advantages-
-If you do hit a raining spell, the plants have more room to grow, and can stay in the flats longer.
-Because the blocks all physically touch one another (meaning there’s no divider between cells) the roots are able to intermingle and in essence have the whole flat to grow in.
-And the blocks hold moisture better and longer than standard plug flats.
-Not to mention the fact that we can reuse our flats over and over and not have to throw away any plastic inserts.
We started out using a 4-block maker and have since moved up to the 20 block maker. There’s a variety of sources for the various types of blockers out there. We’ve always gotten ours from Johnny’s Selected Seeds (no I’m not getting paid by Johnny’s for the link, they’re just a great company) but I know that Peaceful Valley Farm Supply carries them as well.
To make a block you have to concoct a specialized soil mix that works well when very wet. The idea here that you take the very wet mix and compress it into the soilblocker and press the release and you’ll have a block. The actually block making process has been the hardest thing for me to explain to people over the years, so thanks to the invention of video on the internet I’ve added a small clip on making the blocks.
20 comments
Yeah, if I hadn’t seen the video, I wouldn’t have understood the concept. Those soil plugs are totally cool and make much more sense than using separated flats. You should add this to Semanal Week 6.
so glad to see you making videos!
this is great, we can learn so much from you guys!
This is fantastic! I have linked to you on my blog – nice work.
Thanks for all the great props folks. I’ll keep the videos coming. If you have something you’d like to see a video about let me know.
That’s great (and really nice, clean, clear, well-lit image to boot!). Every year I think about soil blocks. Two things stop me. One is that I’m in Canada, and can’t find anyone who carries them here, so I’d have to order from Johnny’s, and that means cross-border, and between shipping and brokerage fee (even though there’s no duty!), the price doubles. On principle alone, that bugs me! Second, I’m concerned about the soil mix and having enough on hand, unfrozen, when I’d need it in mid-winter.
A video of block handling would be great, especially when you take ‘em apart to transplant. Also, do you pot up, start in small blocks and fit them into larger blocks, or only stick with one size?
Mike-
We make our soilmix from scratch and it does get tricky to make sure it’s thawed out when we need it. I usually just store the makings in the greenhouse- which keeps the ingredients thawed out.
I’ll definitely take some footage of planting with the blocks when we get there.
We only use the one size. The whole concept of blocking up size after size really isn’t practical. Well, except for maybe Eliot Coleman. Ha.
Nice video! I wish we’d seen that years ago. We used soil blocks the first year we farmed because the farm we rented had the soil block makers laying around. We used them for our tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants with great success (we even started with small blocks and then potted up — which in retrospect was somewhat difficult to manage … unlike the large blocks, the small ones dry out extremely quickly and are difficult to manage on heat). We chose to use plug trays instead partly because of time, but also because we like a slightly smaller plug for most of our starts. Perhaps we don’t have as iffy of a spring???? Plus, we learned on plug trays so we’re more familiar with them in general. We can get many years out of each plastic tray (which are made of recycled plastic) … so far we haven’t had to replace any during our brief farm tenure and none look like they’re need replacing anytime soon. Storing them out of the weather helps extend their life span. We also like that our soil mix can be less ‘perfect’ consistency and still work for the cells (making good soil mix for soil blocks definitely requires a narrower range of appropriate wetness, etc.). Anyhow, just some thoughts. Keep up the great work, and we’ll see you next weekend!
P.S. My understanding from previous posts is that you make the soil blocks far ahead of when you sow into them? Is that true? We tend to make soil mix and fill flats as we need them, so this is a new idea for me.
I just ordered my soil blocks for the upcoming season, so this was great to find! I wonder what you use for the trays you place the blocks in? I know some people use bread trays, some use wooden boxes (good ol’ Elliot), others just use the plastic flats without holes in the bottom. What works best for you?
Also, I have read that bottom watering is best, but my greenhouse is set up for over head spray. What method do you use?
Thanks for the article and video-I’m looking forward to seeing more!
Erin-
We use plastic trays that are made by a company called Anderson. They’re 18 1/2 x 14 1/4. We order them from OBC Northwest. (www.obcnw.com) We used to use wooden trays that we built but they’re awfully heavy.
We top water everything and never have a problem. Bottom watering would flood everything at the same rate- maybe too much or too little. We like to be able to control the watering rate based on the individual flats’ needs.
To Mike (tfb) I am also from Canada. Lee valley used to carry a block maker only 4 cells I think . I have a 20 cell one which is well used by a former Veg. grower. I need different plugs for the seed holes. I need a good recipe as some of mine fall apart. I love this site and all the folks who help out with ideas. Dorothy R.
Dorothy-
You can get replacement plugs from Johnny’s Select Seeds. Different sizes too. I’ll put up our block recipe in a coming post.
Thanks for the encouragement.
Good news fellow Canadians — I finally found a source for the soil blockers here! I bought the 3/4″ and the 2″ blockers, plus the inserts, from Dig This Victoria in BC. They sold them to me at the going price, wrapped them up securely, and mailed them to me at cost.
They don’t have a catalogue online, but if you know what you want they will do their best to get it to you. I dealt with Laura at the Johnston Street store, and she was super at every step. Her email is: dtvic@digthis.com
If you want to visit their site or get their phone or fax number: http://www.digthis.com/
Now for the fun part — my first go with the blockers!
Really awesome video, it really gives a feel of how these soil blockers works. Thanks a lot for that, it is priceless.
Now, *if* you find the time this spring (and that is a big “if”), would it possible for you to publish a follow-up video on transplanting soil-blocked seedling? I have a ton of questions on how it work. Do the blocks hold well? Does the root of seedling spread into neighboring blocks? How do you remove the first seedling from a tray without ruining it (it looks pretty tight in there)? Etc, etc. Inquiring mind wants to see!
Thank’s to everybody who participated to this forum. Certainly nice to see an actual video of soil block making. Also great to find the answer to my question, a source in Canada. So thank you very much.
Selena, British Columbia, Canada
We use soilblocks exclusively for all our starts. We mainly use bread trays. Our problem is we need more, and are having a hard time finding them. I saw your post about the trays you buy, how many blocks can you fit per tray? We can fit 225-240 on the average bread tray. Any other ideas?
Katharine, We fit 120 blocks per tray. They are called Anderson Flats. They’re made in Portland, Oregon. I forget the measurements but I can find out if you like. We get them through OBC northwest. I think they’ll ship anywhere. Oh wait, here they’re listed on Anderson’s website product number 2407
Hope this helps.
-Chris
A retort to Chris’s statement about not potting on size after size…
What are you growing that couldn’t possibly yield faster growth by not potting up? That is the whole idea for many seedlings.
Tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, Cucumbers, Melons, Squashes, Sunflowers, and Flowers are all “potted on” for earlier plantings by months, not even weeks. And, with the right set up, transplanting is a breeze: are you using “grow tweezers”, 4″ spatulas, cedar shims, wooden crates that stack, bread trays that roll, eager students who work for produce? Better get on the block and see pottingblocks.com–The World’s Resource for Soil Block Agriculture. Now, New! Downloadable DVD video, “How to Make and Grow Soil Blocks”
just learned about soil blocks. I’d really like to see a video of how to effectively plant them from the trays to the field. can someone guide me to a video they have seen, or explain the process. 5-10 acre farm. only got the hand held 2 inch blocker to experiment with. once convinced, I would like to convert over all plantings to soil blocks. please help me out.
How many seed/s do you put in the holes? There was a comment about the blocks being too tight which makes the roots grow into the adjacent block. There was’nt any answer so I’m asking….how do you get them out?
Hi, folks. Dig This in Victoria, BC does carry the full line of Ladbrooke soil blockers. You can see them – and order them – on our website http://www.digthis.com – just go to the Shopping page and click on Tools. They are all there!
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