Yes, I’ll admit I’ve made my share of rookie mistakes. We all do. Don’t beat yourself up over them, just live and learn. My latest faux pas was using a new brand of coconut coir. I re-hydrated the coconut coir but didn’t wait quite long enough for the water to absorb completely. I knew I had some drier chunks in the mix and just thought I’d put the remainder of the water on them and get them ready for the next tray for another day.
I was planting three trays, and I was in to much of a hurry to worry about it. I heaped the moistened medium onto my last tray for the day, which was beets.
Once I got the initial medium down into the flat, I washed my hands so I could disperse the seeds evenly over the medium on the tray. But before I did the seeds I thought I’d take care of that dry coconut coir first. So I poured the remaining water on the chunks in my plastic container to finish re-hydrating the coconut coir while I planted my seeds.
Okay, I had all three trays planted with seeds…but wait. The last tray, the beet seeds needed a layer of the medium on top of the seeds to help the husk of the seed to come off the plant before harvesting. I scooped up more of the coconut fiber and gently spread it over my precious little beet seeds, being careful not to disturb their placement. I didn’t want to end up with a pile of seeds in one area and bald spots in other areas. Well, that shouldn’t have been the only thing I thought about.
I misted all the trays and place weights where needed and put the trays on the bottom shelf to germinate. The next morning when I pulled the beet tray off the shelf and uncovered them to water, did I get a surprise!
My tray of beets looked like a chocolate cake that had risen and had cracks running through it. My husband said it looked like a huge brownie. Not only did I have cracks, but I had hills and valleys too.
The coconut coir wasn’t really completely re-hydrated when I spread it over the seeds. After being misted and sitting all night, the medium had taken on a life of it’s own and morphed into the hot mess I was looking at before me. I hoped my little beet seeds could push up through those mountains of medium and find the light. Even the cat was embarrassed for me and wouldn’t look.
So far, so good. We’re halfway through the growth of my Bull’s Blood beets and they are coming along nicely. Yes, there are some clumps in some areas and balder spots in others, but I’m pretty pleased to see how well they managed to germinate and push through the mess I made.
