A Homemade Soil Blocker and Starting Seeds

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We’ve been wanting to get away from buying the plastic seed-starting trays since they get destroyed shortly after purchasing and almost never last more than one season. A soil blocker seemed like a good idea but we weren’t ready to commit to a purchase just yet.

So, Stewart devised a few homemade soil blocker from a couple of old supplement bottles. The gist of it was the cylinder of a larger bottle surrounding the bottom of a smaller bottle. The soil is moistened and kneaded and then tightly packed into the soil blocker. The soil blocker then pops the soil block up through the cylinder and this can then be set into old pans or trays for planting. The screw makes an indentation for the seed.

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You can make them as big or small as you want, depending on the size of your bottles.

Stewart and the boys ended up making somewhere just shy of 200 of these soil blocks the other day and now they are planted with an array of greens, herbs, tomatillos, tomatoes, and perennials for the food forest. This sits in our south-facing window (next to my sourdough starter, coconut oil, and other kitchen stuff) and gets spritzed throughout the day to maintain moisture.

Now we’re just waiting for sprouts! How do you start seeds?

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5 Comments

  1. Good idea!
    You have a very nice space here, thank you for sharing.
    We are in the upper midwest and are looking forward to starting seeds as well. We have had a rather quick transition to spring and things are almost dried out. Neighbors who farm with horses are beginning to get into the fields! Blessings on the seeds. 🙂

  3. brilliant, Shannon! we live in Brasil and have never seen a soil blocker here and I always think about bringing one back with us when we go to visit my parents in the States, but alas they are quite cumbersome. we have tried so many ways to start seeds over the years and I am going to run out and try this one today!!!! thanks so much for the great idea. happy planting to you all! peace, light and love

  5. you are a genus!!! i will be doing this.
    love your ideas and bless you for sharing them

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