Should I amend my soil with compost and turmeric powder?

[Superslam250]

Hi everyone, I’m planning on starting some vegetables outdoors soon and will be growing them organically. I’m new to vegetable gardening and still learning, my first batch of indoor seedlings didn’t make it and my second batch has done better, but unfortunately several of them have dampened off. They actually dampened off at a more mature stage (check the pics) so I’m guessing its the soil that did it, I watered the remaining plants that aren’t showing signs of it with a water/hydrogen peroxide mix to see if it stops them from developing it.

They’re in Dr. Earth organic vegetable garden soil and I think all of the organic material in their soil probably caused this to happen, especially because I’ve had a pretty bad problem with fungus gnats from this soil too. Another mistake I think that I made is putting them directly into that soil instead of starting them in Dr. Earth seed starting soil. I’m planning on starting some corn and carrots soon, plants that you don’t start indoors and I want to be sure that the soil is properly amended before the seeds are planted. I tested the pH of the soil and its at 8, so I bought a bag of this soil acidifier in the pic and mixed it into the soil, along with watering it with a water/vinegar mix to lower the pH to the optimal level. As for fungal issues with the soil, I was thinking of amending it with turmeric powder since several sites online said it works as a great antifungal for gardening, has anyone tried this and had good results? And should I also amend the soil with Dr. Earth organic compost prior to planting the seeds? I’ve heard that it can be beneficial to amend with compost and I was wondering if that’s true.

 

[Tetters]

If your seedlings are damping off it will be because they are getting too much water. Adding stuff to the water will only make matters worse. overwatering also attracts fungus gnats, which leave larvae in the compost and they will feed on the roots.

There is no need to amend your compost/soil with anything. I really think you are over complicating it all and causing the problems at the same time.
Little plants don`t need fertiliser in their infancy either, they need some shade and light.
I suggest you relax a bit more, and stop worrying - it`s all a lot easier than you think - even I can do it

 

[Superslam250]

If your seedlings are damping off it will be because they are getting too much water. Adding stuff to the water will only make matters worse. overwatering also attracts fungus gnats, which leave larvae in the compost and they will feed on the roots.

There is no need to amend your compost/soil with anything. I really think you are over complicating it all and causing the problems at the same time.
Little plants don`t need fertiliser in their infancy either, they need some shade and light.
I suggest you relax a bit more, and stop worrying - it`s all a lot easier than you think - even I can do it

Well luckily it doesn’t appear that the 4 remaining plants have dampened off, and hopefully they won’t. Someone else on here actually saw these same pics and said that my plants needed to be fed some fertilizer, so I gave them a little bit after they told me that. The soil I was referring to is for the carrots and corn that I plan on planting, I haven’t planted anything in the soil yet because I wanted to prepare it first. So you don’t think I should amend it with anything before planting the seeds? I’ve heard that mixing some organic compost into the soil is beneficial for new plants and I was afraid of encountering a fungal issue again, so that’s why I thought I should add turmeric powder to prevent that from happening. Are they really ok to be planted in just the plain soil out of the bag with nothing added and the pH not adjusted to where it should be?

 

[Tetters]

If you think about how seed sowing happens naturally, in the wild, you can try to emulate that process at home. Plants around the world grow where they are happiest. Nature sees to the rest.
When you sow seeds they do NOT need any help except water (rain) to germinate. Keep as close to nature as you can, and the very BEST way to learn is to try things out for yourself.
All of us gardeners are still learning, and there is no hard and fast rule about anything, and that is what makes it hard to advise anyone else.
Many years ago when I was at school, we planted runner bean seeds in a glass jar with blotting paper wrapped around inside - no soil, no compost, just a little water to keep the blotting paper moist. We watched the bean grow roots, and new shoots to understand the process. When the bean was sufficiently formed into a little plant we took it carefully out of the jar and planted it in the soil outside in the school garden, where we grew a magnificent crop of runners to take home to our parents.

The more you watch your plants grow, the more they will show you what they need, and the easier it will be to gain some good edible crops. Don`t expect problems that may never happen, just accept that during the learning process, you will lose some of them - actually we all do, even when we are well experienced....... that`s the joy of gardening.
The MOST important thing is to enjoy your gardening!!

 

[Superslam250]

If you think about how seed sowing happens naturally, in the wild, you can try to emulate that process at home. Plants around the world grow where they are happiest. Nature sees to the rest.
When you sow seeds they do NOT need any help except water (rain) to germinate. Keep as close to nature as you can, and the very BEST way to learn is to try things out for yourself.
All of us gardeners are still learning, and there is no hard and fast rule about anything, and that is what makes it hard to advise anyone else.
Many years ago when I was at school, we planted runner bean seeds in a glass jar with blotting paper wrapped around inside - no soil, no compost, just a little water to keep the blotting paper moist. We watched the bean grow roots, and new shoots to understand the process. When the bean was sufficiently formed into a little plant we took it carefully out of the jar and planted it in the soil outside in the school garden, where we grew a magnificent crop of runners to take home to our parents.

The more you watch your plants grow, the more they will show you what they need, and the easier it will be to gain some good edible crops. Don`t expect problems that may never happen, just accept that during the learning process, you will lose some of them - actually we all do, even when we are well experienced....... that`s the joy of gardening.
The MOST important thing is to enjoy your gardening!!

That’s a good point, maybe I’ll just plan on using turmeric as a remedy if my plants begin to show any fungal issues instead of amending the soil with it, I’m growing organically and they only sell organic turmeric powder in smaller quantities and its expensive, so I would probably just make myself frustrated if I spent a bunch of money to buy a lot of turmeric powder and then nothing germinates after that. I had a similar experience where I left some seeds in a cup of water to absorb some water prior to sowing in peat pellets, but I forgot them in the water and when I went back to check on them, the taproots had fully emerged and the plants took off as soon as they were put into the peat pellets. So I see what you’re saying that they’re actually not as fragile and don’t require a bunch of complicated steps.

I know that soil naturally has a lot of nutrients in it, so maybe I should wait on the compost then because the fresh soil will probably have enough nutrients on its own for new plants? You also mentioned that the plants need shade too, the spot in my yard that I picked to plant in is the sunniest spot and receives direct sunlight throughout the day, should I not plant there and choose a different spot instead? There’s also spots in my yard where it gets direct sunlight, but then becomes shaded later in the day as the sun’s position in the sky moves. I’ve always been under the impression that with gardening, the more direct sunlight the better.

 

[Tetters]

Direct sunlight - especially strong sunlight will burn your seedlings to a frazzle! What they need most is light.

Once the seedlings have become small plants, they can go out into the sunshine. be ready to give them a little shade as they grow if the sun gets too fierce - treat them like the babies they are! Water the soil around them, not the leaves

When it comes to watering little seedlings, I find that it is better for them to be watered from the bottom rather than squirting them with a can or hose. Leave them for just a short time in their tray in another tray with water in it, and they will soak up what they need - don`t forget them though or they WILL rot

 

[Superslam250]

Direct sunlight - especially strong sunlight will burn your seedlings to a frazzle! What they need most is light.

Once the seedlings have become small plants, they can go out into the sunshine. be ready to give them a little shade as they grow if the sun gets too fierce - treat them like the babies they are! Water the soil around them, not the leaves

When it comes to watering little seedlings, I find that it is better for them to be watered from the bottom rather than squirting them with a can or hose. Leave them for just a short time in their tray in another tray with water in it, and they will soak up what they need - don`t forget them though or they WILL rot

So probably the area that becomes shaded later in the day would be better? To be clear, I was not asking about this for the plants in the pics, I was asking for plants like corn, carrots, squash, cucumbers, etc. Plants they say should not be started indoors and instead directly sowed into soil outdoors. Too much direct sunlight would kill those plants shortly after they sprout? My area does get pretty hot summers with a lot of days in the 90’s to low 100’s, maybe I should buy a canopy to shade them on days where the sun is that intense, I found one on Amazon for $25 that would work for something like that.