Getting my sowing compost wet

[compostpope]

Before sowing I stand my module trays in water for several hours or overnight in order to get the compost evenly moist. The compost soaks it up from underneath.

This year I’m using 60 cell module trays from B&Q for the first time but after the overnight soak the compost is still dry. These modules are a different design from my previous ones in that they have a deep overhanging lip around the edge – perhaps this means that air is getting trapped under the tray and somehow preventing the upward movement of water????

I’ve now repeatedly tried simply watering from above but this doesn’t seem to get the compost evenly moist – each cell is damp on the surface but has parts that are bone dry.

Has anybody else had this problem?

CP

[charles]

 I never had this problem with watering from above with a fine rose. Three or four passes to let the water soak in between each watering. So I wonder which compost you are using, why it is so dry and why so reluctant to soak the water? Maybe firm it a little so that water is held better. I push my compost pretty firmly into each module.

For the module trays, it may be that those plastic trays do not work well on capillary, as you suggest they have only a small opening at the bottom. But overhead works fine, preferably in the morning so leaves are dry by nightfall, and not every day if it is cloudy and damp. Hope that helps.

[compostpope]

Thanks for the reply Charles – after another 24 hours the compost is now thoroughly moist, though I still have no idea why it took so long.

I’ve sown part of the tray with Red Baron onions, and aim to fill it with spring onions, Bolthardy beetroot, spinach and lettuce. I gather that onions can take a long while before they are ready to plant out. How long? – and is it worth delaying sowing the other seeds so that I can plant all the plants in the tray at once?

Thanks again

CP

[charles]

 Actually I would sow them all now as onions/spring onions can be planted when quite small eg four to five weeks from sowing now, and the spinach needs sowing, it should be ok.

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