Starting Your Tomato Seeds in Peat Pots

  If you want to get a jump on the tomato growing season, starting your tomato seeds in peat pots is the best way to go. There are several advantages to this. First, you have an unlimited selection of varieties, whereas, you are limited to what plants the garden center has to offer. Second, you get to control every aspect of your tomato plant's growth, from planting, watering, feeding, heat and light. Finally, by starting your tomato seeds in peat pots, you don't have to repot one or two times into larger pots and then transplant into the garden. You can plant your peat pot directly in the garden.

About six to eight weeks before the last frost of the spring, get your peat pots ready. Use pots that are three or four inches deep. Use a soil-less starting mix that has no soil borne diseases, weed seeds or even nutrients in them. You will also need a water bottle with a sprayer, liquid fertilizer, a heat source and a light source.

Moisten the starting mix in the bag, this stuff is light and airy and will fly around everywhere. Fill your peat pots to a quarter to a half inch from the top of the pot. Place two or three tomato seeds a half an inch apart in the middle of each pot and cover with a quarter inch of the starting mix. Gently firm the mix making sure there is good contact between the seed and the mix. Use the spray bottle to mist the seeds, do not disturb the seeds with a blast of water.

You can cover your pots with plastic wrap to keep the moisture consistent during germination, just keep an eye on them to ensure they don't dry out. Place the pots on top of a refrigerator, a water heater or a heating pad to keep the heat at around seventy to eighty degrees F until they germinate.

In around six to eight days, stems and seed leaves should emerge through the surface, when this happens, remove the plastic wrap and move them to a light source. Some options are a sunny window sill, a sunny room or a fluorescent lamp. Don't get alarmed when the first leaves (seed leaves) turn brown, shrivel up and drop off, that's what seed leaves do. The next set of leaves to appear are the plant's true leaves. When the true leaves appear it is time to start a weekly feeding with liquid fertilizer. Just dilute the liquid fertilizer to half its recommended strength and use it once a week.

Keep your new seedlings under light. With a fluorescent light try to keep the light a couple of inches above the plants, and adjust the light as they grow. You can even leave the lights on all the time, but at least fourteen to sixteen hours a day.

When your seedlings get about two inches tall, pick out the healthiest plant and snip the others off at the surface, do not pull them out of the pot, you could disturb the roots of the remaining plant. Keep the soil moist, the plants fed once a week and keep them under light.

About one or two weeks before you transplant your seedlings into the garden, start taking them outside to a shady area for increasing amounts of time each day. This will help them adjust to the conditions outside, a process known as hardening off.

When the soil temperature reaches fifty-five to sixty degrees F and the day and night temperatures stay above fifty degrees F, it is time to plant them in the garden.

Just dig your hole and place the entire peat pot into the ground deep enough to cover the pot completely. The pot will decompose in the soil and roots can penetrate it like it was not even there.

 The patient slowly enters your office with noticeable pain, carrying records inches thick. After establishing rapport for fifteen minutes, taking the history for an hour and doing a physical exam for twenty minutes, you find yourself already over time. Treatment time? Next visit perhaps - that is if the patient returns.

How many times do you find yourself in this situation?

Effective history taking and physical exams take time. That is reality. The other reality is that the patient walks away feeling frustrated. They are tired, sick or in pain, and have to wait until the next office visit for what they came for in the first place - treatment. You are also frustrated because you desired to improve your patient's condition on the first visit. As a result, both the physician and patient are not completely satisfied.

Adding a therapeutic, safe and inexpensive outpatient treatment is an effective solution. Outpatient treatment alleviates time pressure because you now have a tool that patients can do at home. The need to rush through the history and physical is no longer necessary. Take your time; be thorough. Now many of your patients may treat themselves at home.

This outpatient treatment is Balneotherapy.

Balneotherapy is simply hydrotherapy combined with therapeutic baleno-grade peat. Hydrotherapy treats numerous conditions and has only a few contraindications. Educating the patient for this in-home procedure takes about ten minutes. Training a physician to use the therapeutic product effectively takes about an hour. It can be done over the phone, internet or in-office.

What is Balneo-grade peat? Balneo-grade peat is peat suited for therapeutic spa treatments. There are strict standards set by The Czech Ministry of Health which demand safety and quality of health products. The Ministry of Health is the European agency similar to America's Food and Drug Administration. Samples of peat are sent to The Ministry of Health for testing. The peat must not contain heavy metals, radiation or other toxins. The peat must contain a specific amount of water, sulfur, humic acids, fulvic acids, cellulose and be in an appropriate stage of humification. If any of these conditions are not met, the peat is marked inferior grade, not suitable for hydrotherapy.

The Czech Ministry of Health received, tested and approved Torf Krasno peat for hydrotherapy spa use. This peat is now available in the United States and Canada. Torf Krasno Balneo-grade peat is unlike peat most people know. Torf Krasno peat is in a natural state, non-pasteurized and without additives or preservatives. Torf Krasno harvests, stirs and packages the peat into patented packaging which allows safe storage for more than one year.

A brief introduction about Torf Krasno is necessary.

Torf Krasno is the largest and most famous peat supplier in the Czech Republic. Torf Krasno supplies countless famous spas, clinics and hotels in Europe. One such famous spa area Torf Krasno supplies is Karlovy Vary. Individuals, nobility and travelers come from the world over to receive spa treatments at Karlovy Vary. Each year, in Europe alone, Torf Krasno supplies balneo peat for more than 500,000 therapeutic procedures. Torf Krasno balneo peat is new to the United States market. It is already proving to be an asset for various physicians, clinics and spas.

What are the uses of peat?

home use by patients, numerous uses and applications are available. The following are some easy applications and uses of peat therapy for home use by patients:

Bathing in hot water with peat:

musculoskeletal pains,

aches,

stiffness

mobility issues

chronic arthritis

fibromyalgia

scoliosis

detoxification

post-workout stress

insomnia

relaxation

infertility

immune system stimulation

eczema

Bathing in warm water with peat:

lower blood pressure

Bathing in neutral water with peat:

heavy metal detoxification [esp lead]

stress relief

insomnia

relaxation

Cold peat pack on localized affected area:

acute arthritic pain and swelling

acute sprain

acute tendonitis

acute spasm

Hot peat pack on localized affected area:

frozen shoulder

chronic sprain

chronic tendonitis

mobility issues

pain

cellulite reduction

With well-written instructions and a brief discussion in the office, your patient now leaves your clinic with hope. You have likely secured a return office call, a referral and a patient who is on their way to recovery.

Another benefit: It is essential that patients take part in their own path to recovery. Hydrotherapy allows this to take place. No longer does the patient have to wade through another appointment and spend additional money to receive their first treatment. By their return office call, their health is improved and you may focus on the deeper issue or address another.

With this effective and efficient treatment your patient's health and pocketbook thank you. The cost of peat bath treatment is minimal compared to in-office treatment. Natural medicine is meant to treat the masses, not only the affluent. This effective therapy allows all the chance to regain health without exceptional cost, only $10 for each home treatment. For more information on peat therapy and Balneo-grade peat, please contact us or visit our Wholesale Spa Product Information [http://www.healthegoods.com/wholesale_spa_products_torfkrasno.htm] page.

Peat therapy may be done in a clinic setting and for some patients, this is recommended. A clinic setting allows procedures that cannot be done at home. If a clinic is not set up for baths, Balneo-grade peat is available in single-foment packs.

Peat briquettes remain the domestic fuel of choice for many as they are economical, slow-burning, give off tremendous heat and little smoke. They are used commonly in Ireland and Scotland where peat is plentiful, however many are suggesting that peat briquettes are not environmentally friendly and their continued use should be closely monitored.

In many parts of Ireland and throughout the UK, peat briquettes are used for starting and maintaining a fire in the home as well as for barbeques and other outdoor fires. They are sold as a solid fuel and as the name suggests they are stacked up in the fire and layered like a brick wall in order to create a solid source of slow-burning heat. Manufacturers dry out shredded peat and then compress this down into a compact brick, which, when lit, burns slowly with little flame and in some cases, a pleasant aroma.

This domestic fuel is often marketed as an environmentally friendly and safer fuel because they typically have a low ash and low sulphur content. Modern manufacturing methods mean that toxins are extracted, making the emissions from the bricks safe for the environment. This also means that they are a carbon neutral fuel. They neither contribute to nor reduce the amount of carbon that goes into the atmosphere.

However strong opinion is forming, which suggests that not all are environmentally friendly. Some binders and additives used in the production of peat briquettes mean that they are not all carbon neutral. Some manufacturers will claim that their range is fully carbon neutral, however this won't always be the case.

As the popularity of this domestic fuel continues to grow, peat bogs are diminishing in size at, some say; a rate quicker than the Amazonian rain forest. If this rate continues without aggressive replenishment, natural peat bogs may disappear from some parts of Ireland and Scotland over the next 25 yearshttps://doghint.com/. Environmentalists are claiming that peat bogs are home to important species of organisms as well as other plants and that the destruction of this habitat is having a big impact on indigenous wildlife.

There is a growing sense of social responsibility being adopted by many producers and suppliers of peat briquettes with awareness and adoption of environmentally friendly practices becoming more common. This is being lead by Bord na Mona, the biggest producer of peat briquettes in Ireland and semi-owned by the Irish Government https://wearecnxion.com/. They are investing in the production of blended peat briquettes, which use 40% sawdust and 60% peat to create a 100% natural and heavily reduced carbon product.

So while peat briquettes aren't always 100% environmentally friendly, when manufactured in a sustainable manner, they represent a much more attractive, and safe, domestic fuel. With Bord na Mona leading the way with an environmentally friendly approach to its production, the future is looking more bright for this essential domestic fuel