Can i use 100% vermicompost for seedlings

I've never attempted to grow anything from seed and it just so happens that i have a packet of Lavender seeds which i hope to grow or attempt to grow in the house as i havent a green house and the outside weather here is averaging -4 in the night.
I also have a bag of fresh vermicompost which i bought yesterday from a local producer. He suggested that i pot the seeds using 100% vermicompost! Does this sound like good advice? I've read that when feeding mature plants and trees, it's best to mix the vermicompost with soil etc as it could affect plant growth if applied neat! Should i also apply this concept to seedlings?

 

Seedlings tend to always be more fragile and are susceptible to shock , too much nutrients , all sorts of things.

 

i have a wormery and have always used vermicompost as advised by all the web sites I have read at 20% max vermicompost mixed in with compost for growing on, studies have shown that more than this is detrimental to plants. I have given it a try and for seeds I find that 10% gives the best germination rates. I use john innes for seeds and when potting up I use top quality compost from canna £15 for 50 liters + 20% vermicompost.
regards alex

 

French Lavender grown from seed in a 8.5cm pot.




I don't want to contradict the advice already given above because it is good general advice, however, it is possible to propagate plants from seed sown directly into vermicompost (aka worm-made compost).

I haven't tried it for lavender but it does work for coriander, parsley, chives, spring onions and thyme.

I acknowledge that this may be down to the variability in potency of the compost produced by our very own small wormery (we feed the worms fruit and veg scraps, leaves and brown corrugated cardboard) but, then again, it could also be that the seeds and plants have a wider degree of tolerance to the growing medium.

The picture above shows what you can expect from seed grown French Lavender after a year's growth outdoors in a sheltered location.

It was potted up with a mixture of spent multipurpose compost, sharp sand and a third of a teaspoon of slow release fertiliser granules.

It looks a bit scruffy now but it can be pruned and wire trained into very pleasing shapes at a later date.