Germinating seeds: Paper towel vs Vermiculite vs Soil

[cassowary]

I place all seeds on our local topsoil in pots in our nursey as I have found paper, plastic bags and other mediums to either dry to fast or be to moist with mold and also none of those mediums have correct microbiome for the plant.

It's also more economical for me to do so since I eliminate arduous transplanting, washing, watering, medium change etc. I put the seeds in the pot they will be in until they go out in the field.

Some equatorial seeds go in a tube pot inside a clear plastic box in order to increase temp with 5 degrees on average.

Bad seeds don't do well with any method or medium and good seeds always do well in the local top soil and that is the easiest method I have found. In my experience bad seeds will always mold or not germinate and trying hard with sterile mediums etc. did just increase cost and labor but not overall germination rates or a largle population.

Asbestos only bad if it's inhaled and vermiculite isn't that dusty atleast not the local one I get here, there's even people living in the closed off Asbestos mining areas in Australia with no health concerns to show. And there is still visible asbestos dust there, but it might not be circulated into the air so much due to not being processed anymore.
There's still some really good looking asbestos roofs around here, lifetime is great for that material

Peace

[Galatians522]

There has been a lot of discussion surrounding my comments on vermiculite. I think the discussion is a good thing. It helps people make an informed decision and may even encourage them to do some research about the facts (which is never a bad thing).

One benefit to vermiculite is that it is sterile. Sterile soil can help under certain situations. If soil is contaminated with the fungus that causes damping off for example. However, any soil can be sterilized in a roasting pan in the oven--just don't heat it too long or too hot or you might end up with Bio char!