Seed starting back to the basics with a twist

2026 has been a terrible year for seed starting for me. Before this year I felt very confident about growing seeds. I often wonder why so many people buy very over priced seedlings. This year I tried a new soil recipe for soil blocking. It made the best soil blocks, I was so proud. I just couldn't get the watering right. Think some of it was I wasn't used to peat. It holds water maybe to well. I experienced damping off like never before. In the past I may have had it here and there, but not most of the tray. If you don't water peat enough it's very hydrophobic! I did end up with enough to plant my garden, but it was a kick in the ego. Contrary to that I had great germination with direct sow.
Now it's time to plant my fall/winter veggies. I decided to go back to the basics. small plastic multi cell trays (I didn't buy them, they are my old trays) I shifted bagged organic compost, and organic soil. I had very poor germination. Some of this may be because we jumped back to 100 degrees shortly after planting. The table is in dappled light, but still got very hot especially for brassica's. I try again this time with 1/2 seed starting mix, and 1/2 Coco loco. Some in the same trays, bought a new silicone tray. Even worse germination. I tried a tray of soil blocks, so far 1 seedling has emerged. I had given out hope anything in this try would germinate, but today there's 1. The weather a little better in the mid to high 90's.
Today I did another tray 1/2 of the cells only the seed starting mix, the other 1/2 The 50/50 mix from before. The weather is coming down to mid to high 80's dipping into the 70's a couple of days, but it's noticeably cooler at night, so I have high hopes, until I read the ingredients on the seed starting mix It's mostly peat and perlite. I really need to read the ingredients. I think I will get a different seed starting mix that doesn't have peat, and see if it helps. I'm trying very hard to keep the soil moist but not wet. The few seedlings that germinated like healthy, no dampening off.  This time is very poor germination.
The strange thing is I put soil in some pots because I want fall color, and they had darn near 100% germination. The same marigold seeds in the small cells almost nothing came up. ??? Maybe because there's more soil it's cooler, and maintained a better moisture level? It's very strange . I decided to try tiny! terracotta pots. I'm watering from the bottom, the pots kind of tell me when they are drying out because they get lighter in color. I only planted them a few days ago, so I don't know if it will work. I don't know if it will be hard to get the seedlings out if they do grow, it's an experiment. The pots are 2",  and cost about 1.00 per pot. No super cheap, but if it works, I will be able to use them for a very long time, and no plastic.
I will keep trying. I like it plant certain veggies and flowers in pots because most of the summer garden is still going strong, so there's no room to direct sow into the garden. I will also buy a few seedlings to get a little earlier start.

It looks very professional. Very unlike me. I see sand in the mix. So water can also go down. It's not too stagnant. I can't see what's wrong. Maybe it's the peat, not seasoned enough, nitrogen robbing maybe. I've lost a season to bad compost i bought. Some offer, it was bio, nothing worked.
I only try big seeds in small containers like cucurbitacea or moschata. Most of the rest i start in balcony trays. They have a build in reservoir in the bottom. it's a hassle planting them out, but the roots are longer which offers possibility to plant deeper. Especially handy in spring, saves watering. And i recycle the compost because there's left overs from replanting so if the brand changes i add a bit to see what it does.
And i do quite some direct sowing if i got the seeds.
Good luck.

Peat soil blocks are tricky like that, they look dry on the surface but stay wet inside. I had the same thing happen when I switched to a peat-heavy mix. Bottom watering made a big difference once I stopped misting from the top.

I like soil blocks for seed starts as well. I am a second vote for bottom watering. In the past I had simply put water in the bottom of the tray and let it soak up. One of these years I would like to try a wicking mat. I found a source (can't find it now) for a pure organic cotton roll of batting. The reviews said it would wick well. I was thinking of having it on a table where it falls over the edge into a container of water that I keep topped off. Then I set the soil blocks on the wicking mat and let it do its thing. I have seen other people do similar things, but I have not had a chance to actually try this method yet.