I've given up on my quest to get Pro-Mix, it's way too much effort to do so. Also, I'm kind of lazy and don't want to make my own mix since they will be transplanted outside at the end of this month. What's a good one for chiles that I can buy at some place like Home Depot? Is Scotts any good? I also saw Miracle Gro Organic Choice. I'm not sure what to do I just want to plant my peppers up into cups from their little 2.5x3x3 square containers so they have a little more room for root growth over the next 3 weeks or so.
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soil What's a good commercial potting soil?
- Thread starter roadhouse
- Start date
Check this thread out matey.
http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthr...soil-A-great-resource-I-thought-I-would-share
http://www.thehotpepper.com/showthr...soil-A-great-resource-I-thought-I-would-share
roadhouse ..... Most people are going to tell you to stay away from Miracle Gro potting mixes.
Peace,
P. Dreadie
Peace,
P. Dreadie
I know most people here dont like MG products but I Have have never had a problem with them.
I use both pro-mix and MG potting mix and they both work just as good for me. I tend to use the MG when i run out of pro-mix because it is more expensive per cubic foot.
Its also handy having up to 6 months of fertilizer included though.
I use both pro-mix and MG potting mix and they both work just as good for me. I tend to use the MG when i run out of pro-mix because it is more expensive per cubic foot.
Its also handy having up to 6 months of fertilizer included though.
And if you don't want to do you're own mixes these should give you an idea of what to look for in a commercial brand.
Hmm I think I will end up going to Hope Depot and getting a bunch of ingredients to mix my own. Thinking of using this:
2 parts vermiculite
2 parts perlite
3 parts topsoil
3 parts peat
2 parts cow manure
with all the parts being translated to cubic feet, so I will have 12 cubic feet of soil. It's going to cost $55 for that much, seems kind of expensive. But that is a big load of soil so I don't know. I will need to fill at least 50 of the solo cups to hold me until the end of the month and then will probably end up having 10-20 5 gallon pots for plants that I will be growing in containers. Hoping this will be a good amount for that.
2 parts vermiculite
2 parts perlite
3 parts topsoil
3 parts peat
2 parts cow manure
with all the parts being translated to cubic feet, so I will have 12 cubic feet of soil. It's going to cost $55 for that much, seems kind of expensive. But that is a big load of soil so I don't know. I will need to fill at least 50 of the solo cups to hold me until the end of the month and then will probably end up having 10-20 5 gallon pots for plants that I will be growing in containers. Hoping this will be a good amount for that.
Are you growing in pots or in ground? For just potting up, I would go to a nursery and pick up a bag of the potting mix there, such as Fafard's. I used that this year and it worked great.
For final pots, you can also use what is called on another forum as "Al's Mix." It is a light, well draining container mix that you add your own fertilizer to as it has almost none. It is a pine bark fine based mix instead of mostly peat. The pine bark fines are already aged, so they break down slowly so as not to compact too much.
It is:
5 parts aged pine bark fines (soil conditioner at lowe's or home depot)
1 part peat
1 part perlite (or vermiculite)
This is by ratio not volume as said above. Just get a container, big or small, whatever and add 5 buckets or fines, 1 of peat, and 1 of perlite, mix up and you are good to go. No need to add lime or anything, just use your fert of choice and watch them grow.
I will be trying it on some of my plants as well this year. Something to think about.
jacob
For final pots, you can also use what is called on another forum as "Al's Mix." It is a light, well draining container mix that you add your own fertilizer to as it has almost none. It is a pine bark fine based mix instead of mostly peat. The pine bark fines are already aged, so they break down slowly so as not to compact too much.
It is:
5 parts aged pine bark fines (soil conditioner at lowe's or home depot)
1 part peat
1 part perlite (or vermiculite)
This is by ratio not volume as said above. Just get a container, big or small, whatever and add 5 buckets or fines, 1 of peat, and 1 of perlite, mix up and you are good to go. No need to add lime or anything, just use your fert of choice and watch them grow.
I will be trying it on some of my plants as well this year. Something to think about.
jacob
jjs7741 said:
If you use peat, you must add lime to counter the peat's acidity.
Silver_Surfer said:
I did not see it in the recipe earlier. Went back and looked again and you are right. There are hundreds of threads about this over on GW and I think the post I saw was referring to acid loving plants, which peppers are not. There should be some lime in there. The mix has a Ph of about 5 and recommends 1-2 tbsp of lime per gallon. This should take the Ph to arond 6. Sorry for the confusion.
jacob