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High drainage grow mix

S

ShowMeDaSauce

A local composting place has a peat free mix. They call it SLC Grower's Mix in bags or Peat Free Mix if bought in bulk. They claim several local greenhouses and nurseries use it. Well, at $6 for a 2 cubic feet bag i had to grab a couple. If nothing else it will be a good soil amendment for the ground plot.
 
Its..
40% aged pine fines
40% compost
20% rice hulls
a little fertilizer and pH buffer (starter charge they call it)
 
I filled a 7gal fabric pot with it. Added about 2cups of worm castings and a small handful of Alaska 4-6-6 fish and kelp pellets. Another smaller hard pot i used about the same mix but it also has a transplanted Vietnamese coriander with a good sized "ball" of Pro-Mx Ultimate still attached to the roots. I watered the snot out of it and it sure does drain fast. I filled the small hard pot until the saucer was full of water. That plant loves to stay wet.
 
I haven't moved a plant into the fabric pot yet. I want to see how damp it remains by around 3pm today...Roughly 24hrs since i filled it. I have a bale of Pro-Mix all purpose just in case. Im pretty certain a saucer will be a must for this mix once the temps climb. Its supposed to be around 90F today so i guess i will get a good idea.
 
 
 
He'll ya!

:cheers:

Kinda hard to test water to soil ratio since the plants releases water through the leaves.

Add some perlite if it's to compact if needed and go for it.

I love the saucer plan. I will be doing the same on my container plants this yr as well for those hotter months and heavy watering periods.
 
Just took a look at it. I forgot to move it last nite from the shady spot where i filled it. I moved it to a spot that will be in full sun the rest of the day and on the concrete too. Its a really good looking mix with virtually nothing in it that looks or feels like dirt.
 
Well sofar its only got to 86F and off/on cloudy.
Df4EVFa.jpg

rYpJ5eS.jpg

PeogRZ3.jpg

 
No mud
1EQ0jLL.jpg
 
Checked the fabric pot again today. Its pretty dry but feels slightly damp after a couple inches down. When i moved the bag there was a fairly wet spot on the concrete. No actual standing water but more than just damp.
 
Bell of Gollu will be going in it sometime today.  Im still temped to cut the mix 50/50 with some Pro-Mix but the entire reason was to try something with no perlite or peat.
 
Masher said:
He'll ya!

:cheers:

Kinda hard to test water to soil ratio since the plants releases water through the leaves.

Add some perlite if it's to compact if needed and go for it.

I love the saucer plan. I will be doing the same on my container plants this yr as well for those hotter months and heavy watering periods.
Click to expand...
I'm doing the same with the saucer game and it's a life changer until I get the time/money/motivation to pull a custom Drip system with a basic kit and buy extra tuning. It's not difficult just odds and ends and cash.. Also the timers are nice and also another intermediate step is to get a submersible pump and link that to your system for extra efficacy or use it in a big bucket/trash barrel/bin to feed nutes thru your wand sprayer to save our poor backs from hand watering hell!!

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
Checked the fabric pot again today. Its pretty dry but feels slightly damp after a couple inches down. When i moved the bag there was a fairly wet spot on the concrete. No actual standing water but more than just damp.
 
Bell of Gollu will be going in it sometime today.  Im still temped to cut the mix 50/50 with some Pro-Mix but the entire reason was to try something with no perlite or peat.
Click to expand...
We gotta do whatever we can to stretch media.. I know how it goes.. If I had my way I'd but cu. Ft. Upon cu. Ft. Of all kinds of fun media to compare and contrast but even me making it costs quite a bit when ya got a lot of plants like we do!,

Sent from my XT1565 using Tapatalk
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
A local composting place has a peat free mix. They call it SLC Grower's Mix in bags or Peat Free Mix if bought in bulk. They claim several local greenhouses and nurseries use it. Well, at $6 for a 2 cubic feet bag i had to grab a couple. If nothing else it will be a good soil amendment for the ground plot.
 
Its..
40% aged pine fines
40% compost
20% rice hulls
a little fertilizer and pH buffer (starter charge they call it)
 
I filled a 7gal fabric pot with it. Added about 2cups of worm castings and a small handful of Alaska 4-6-6 fish and kelp pellets. Another smaller hard pot i used about the same mix but it also has a transplanted Vietnamese coriander with a good sized "ball" of Pro-Mx Ultimate still attached to the roots. I watered the snot out of it and it sure does drain fast. I filled the small hard pot until the saucer was full of water. That plant loves to stay wet.
 
I haven't moved a plant into the fabric pot yet. I want to see how damp it remains by around 3pm today...Roughly 24hrs since i filled it. I have a bale of Pro-Mix all purpose just in case. Im pretty certain a saucer will be a must for this mix once the temps climb. Its supposed to be around 90F today so i guess i will get a good idea.
 
 
Click to expand...
 
this looks like a take on the famous gardenweb 5-1-1 mix. this mix will allow your plant to dry out faster and reduce perched water at the expense of having to water more often. if you can keep up and fertigate regularly but at a lower concentration you can achieve faster and better growth than a mix that takes longer to dry out and has more perched water.
 
I put a Bell Of Gollu in the fabric pot with the mix. Actually its 2 small seedlings i could not separate easily. This variety is supposed to do well in containers. I up potted a rocoto into a small hard pot also with this mix and placed a saucer under it. The rocoto isnt staying in that pot but it needed to move up from the solo cup.
 
I also mixed it 50/50 with some Pro-Mix Ultimate for a couple smaller up pottings. Pro-Mix BRK is around 50% peat and most of the rest is pine fines. Not a easy mix to find around here either.
 
Pro-Mix All Purpose is the cheapest around here. Menards sells it for under $14/2cft bale. I got 2 bales on sale for $11.88 each. I can get the larger bale of BX for around $36. So yeah, $6/2cft is a huge savings for a mix that drains better than Pro-Mix HP which is $40+. I can get this stuff by the cubic yard for $62 or $42 for just the pine fines if i pick it up myself. Rice hulls are a bit pricey so for me just getting it from them isnt that bad at all if it works out.
 
This mix is working well but it does dry really fast in a fabric pot. The plant in that pot is doing very well though. The smaller hard pot with the mix and a little red rocoto is doing well also.
 
Here they are about 13 days ago
UPP85FS.jpg

 
This is the rocoto yesterday
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Damn, i thought i had a pic of the bell in the fabric pot from yesterday. I will get one later for a comparison.
 
Added
tvMukWk.jpg
 
Here are a couple Bell of Lebanons from 8 days ago. It has some ProMix in it too
HHutkiW.jpg

 
This is them yesterday. I just bottom water a little each day in the wash tub.
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The Bell of Gollu is liking this mix. There are actually 2 in the pot. It does look droopy in the hottest part of the day but bounces right back in the morning or on cooler days. The fabric pot is partially shaded now by the step railing and it gets a bit less sun in the morning. Drainage is still excellent.
 
Pretty nice amount of growth for what....12 days since the last pic? Plus its got tons of buds on it.
XLU4vcV.jpg

 
 
I put my Chichimeca in a hard pot with the same mix. It pretty much needs to be watered a little everyday unless its cool outside. I cant get over the growth of this bell though. I have a couple more in other pots that are fine but not growing nearly as fast....yet.
 
ShowMeDaSauce said:
I put my Chichimeca in a hard pot with the same mix. It pretty much needs to be watered a little everyday unless its cool outside. I cant get over the growth of this bell though. I have a couple more in other pots that are fine but not growing nearly as fast....yet.
Click to expand...
 

That might be because it gets more nutrients when you need to water it more often like with the coco coir.
 
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