Also, the 80/10/10 mix I mentioned isn't going to dry out quite like you think. And it rewets very nicely. (assuming that you actually use composted bark, and not just fresh pine bark - fresh pine bark is what you want to use to cut peat mixes - great multi-year solution, since the bark gets better with age)
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I don't add anything to 80/10/10, because it's perfect, as is. It's already got composted pine bark.
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Biochar isn't cheap, but you can make your own. Soft the ashes off of any hardwood that's been burned in a campfire, fire pit, grill, etc. No soft wood, no briquets. If you recycle charcoal, it has to be lump charcoal.
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The biochar and worm castings serve the same basic purpose: nutrient retention.
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Biochar isn't cheap, but you can make your own. Soft the ashes off of any hardwood that's been burned in a campfire, fire pit, grill, etc. No soft wood, no briquets. If you recycle charcoal, it has to be lump charcoal.
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The biochar and worm castings serve the same basic purpose: nutrient retention.
Codeman said:
I mean, I specified that that mix was based on composted pine bark. Fresh pine bark won't hold moisture as well. And you can't really compensate it, without fundamentally changing the recipe.
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Again, if you use fresh bark, the peat heavy mix is preferable.
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There is a world of difference between composted and non-composted bark in mixes.
Can anyone help me? I'm really overwhelmed by so much information... I live in Portugal, we have a temperature ranging between 15-35°C (60-95F) with relatively dry weather (however I always set up an irrigation system). I'm now thinking about soil building this year, I have around 150 litres of homemade compost (base of leaves, potatoes skin and fruits) and I want to use that for my 40 plants I'm planning on planting in pots. I was thinking of something like topsoil/compost/sand or perlite? What do you think? On what parts?
Thank you very much in advance [emoji4]
Thank you very much in advance [emoji4]
I did a little research on your previous growing an I would ask...... what did you use last year and how successful were you? You now have a baseline, even if it was disastrous, you now know something not to do.RafaelAmorim said:
Going forward the brown stuff under your feet is soil....peat moss - coco coir from a garden center is media. Did you grow in pots? Using soil? Generally, soil tends to compact in pots and I've never used it.......Only media & amendments....
Hopefully we can help without adding to your feeling of being overwhelmed. By the way, have you graduated? What was your major?
Actually, last year was really bad for my peppers, not because of the soil or the climate, but because I had no time to get around them. I had very few peppers, except for the Aji Guyana which as always, gives 100’s of peppers with one plant. I didn’t even move the plants to bigger pots (they stayed in 1.5 litres pot) because I didn’t have any time at all… I also experimented with hydroponics, which I will do again this year with my favourite plants. However, 2 years ago, on my first pepper journey, it went decent being my first year of growing peppers. I tried 2 types of soil bought from the garden centre, and I saw really big different results, that’s why I want to get into soil building this year. The only thing I did to the soil bought from the store was adding a little bit of perlite to the pots.The_NorthEast_ChileMan said:I did a little research on your previous growing an I would ask...... what did you use last year and how successful were you? You now have a baseline, even if it was disastrous, you now know something not to do.
Going forward the brown stuff under your feet is soil....peat moss - coco coir from a garden center is media. Did you grow in pots? Using soil? Generally, soil tends to compact in pots and I've never used it.......Only media & amendments....
Hopefully we can help without adding to your feeling of being overwhelmed. By the way, have you graduated? What was your major?
And yes, I finally graduated, that’s why I didn’t have any time with the peppers last year… With work and doing my thesis was so much to ask for… However I made it, now I’m a Civil Engineer
Oh I see now. So the 80/10/10 mix is only for composted pine bark fines. The one that is cut with the fresh pine bark fines by like 50% is the only one that's cut with that peat heavy mix. Not sure if I can find a big bag of ewc. Maybe a landscape company has composted pine bark fines?solid7 said:
RafaelAmorim said:Actually, last year was really bad for my peppers, not because of the soil or the climate, but because I had no time to get around them. I had very few peppers, except for the Aji Guyana which as always, gives 100’s of peppers with one plant. I didn’t even move the plants to bigger pots (they stayed in 1.5 litres pot) because I didn’t have any time at all… I also experimented with hydroponics, which I will do again this year with my favourite plants. However, 2 years ago, on my first pepper journey, it went decent being my first year of growing peppers. I tried 2 types of soil bought from the garden centre, and I saw really big different results, that’s why I want to get into soil building this year. The only thing I did to the soil bought from the store was adding a little bit of perlite to the pots.
And yes, I finally graduated, that’s why I didn’t have any time with the peppers last year… With work and doing my thesis was so much to ask for… However I made it, now I’m a Civil Engineer
So, I was reading around, and I found that I should go with 80% compost, 10% perlite and 10% vermiculite. Would this recipe be good? If/when I finish my home-made compost, can I replace the compost for horse manure?
EDIT: Should I also add some bonemeal/epsom salt? This is really really hard to find in my country, plus it's really expensive, so if there are any alternatives I would like to know
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I recently tried doing a simplistic 33% compost/33%coco coir/33% perlite mix for a couple of plants (With worm castings being the only fertilizer)...but they don't seem to like the stuff at all as there's been little to no growth since I transplanted them almost a month ago. The soil drains really well and I've been watering sparingly only when the plants droop.
I'm wondering if the compost involved might be the culprit because it was pre-bagged bio-compost as opposed to the more conventional sort. The stuff almost looks like charcoal because of how black it is and does not smell sweet and earthy like a normal compost. The product had good reviews...though maybe it's because it was being used for non-container gardening.
All in all, I'm just having a really rough time finding a soil pre-bagged or homemade in general that allows my plants to truly thrive for a long time without running into issues.
I'm wondering if the compost involved might be the culprit because it was pre-bagged bio-compost as opposed to the more conventional sort. The stuff almost looks like charcoal because of how black it is and does not smell sweet and earthy like a normal compost. The product had good reviews...though maybe it's because it was being used for non-container gardening.
All in all, I'm just having a really rough time finding a soil pre-bagged or homemade in general that allows my plants to truly thrive for a long time without running into issues.
Takanotsume said:
I find myself in a similar position. I thought my custom mix would kill it this year. Some pepper plants really like it. Others seem stalled.
I started with a potting soil made by a local nursery. I've seen other people get good results with this potting soil. It's mostly woody fines. It may not have been aged enough.
I've also added some perlite, but not nearly as much as 33%. Probably only about 5-10%. And I've added some worm castings when I pot up.
On the premise that my seedlings are suffering nitrogen lock-out from inadequately aged woody fines, I'm going to try adding nitrogen (diluted sodium nitrate).
If it works, I'll have learned something.