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tutorial All about soil - A great resource I thought I would share
- Thread starter LGHT
- Start date
Thats a whole lotta info right there. thanks for posting.
great info. this'll gonna be a lot of help 
awesome info. thanks for sharing. 
Great info, I need to incorporate something better than the "miracle grow moisture control" bagged potting soil that I used last year. It started off as just a few pots, and then a few more. Before I knew it I had 100 pots going. I think it held too much moisture and noticed they became very heavy. So much information, I'm not sure which is the best mixture for me. I want to go with a 100 pots again this season and will be growing ghost, scorps, 7's and habs. I am hoping to use one mix for all. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I put this post in a "Word Doc" just in case.
I put this post in a "Word Doc" just in case.
What type of conditions are you growing in and how much sun does will your plants get??
Example if your in an area like AZ where the temps can get 100+ most of the summer and your plants will get 8-10 hours of full sun a day I would go with a mix that included a good amount of material to help retain water so your not wattering multiple times a day. A sample mix would be peat moss or Coir, peralite, sand, some pre-mixed soil, and then add some manure, worm castings, or whatever ferts you like.
This is great reference info LGHT!
I'm planning to plant several self watering pots this season, and have been doing the necessary research on the soil composition required to ensure the water will wick properly.
Discovering this thread was perfect timing.
I tip my hat in gratitude.
CM
I'm planning to plant several self watering pots this season, and have been doing the necessary research on the soil composition required to ensure the water will wick properly.
Discovering this thread was perfect timing.
I tip my hat in gratitude.
CM
I'm in Vermont, the climate is much cooler than AZ.
I have to deal with rain, clouds and temps average of 76° F. We get spells of 80° F – 90° F temps for 3 or 4 weeks of the summer. During those times we'll water the buckets in the morning and evening to compensate for the moisture evaporation.
The Pro Mix BX blend looks very interesting.
If you don't want to make your own soil Bx is a great inert mix that will give you total control over your fertilizing and has some water retention for those hot days. You also need to consider the location of the plants and how much sun they are getting. The more sun the better, but if they get more than 8 hours of sun a day you may want to consider getting bigger pots so you won't have to water as often. BX should give you much better water retention which would help.
millworkman
eXtreme
Phil you may have been reading too much at the other website...
I read a lot of websites, and I am sure all of these mixes are great. Still, bark fines are the first ingredient in a lot of high quality/fast draining mixes. Homemade or commercial.
I just think it is a class of potting mix that should be noted.
Edit: Bark is in a number of the commercial mixes, just not any of the suggestions for homemade mediums.
I just think it is a class of potting mix that should be noted.
Edit: Bark is in a number of the commercial mixes, just not any of the suggestions for homemade mediums.
millworkman
eXtreme
I was just giving you a hard time, but I agree, they are a very good addition to many quality mixes.
Has anyone had any experience with shredded newspaper. The first post says use it no more than 25% in a mix. It's something I can get for free and I'm wondering what it brings to a pot mix. Obviously aeration but would it loose that once it got wet for a while? Any negative effects of the ink like pH?
Soil is my biggest problem I think.
I grow chillies in pots and with all the potting mixes I have used, it either becomes hydrophobic in summer if I don't water every day, or, in wetter months it has drainage issues and becomes waterlogged.
Where's a good place in Perth, Australia, to get a good pre made potting mix for chillies? If there's no such thing as a good pre made mix here, where to get all the ingredients required?
I'm fairly transient in short term rental housing, so sticking with pots and easy done stuff rather than bulk buying anything, and live near the CBD so never found a shop offering much of a range.
I grow chillies in pots and with all the potting mixes I have used, it either becomes hydrophobic in summer if I don't water every day, or, in wetter months it has drainage issues and becomes waterlogged.
Where's a good place in Perth, Australia, to get a good pre made potting mix for chillies? If there's no such thing as a good pre made mix here, where to get all the ingredients required?
I'm fairly transient in short term rental housing, so sticking with pots and easy done stuff rather than bulk buying anything, and live near the CBD so never found a shop offering much of a range.
Last year for my first grow I went to a soil place in Fremantle and got a trailer load of stuff that the guy said to me was a mix ideally suited for growing chilles. But he was full of %#^( None of my plants grew well in it because it was really compacted, almost like sand. I potted up one plant with half of that crap mix and half a coir brick from bunnings. It grew awesome and is still putting out chillies in winter. You really need something to fluff out the mix and aerate it.
The key thing is to read the start of this thread, its really good info.
The key thing is to read the start of this thread, its really good info.
I'm yet to find a soil that I could use straight out of the bag in chillies. I've had really good success with the following mix:
- 2 bags of soil. I prefer a organic mix from a garden centre opposed to commercial bags from Bunnings
- 2 small bricks of coco peat expanded (Bunnings)
- 4L of perlite (Hydroponics shop)
- 4L of vermiculite (Hydroponics shop)
- 2L of dynamic lifter or rooster booster (Bunnings)
Make sure you mulch your pot plants as well, made a really big difference for me last year.
I do something similar. I use 2/3 coco coir, 1/3 fine screened compost, and a dash of perlite. I use General Hydroponics MaxiBloom to fertilize. Because of the Cation Exchange, it's extremely difficult to over-fertilize and the plant only takes the nutrients it needs for growth. It's a great mix.
True. From my reading @ the site and my limited experience, you don't want to smother the roots. I just finished reading a book on plant botany and it said clay was not good as it will not give-up the water it has stored inside it
. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1C1CHHT_enUS379US379&q=botany+for+gardeners&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=6240214049383300369&sa=X&ei=aYJvTsTgNea1sQKZvqXCCQ&ved=0CFoQ8wIwAg
As an aside, my first season (last year) I got some Miracle Gro potting soil which seemed to work well. I'm an urban, apt dweller so I can't but it by the cartload. A few weeks ago I got some Scotts "Moisture Advantage" that is noticeably heavier, and I was concerned about that, but my plants seem to love it
Here's a pic of the back of the bag. Its 1 1/4 cu feet, according to the bag, but it was hel* getting it up 4 flights of stairs to my humble abode. 
(I'm not endorsing anything, just giving my novice opinion 
)