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Anyone use Al's (Tapla) Gritty Mix or 5:1:1 Bark based mix?

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pkapeckopickldpepprz

I just discovered this type of mix this year from the other pepper forum. It isa nice mix with better drainage than commercial potting soils and even Pro Mix. Since i am new to it, I am having to make adjustments with watering and fertilizing. Just want to hear your experiences with this type of mix and the adjustments you had to make.

The major problems I had were transplanting seedlings into this mix instead of waiting until they were more mature. Transplant shock is the best guess from others on the other forum that were trying to diagnose from pictures. Basically the seedlings are alive but not growing after a week or so of being in the new mix. Other seedlings that were at the same growth stage that were not transplanted but in the original Pro Mix are growing and twice the size of the seedlings in the 5:1:1 (Bark x 5, Perlite x 1, Peat x 1) mix. Your thoughts / suggestions are appreciated.
 
I tried Al's 5:1:1 bark mix. I too transplanted seedlings into this mix very early on and the plants looked bad. After awhile I transplanted them into pro-mix like my other plants and they recovered. I'll be sticking with Pro-Mix or something similar to it next year.

pkapeckopickldpepprz said:
I just discovered this type of mix this year from the other pepper forum. It isa nice mix with better drainage than commercial potting soils and even Pro Mix. Since i am new to it, I am having to make adjustments with watering and fertilizing. Just want to hear your experiences with this type of mix and the adjustments you had to make.

The major problems I had were transplanting seedlings into this mix instead of waiting until they were more mature. Transplant shock is the best guess from others on the other forum that were trying to diagnose from pictures. Basically the seedlings are alive but not growing after a week or so of being in the new mix. Other seedlings that were at the same growth stage that were not transplanted but in the original Pro Mix are growing and twice the size of the seedlings in the 5:1:1 (Bark x 5, Perlite x 1, Peat x 1) mix. Your thoughts / suggestions are appreciated.
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The problem with bark based mixes is if the pine bark fines are not well composted they will rob nitrogen from the soil. I am not using this mix, but a homemade mix with added bark. The plants looked pretty bad at first, until I started adding a lot of nitrogen to the soil. Now the plants are green and lush and producing great. At first I thought it was a Ph problem, not giving the lime enough time to react, but I tested the Ph and it was 6.7.

jacob
 
Ok so it's not just me then. I tried to tell Al that the Pro Mix seedlings were doing well but the 5:1:1 mix they were struggling, but he just blamed it on me the grower. I know I'm not the only one that has had trouble with performance verses Pro Mix, but even suggesting Pro Mix works as well or better got him ticked off. He even had a problem with organic fertilizers so he seems to prefer Foliage-Pro.
 
I tried it last year and had the same problem. The soil at the bottom was nasty and wet and smelled bad but later in the summer they came back with a vengence.
 
I think perlite and Sphagnum are both amazing materials. I think both peat and pine bark have a lower Ph than just ordinary potting soil and I think capsicum species prefer neutral Ph. So I would use sphagnum rather than peat.

Perlite makes the soil drain super super fast. It's also nice on roots growing. Sphagnum just can absorb a lot of water.
 
I created my own mix last year that I really like, after the pine bark mix fiasco. This year I used a slightly modified mix but basically the same and love it once again.
 
One big bale of peat moss. Two small bags Miracle Grow Perlite. Two 40 lb bags Black Kow composted cow manure and one 30 lb bag Black Kow composted chicken manure. I think thats all.
 
Well this thread really busts my bubble.

I just mixed up 25-30 gallons of soil for my upcoming grow, and while its not Al's mix ... due to the threads I saw on that other forum I added 2 cu foot of soil pep (fine pine bark). I have it cooking now. Basically it is about 15 gallons of recycled soil, 2 cu ft of the pine bark, about a gallon of mushroom compost, a gallon of rabbit poo and the whole thing was ammended with 10 cups tomato tone, and 25 tablespoons of lime.

I have it moistned and its cooking as we speak, in fact... I stuck my hand in the tub this morning and its nice and warm there... I was planning on letting it cook for about a month before usage.

After reading this ... now Im wondering if I should scrap the whole thing or save it for later use ......... or cut it with more soil ....... or???

Sounds like you guys think Im destined for failure if I use it as is huh??
 
Absolutely not. Just make sure the plants that you are going to put in it have a great root structure and you will have great results. My problems came from putting transplants into 2 gallon containers. The roots were too small for the large container and the bottom of the container rotted the mix.
 
Al's a nice guy but they do not in any way, shape or form welcome a heretic into that forum (Container Gardening). Even when I posted pics of my tomatoes and explained I only needed to water once every two week, they said it was just luck!

Mike
 
I agree with you Mike, I had similar experiences.

Well, I have seedlings with about 4 leaf sets each that were going to go straight into 3 gallon containers in that mix. How would you suggest I go about it then, maybe transplant into 1 gallon containers, in a different mix first and then up pot?? I suppose I could do that. I sure hate to have to scrap 30 gallons of soil just because I followed bad advice ... I knew I should have stuck to my old recipe (that always worked lol).

I guess if I do that (transplant into 1 gallon containers in a different mix first), it will give the bark mix more time to cook.

Man ... Im not sure what to do with it now. Im half tempted just to let it set in that bin and cook for 6 months or something... lol ... and go out and get more soil and supplies to make my original mix - I dont want to mess up my current grow because of the bark addition.

If any of you could advise me here Ild appreciate it. What 'cha think??
 
The more I think about it .... I think Im going to go get a bale of promix and then cut the bark mix 50/50 with it. I mixed it a little hot anyway I think and that will solve both issues if I cut it .... I would think mixing it at 50% with promix it should be ok for the plants and buffer some of problems you guys had with the bark based mix. Hopefully.
 
Millworkman,
 
This is probably a stupid question but why 2 different types of manure ???  Is it because of different diets as I thought manure was pretty much the same.
 
I'm using Bergers BM7 as the base for my potting mix. It's a  pine bark, peat, perlite, lime mix. I'm using it because it's the cheapest soil-less mix I could find in the San Antonio area, $12 for 3 cu ft. The promix and sunshine is $49 for a 3.8 bale here, ridiculous. I hope the amended BM7 will work with my peppers.
 
Barley-pop57 said:
Millworkman,
 
This is probably a stupid question but why 2 different types of manure ???  Is it because of different diets as I thought manure was pretty much the same.
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the cow was only .5 across the board. The chicken is much more potent. You also want different sources of manures to maximize micro nutrients as some can be lacking.
 
On gardenweb. He has some good reads on water flow/retention, aeration and the like. The 5:1:1 and gritty look interesting, but it seems like a cruel joke if you had to fill a lot of pots. You'd be screening and washing for days.
 
His query "How many BB's does it take to make pudding drain?" is hilarious and made me rethink perlite.
 
figured i would update this thread with my experiences instead of making a new one.

5-1-1 is a great mix for pots that requires frequent watering but gives better root aeration.
I mixed 5-1-1 with lime. see here
The plants grew great, some 5ft+ with decent yield. In the dog days of summer 100+ i had to increase watering to every day. In spring and fall i could water twice a week. I used dynagro foliage pro and magical with every watering. see here

Next year i would definitely include some kind of compost like 5 pine - 3 compost - 1 perlite - 1 peat. I had 0 problems with drainage, i don't think adding that amount of compost would affect it too much. I think they could have produced more and been more hearty with the microbes and extra nutrients from the compost/manure.
 
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