I am new to this forum, as well as to Gardens and Peppers. I current have peppers in seed starter trays and have been trying to figure out the most cost effective way to fill my pot. Is a non treated Bark Mulch a suitable substitute for Orchid Bark. I haven't got my hands on any Orchid Bark, but I feel like it would be very similar to the bark mulch.
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Bark Mulch in place of Orchid Bark
- Thread starter chrtoflinski
- Start date
My first grow will be indoors, but I was just curious for next spring when I put in a few raised beds.
Mix the mulch into the soil now so it gets a head start on decomposing, then put a layer on top to deter weeds once the raised bed garden is established, then at the end of next season, turn that top layer down into the soil and repeat the next year. Cedar mulch is fine for a top dressing but decomposes slower so it's suboptimal for inner soil amendment purposes.
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As for pots you ought to use something already more decomposed. Lowes has some Scotts Top Soil like that at ~ $2.10 a 0.75 sq ft bag which is about the equivalent volume of others 40lb bags. Instead you could mix some peat humus, manure, peat moss, and whatever soil you already have in the yard. If the soil in the ground is high clay then use lots of peat moss to fluff it up.
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You could also start composting material now where the raised beds will be later.
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As for pots you ought to use something already more decomposed. Lowes has some Scotts Top Soil like that at ~ $2.10 a 0.75 sq ft bag which is about the equivalent volume of others 40lb bags. Instead you could mix some peat humus, manure, peat moss, and whatever soil you already have in the yard. If the soil in the ground is high clay then use lots of peat moss to fluff it up.
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You could also start composting material now where the raised beds will be later.