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soil Cheap, effective soil blends

illWill

illWill

Hey fellow pepper growers!  Up to now,  I have grown my peppers in Fox Farms soil.  It works well, but it is pretty expensive.  

Next year, I am looking at expanding my grow to about 75 plants in 5 gallon buckets.   There is no way I can afford to fill them with Fox Farms.  I was wondering what kind of tried and true,  cost effective soil blends you all know of.  Thanks for the help,   

Will
 
Grass and leaves :)  
 
Seriously though.  I have been putting my leaves under my trees with the grass clippings for the past couple years.  Make sure to not have the grass bunch up and dry out.  The worms love it and it gives them a warm place to stay for the winter.  In the spring you rake it up, sift out the bigger chunks of grass and break up the bigger pieces of leaves.  Make sure to get the top most layer of good dirt under there too, it has all the worms in it.  Walla!  Many many many gallons of mix.
 
millworkman said:
Grass and leaves :)
 
Seriously though.  I have been putting my leaves under my trees with the grass clippings for the past couple years.  Make sure to not have the grass bunch up and dry out.  The worms love it and it gives them a warm place to stay for the winter.  In the spring you rake it up, sift out the bigger chunks of grass and break up the bigger pieces of leaves.  Make sure to get the top most layer of good dirt under there too, it has all the worms in it.  Walla!  Many many many gallons of mix.
Click to expand...
 
Don't forget the plants that you grew this year and the soil you grew them in. All that will compost well.
 
Jeff H said:
 
Don't forget the plants that you grew this year and the soil you grew them in. All that will compost well.
Click to expand...
 
 
Yup yup.  The plants that get overwintered get stripped of leaves and smaller branches which get chopped up and composted for next year.  Plants that dont make the overwinter cut get tossed through the shredder.  Containers all get dumped into a pile for next year as well.
 
The leaves/topsoil is a good idea,  but I don't really have the space for that,  not to mention I don't really have any "soil" to amend in the first place.  I am going to have to make my mix completely from scratch.  I was considering 

1/3 perlite
1/3 peat moss
1/3 compost

Amended with bat guano and earthworm castings.  Does anybody have experience with such a blend?
 
illWill said:
The leaves/topsoil is a good idea,  but I don't really have the space for that,  not to mention I don't really have any "soil" to amend in the first place.  I am going to have to make my mix completely from scratch.  I was considering 

1/3 perlite
1/3 peat moss
1/3 compost

Amended with bat guano and earthworm castings.  Does anybody have experience with such a blend?
Click to expand...
 
I use
 
1/3 vermiculite
1/3 peat moss
1/3 compost
 
amended with worm castings and rabbit poo.  Works well for all my veggies grown in raised beds.
 
Another thought is you might also try Craigslist.  I got 5 yards of a blend 50% aged compost, 25% top soil, and 25% well aged 4+ yr old cow manure for $100 bucks delivered.  This was great in the raised beds I tried it in also...
 
I'm not sure we're you live in Montana, I know some areas out there can be remote so sourcing the ingredients might be tough.

I make my potting mix 3 cubic yards at a time. Use 20 cubic feet of pine bark fines, a 4 cubic foot bag of perlite, and a 3 cubic foot bag of Candian peat moss. I use this as a base mix for a lot of things, but for peppers I mix 4 oz of dry garden lime, 2 pounds of worm castings, and approx. 2 pounds each of mushroom and manure compost per 10 gallons of my base mix.

The base mix is ridiculously cheap to make. The pine bark cost me 12 dollars, I spend 15 on the perlite, and the peat is 9 dollars. It might be cheaper and easier to find Fir bark fines where your located. Good Peat and garden lime should be easy enough. I'm guessing the perlite will be toughest ingredient to source. You can substitute homemade compost or other varieties of compost if they are easier to get. I think the more varieties of compost you have, the better it is for your plants.

Good luck
 
Wow, great suggestions guys. Thanks a lot.

I am in Billings, the largest city in MT. Agriculture is a big part of our economy up here so I'm hoping it won't be too hard. Where would I potentially find these kinds of materials? Nurseries?
 
Soil :: Rocky Mountain Compost 
Soil Retail
1/2" Compost: Call For Quote
1/4" Compost: Call For Quote
Potting Soil: Call For Quote
Amended Topsoil: Call For Quote
Bare Root Mix: Call For Quote
Perlite: Call For Quote
Peatmoss: Call For Quote
Gypsum: Call For Quote"
 
With the exception of guano and worm castings (which I can get from the hydro shop)  it looks like this local compost/mulch company might have everything I need.  I would want 1/4" compost,  correct?
 
A recipe that's popular with some of the folks who grow tomatoes in self watering containers is called a 321 mix:
 
3 Parts Pine Bark Fines.
2 Parts Peat.
1 Part Perlite.
 
There are also variations that use some store bought soiless mix as the main ingredient too.
I've never tried it my self. Always been too lazy.
 
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