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media growing media, making the best of what you have

CAPCOM

CAPCOM

Last year I discovered super hot peppers. I even grew several in what was a throw it all together at the last minute season.(planted peppers May 26th and harvested pods in early Oct). I used miracle grow potting soil then,  because it was readily available and I was a newbie.
 
Well, I have to use it again this year because nothing else is available and I have 8 cu feet at my disposal.
I also have 32 qts of perlite to add to it.
 
Given this scenario. Is there anything else that could be added reasonably to improve the quality of the media? And No, 6 yds of ocean forest or 707 is not the answer I am looking for.
 
You will be good with what you have. I have grown healthy plants with Miracle Grow and the perlite will be very helpful if growing in containers. No real need to add anything else.
 
Be sure to read the 'All about soil' thread pinned a the top of the page.  I get the impression that any number of mixes can work well, and that specific ingredients and proportions aren't terribly critical.
 
Cheap (free!) additives might include a few scoops of plain old local soil for basic minerals, and maybe 5~10% coffee grounds (bring a bucket to the local Starbucks a few minutes before they close and they'll be happy to load you up.) as a basic organic with trace mineral and N content,
 
OTOH, I'm a total noob to all this, so please weigh my 'advice' appropriately. :rolleyes:
 
The local nurseries here sell decent compost for $1.50/5gallon bucket. That with what you have would give you all you need and more since it would add some "live fuel" to your mix
 
impending_bending said:
If you can get your hands on some rockwool by any chance... you won't be sorry
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On your advice, I looked into that. The biggest problem is that its a specialty media and not available this time of year or maybe ever, in the general  garden shops. will investigate further though, it sound like something worth pursuing.
 
bravesfan said:
The local nurseries here sell decent compost for $1.50/5gallon bucket. That with what you have would give you all you need and more since it would add some "live fuel" to your mix
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Are you anywhere near the state line? if so, I'll make a note of it and have to check them out if and when it becomes necessary to fill grow-out containers. Right now though I am just looking to make what I have work with only minor additions.
 
 
Miracle grow has worked fairly well, but I have noticed that when exercising proper watering of peppers, the soil seems to dry out to the point that it wants to repel water rather than absorb it.
 
Check out the local hydroponic shop for the rockwool.  The store down the road from me has good prices on a wide variety of soil amendments, pots, fertilizer, etc.  Another cheap additive would be a few $ worth of Mycorrhizae. Extreme Gardening's 100g Mykos package will dose at least a hundred small plants and costs all of $3.95. 
 
Geonerd said:
Check out the local hydroponic shop for the rockwool.  The store down the road from me has good prices on a wide variety of soil amendments, pots, fertilizer, etc.  Another cheap additive would be a few $ worth of Mycorrhizae. Extreme Gardening's 100g Mykos package will dose at least a hundred small plants and costs all of $3.95. 
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Mycorrhiza in Miracle-Gro would be a waste of money since the salts in the Miracle-Gro fertilizers would kill them.
 
Geonerd said:
I'd think that any salt or mineral capable of killing fungus would also do in the plants. (?)
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No. Man made fertilizers are detrimental to the life in the soil food web that is why we grow organically and don't use soils like Miracle-Gro. If you use these type of soils and fertilizers you have to keep adding them throughout the growing season as the plant's natural living food web will not be there because of these fertilizers.
 
Proud Marine Dad said:
No. Man made fertilizers are detrimental to the life in the soil food web that is why we grow organically and don't use soils like Miracle-Gro. If you use these type of soils and fertilizers you have to keep adding them throughout the growing season as the plant's natural living food web will not be there because of these fertilizers.
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OK. I didn't know MG was so heavily dosed.  I take it you're not keen on any potting soil with synthetic ferts?
 
Geonerd said:
 
OK. I didn't know MG was so heavily dosed.  I take it you're not keen on any potting soil with synthetic ferts?
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Its better to feed your soil instead of the plant. If you use chems your plant will grow but its not good for it.. If you feed your soil your plant will thrive from the benifical micro organisms and produce a healthier root structure. Better roots = bigger more productive plant with higher yeilds. Watch that video above all is explained and there are links for everything.
 
I've used miracle grow as well my first couple of seasons. I would add the perlite, worm castings if you can find it, it's actually not too expensive online either, vermiculite, Lowe's usually has compressed bales of peat moss for 8.97 and I've added that with miracle grow as well.
 
I use MG Moisture Control almost exclusively for my container plants. You can check my results on my past two years glogs. I use AACT and other organic methods to feed them too. MG works very well right out of the bag...but it does stir up emotion in a lot of folks. There is nothing in MG that will "kill off" the soil food web so to speak...but not much in it to get it started or feed it. I have done side by side's with organic options out there...Happy Frog, Fox Farms and others. Happy frog was the closest, but the MG still outperformed it for me. All subjective and would depend on your particular grow techniques.
 
Bottom line is...it works, and works very well. Use it if its what you have available.
 
All things considered and the all the above provides some great info, Miracle grow IS what I have, and will have to use. I added the whole bag of perlite to a whole bag(2 cu ft) of miracle grow and have as of now re potted 60 18 oz solo cups and have almost half the mix for the remaining peppers when they are ready. I will make attempts to use some of the advice posted above for the successive repottings.
 
anything to lighten up the soil when i've used MG it ends up compressing quite a bit over the season and i dont think the roots get very much air. perlite helps ofc. Composted pine/fir bark fines is what i will use to make the soil less "dirt / mud" heavy. I've never tried coco coir but i heard its good as well
 
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