media Homemade Soil Recipe and Questions

D

DeadSilent

How’s it growing pepperheads!? DeadSilent here and I guess you could say I’m an addict. I can’t stop buying different varieties of peppers. And I love mixing up my own batches of potting mix! I’ve already started 18 different varieties for next season. I’ll be keeping them inside over the winter. I’m getting ready to mix up a batch of media and wanted to get some feedback on what you guys think I can do to make it better. So here it goes…

3cuft of Premier Peat Moss
1cuft Oly Mountain Fish Compost
1cuft of Pumice
3cups Dolomite lime

I’m also thinking about adding some Seabird guano, Kelp meal, and Alfalfa meal. I’ll also be growing all of my peppers in 5 gallon fabric pots outdoors. Let me know what you guys think! Happy growing!!
 
Seems legit.

I would add something mineral based with a nice ion exchange property.

I like Utelite, a local product here, but many heat expanded mineral medias work well.

I avoid peat, many reasons but it just doesn't give me the results I want.

I use alfalfa, I buy it at feed supply stores. 50lbs of alfalfa pellets (basically compressed alfalfa meal) for $12.

5 gallons is far too small for me but here is a tip: many stores sell fabric shopping bags of close to 5 gallon capacity, these bags often work just as well as a commercial fabric pot of the same size.

In my experience the best way to learn media formulation is to experiment, I've mixed my own for over 20 years and have had some interesting results.

Sometimes a 50:50 (chicken manure compost:scoria pumice mix) will produce superior results to more complex peat based mixtures. I learned that mix from an old hippie from Hawaii.
 
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Thanks Max! I will be moving away from peat based mixes and start making my own leaf mold. But until then peat is cheap and easy to acquire here.

I have some Azomite that could be added. As well as a bunch of other amendments, guano, fish meal, bone meal, neem, and more.

This year I have 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 gallon pots. Since it’s my first year growing peppers I wanted to see how much difference there would be. The best growth I’ve seen so far has been 5 gallon pots.

I appreciate your feedback! I did start my mix today, just the peat compost pumice and lime. I still have some time before my little seedlings are ready for transplant.
 
Simpler is better. What you have listed works well, although I'd think about reducing compost content, in case you get heavy rains (and lots of compost just isn't needed, in general). Finding the ideal placement for your plants - and therefore creating favorable environment - will do you better than all the rich goop that you can pour into a bucket.

All the other amendments are just over the top for pepper plants. I'm an avid hater of bone meal for container plants, in particular. Waste of money. My only amendments almost ever anymore, are worm castings (less than 10% of media by volume) and a bit of alfalfa meal, early in the growth. And I'm talking like 1-2 Tbsp per 5 gallon container. Then a good balanced fert, OR some kind of organic/biological feed, and you're in the pods.
 
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