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fertilizer How is an unfertilized soil mix different from a fertilized one?

Yes, I know how silly this question sounds, but hear me out :)  Isn't the difference, well, that an unfertilized mix, like ProMix, doesn't contain any fertilizers/nutrients while many pre-made soil mixes do? This is, for example beneficial when you want to start seedlings.
 
BUT...as soon as you use an unfertilized soilless mix like Promix and start to feed your plants with, say, Hydro nutes, doesn't it become essentially the same as other soil mixes? Or would plants use up all  nutrients so that your unfert mix becomes "nutrient-less" in between feedings again? I don't think so. Unfertilized mix would also accumulate them, salts etc..like any other soil, correct?
 
So in other words, question, WHY would I want to grow plants in, say, ProMix? UNLESS of course for seed starting where I want a neutral medium for a short time. Is it because I have more control over the amount of nutes that I give? While commercial pre-fertilized mixes have already nutrients in them, so there is danger I overfeed, or that a pre-fert mix soil may contain less than optimal nutrients?
 
This just because I started to wonder about the "silliness" to get special mixes without anything but then feeding plants, essentially turning the mix into fertilized soil. But then I could as well buy a normal soil mix from the store around the corner..and just feed plain water for a longer time...(until the "internal" nutrients are depleted...)
 
Cool topic.Not entirely sure what youre asking.Seems like you know plain mixes are just that and premium or more expensive mixes are chock full of nutrients.There are quite a few brands that are really different from one another.
 
BUT...as soon as you use an unfertilized soilless mix like Promix and start to feed your plants with, say, Hydro nutes, doesn't it become essentially the same as other soil mixes?
 
Hydro nutes are like an instant hit of nutrients, very easily flushed out of soil and will need to be replenished often. In the past I've grown peppers from start to finish in multi purpose compost without fertilizing, I would likely of gotten a better yield if i had given some but the reason i didn't have to is because these mixes tend to contain some kind of slow release fertilizer and/or they have organic matter which also releases nutrients over time as it breaks down.
 
Neutral mediums are either the basis of another mix where they provide soil structure or they are used as you say to control the exact amount of nutrients(this is essentially hydroponics)
 
flexy123 said:
 
This just because I started to wonder about the "silliness" to get special mixes without anything but then feeding plants, essentially turning the mix into fertilized soil. But then I could as well buy a normal soil mix from the store around the corner..and just feed plain water for a longer time...(until the "internal" nutrients are depleted...)
 
Yes, I think your logic is essentially correct. Using unfertilized medium and then fertilizing has a similar effect to just using a pre-fertilized soil mix. But remember that not all fertilizers are formulated exactly the same. There are threads here where people debate what are the best NPK ratios to use for peppers, what other nutrients are the most important and in what ratios etc. Doing it yourself allows you more control over the ratios, amounts and types of nutrients used, whereas using a pre-made soil mix means yielding all those decisions to the company that made the product. It is a bit like asking why would anyone ever want to bake a cake from scratch, when they can buy a box of cake mix at the supermarket and then just add water? The answer is that some people choose to do it themselves because they believe they can do it better than what comes prepackaged in the box.
 
 
flexy123 said:
 
 Is it because I have more control over the amount of nutes that I give?  or that a pre-fert mix soil may contain less than optimal nutrients?
 
 
 
I think this is it in a nutshell.
 
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