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soil Need help mixing my soil using promix and compost cow manure and perlite

J

JesterJoker

So I started mixing my container soil and got a bit confused on correct ratios.


I put half my bale of pro-mix, so

1.9 cu ft -pro-mix
.75 cu ft -compost cow manure (.05, .05, .05)
2lbs -perlite

any recommendations of additions,


do you think the ratios are off? or just add a few things maybe bloodmeal or bonemeal, or garden lime
 
I was just wondering overall if the compost cow manure was to low.

I have read all over people using 50/50 ratios for pro-mix to manure
 
NO not at all. A lot of proffesionals use NO compost in there grow medium for many reasons. A big on is the fact is makes your soil have low air porosity keeping roots too wet. I would use only a little compost then use water soluble fertilizer later down the road. 50/50promix manure vs just promix +the correct fertilizer, promix by itself wins, greater yield.
 
Jester,
Here is my advice. Don't mix them together. Put your composted cow manure in the bottom 3" of your container. Fill the rest of your container with your pro mix. Plant your pepper so that the roots are about an inch above the cow manure. Water as usual. In time the roots will grow and spread out finding the composted cow manure. Why I think I have such good luck with this is aeration. The roots will dig into the compost only to the degree the plant needs to meet its nutritional requirements.
 
Capsicum said:
NO not at all. A lot of proffesionals use NO compost in there grow medium for many reasons. A big on is the fact is makes your soil have low air porosity keeping roots too wet. I would use only a little compost then use water soluble fertilizer later down the road. 50/50promix manure vs just promix +the correct fertilizer, promix by itself wins, greater yield.
Click to expand...

+1
I never mix cow compost in my pots, only the ground. I use 100% Promix or equivalent and add in the granular friendly ferts biweekly. Plant growth and yields are spectacular. My mission is to grow monster pods and lots of them.
 
I use about 25% manure or more in my pots, and/or use manure/compost tea. You probably don't need the extra perlite but it won't hurt. Personally I always have better results when growing as organically as possible, even in containers
 
Good thread.

I used a 60/40 peat moss/manure. Mixed some perlite in there and called it good. I've read great and bad things about doing that. So far plants look ok other than the damn bugs!
 
Can you send me over your feeding schedule.

I mixed 1 batch all ready I will see how it does.
I think its such a light mix that it might be good, and I will supplement with liquid nutes later.


SuperHot said:
+1
I never mix cow compost in my pots, only the ground. I use 100% Promix or equivalent and add in the granular friendly ferts biweekly. Plant growth and yields are spectacular. My mission is to grow monster pods and lots of them.
Click to expand...
 
ill keep it 2/3 promix, 1/3 compost manure.

Worst that can happen is a bag grow.. ill learn my lesson.. maybe ill have monster huge peppers and it will be a winning formula
 
SuperHot said:
+1
I never mix cow compost in my pots, only the ground. I use 100% Promix or equivalent and add in the granular friendly ferts biweekly. Plant growth and yields are spectacular. My mission is to grow monster pods and lots of them.
Click to expand...

+2
I stopped trying to add fertilize, manure, compost, to my soil because it simply compacts it too much and doesn't allow the roots to breath as much. Plus if you put too much the plant will grow big and bushy, but you may end up with a lot less fruits as it will be too much nitrogen. The only thing I do now is add a bit of compost as a top dressing once or twice a year.
 
I used a 2/3 Pro-mix and 1/3 composted manure last year for about 100 bhuts. I did not notice any more soil compaction than the 100% Pro-mix plants (both got really compacted), however, I think the manure added too much nitrogen. I had big beautiful bhuts with very few pods on them. Adding phosphorus didn't help the issue either. The problem with manure is that it is slow release and once its in the pot there is no going back. I overwintered 4 plants with the manure mix in my greenhouse, after 10 months of no added nitrogen they are just now showing signs of being nitrogen deficient. They are putting on lots of pods now.

At least with using a fertilization schedule (organic or not) you have the ability to adjust throughout the season. I would recommend going 100% promix in the pot, keep the manure, make some tea, fertilize as needed with the tea. I realize it is very tempting to supplement the promix due to the cost of the stuff, I know my experiment started by trying to find a way to make a bale go farther.
 
Thanks for the advice, I will try my mix I have for now and attempt to supplement if it seems to be wrong.

the plants look ok the real test will be in the grow.

theghostpepperstore said:
I used a 2/3 Pro-mix and 1/3 composted manure last year for about 100 bhuts. I did not notice any more soil compaction than the 100% Pro-mix plants (both got really compacted), however, I think the manure added too much nitrogen. I had big beautiful bhuts with very few pods on them. Adding phosphorus didn't help the issue either. The problem with manure is that it is slow release and once its in the pot there is no going back. I overwintered 4 plants with the manure mix in my greenhouse, after 10 months of no added nitrogen they are just now showing signs of being nitrogen deficient. They are putting on lots of pods now.

At least with using a fertilization schedule (organic or not) you have the ability to adjust throughout the season. I would recommend going 100% promix in the pot, keep the manure, make some tea, fertilize as needed with the tea. I realize it is very tempting to supplement the promix due to the cost of the stuff, I know my experiment started by trying to find a way to make a bale go farther.
Click to expand...
 
good readin on here! i am not an expert by any means and ifeel that each grower needs to tamper with soil to figure out what works for them and their climate! for me i am testing out a ratio of about the same as Jester but using Ancient forrest and sunshine growers mix and will be feeding like this
compost tea, water,water, nutes then repeat. and well i planted a fatalii last week and it has more than doubled in size and has started to produce buds! not sure how it will pan out in the long run, but hell part of the fun is trying new things!

lookingforward to seeing how this works out for ya
 
Absolutely, never be afraid of trying a methods that others have failed with. There are so many factors to growing that there do not seem to be many "rules" to follow. My manure may have had any number of chemicals in it that caused my poor fruit set. It could have just been to sweltering heat in St. Louis last summer, who knows for sure. My best guess was too much nitrogen but that isn't to say you won't have great success.
 
I have actually tried many times growing with high nitrogen levels in attampt to get taller, greener plants and to avoid early buds/flowers, but instead plants continued to grow, flower, and fruit as usual. I'm planning on trying even higher N levels on a few plants this year
 
POTAWIE said:
I have actually tried many times growing with high nitrogen levels in attampt to get taller, greener plants and to avoid early buds/flowers, but instead plants continued to grow, flower, and fruit as usual. I'm planning on trying even higher N levels on a few plants this year
Click to expand...

Good to know. I should also not that these were all bhuts, I have never had problems with high nitrogen levels with any other varieties.
 
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