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soil What potting soil should i use for 5 gallon containers.

PepperJam

PepperJam

In addition to my raised bed garden, i am wondering what type of potting soil should i get for my 5 gallon containers? I want it to be around 6.5 ph. I see some potting soils in homedepot that are "organic" but i'm not sure if they are good. I also heard about PROMIX BX. Can i use promix straight up as a 5 gallon mix without any adjustment? A 3.8cubic foot bale expands to 7 cube feet and can fit around 16 5-gallon pots, which is exactly what i need.

Anyone from houston can point me to a place to get good potting soil?
 
Promix is a great medium but it has no real nutrients. Best to mix it with compost, manures, or other organics to get nutrients and beneficial microbes
 
POTAWIE said:
Promix is a great medium but it has no real nutrients. Best to mix it with compost, manures, or other organics to get nutrients and beneficial microbes
Click to expand...

so what should be the ratio of promix to compost for a 3.8 cubic foot compressed bag (expands to about 7 cubic feet)? If i need more than 1 cubic foot of compost, then should i use differing composts?
 
it's not required to add manure or compost, but if you don't you will need to fertilize them every month or so. Last year I cut back on the amount of plants I grew due to lack of space and I just fertilized the soil with fish emulsion and foiler feed them with worm tea and they did better then the prior year when I added compost to the soil.
 
LGHT said:
it's not required to add manure or compost, but if you don't you will need to fertilize them every month or so. Last year I cut back on the amount of plants I grew due to lack of space and I just fertilized the soil with fish emulsion and foiler feed them with worm tea and they did better then the prior year when I added compost to the soil.
Click to expand...

Wow that sounds like a great idea. Not only fish emulsion but any fertilizer should work right? I did recently buy fish emulsion. From what i hear, you can't burn plants from over fertilizing using it. I'll use sea kelp foliar feed which should be ok right?
 
Ideally you'll want to add beneficial micro-organisms to your soil which come from organics like fish emulsions, compost, manures etc. so no, not every fertilizer works the same.

Fish emulsions won't burn, if mixed and used properly.
 
PepperJam said:
so what should be the ratio of promix to compost for a 3.8 cubic foot compressed bag (expands to about 7 cubic feet)? If i need more than 1 cubic foot of compost, then should i use differing composts?
Click to expand...
Depends on the strength/age of the manure/composts but I use up to a 50/50 mix, although usually less compost
 
POTAWIE said:
Depends on the strength/age of the manure/composts but I use up to a 50/50 mix, although usually less compost
Click to expand...

Ok thanks, also should i get 7 cubic feet of compost or 3.8 cubic feet of compost? Should i vary on the compost types (1 bag leaf mold, 1 bag cow, 1 bag chicken, etc).

Also how will this affect ph? I think promix is like 6.2 ph. By adding compost, will it go up?
 
we have been jealously watching your progress :dance:

buy at least two big 3.8 cubies you got a texas type grow go big
it is likely you ain't gonna have a spoilage problem
with the soil you do not use right away
and if you run out how much gas and time to go get another one?
 
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