If you have read a lot of post on this site then you should have come across a couple that advice against the use of straight bag mix. If you add some extra pine bark fines and perlit you can make it better but building your own mix will give you better results and be cheaper than the MG potting mix. You are manely buying a bag of over priced peat moss if you go that route. I stongly suggest reading the posts about water retention and movement. They are very informative and usefull. Good luck with what ever you dcide to go with.

I would love to make my own mix, unfortunately I can't seem to find these ingredients at my local Lowes or Home Depot. All I can find is the peat moss, but not the pine bark and I can't seem to locate this perlite stuff. I tell the garden center people at Lowes what I'm trying to do and they just have no clue.

Is there a standard recipe for a container mix?

BG - it does often take a little legwork to come up with the right bark, and perlite is simply a matter of knowing who to ask. Check with large local greenhouse or nursery operations that you suspect might make their own soil. If they tell you they don't have it, then ask them who they think might.

Sam - try the link below that will give you an overview of how to choose what you want to grow in.

AL

Here is a link that might be useful: More about container soils if you click me!