Newbie- soil frustration!!

16 years ago

So I am a brand-new newbie to growing stuff. Seriously, consider me as knowing absolutely nothing about anything. ;)

I have read some of the threads here about soil. So I have gone looking for a good potting mix. I want to plant herbs in my porch window boxes, salad greens in a small Salad Box I've built (http://www.growit.umd.edu/Salad%20Tables%20and%20Salad%20Boxes/index.cfm) and vegetables in a few 40-gallon plastic containers I just bought.

Well- I cannot find anything. All I can find is Miracle-Gro, some Scott's Moisture Max potting mix, one Hyponex, and some organic "potting mix" which has pine bark fines, Canadian peat moss and perlite in it (along with some ground shells or something), but also has compost and peat humus in it. Oh- and a Lambert's bale of "general purpose mix," which I thought might be ok but which the garden center helper person frowned on (and then pointed me to the organic potting mix). This is after going to three nurseries, a Lowes and two Home Depots. I have called the nurseries in advance and asked if they have potting mixes that are not Miracle Gro (and specified MIXES, and said "not potting SOIL.") They said yes, but when I get there they only have potting soils and they don't know what I mean when I say mix is different from soil.

Wht to do?? I definitely have not found the separate ingredients- bark fines, etc- that Al recommends to mix my own.

I have two small kids and just don't have time to go driving all over town. Are any of these likely to be any good?? I have seen where many people have said bad things about Miracle-Gro. It is also not good to have compost in potting mix, right?

Also, what kind of fertilizer do I get??

Thanks!!

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Comments (7)

tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
16 years ago
There is no reason you can't grow healthy plants in commercially prepared soils - millions of gardeners do. You just need to pay closer attention to details and realize the margin for error is reduced as soils get heavier. It really does help to have a good understanding of how soils work, but it looks like you've been studying, which is great - sort of like "Forewarned is forearmed".

Maybe you should just opt for the soil with the bark component and add a little perlite and call it a day. I think sticking around here to ask questions about how to get the most out of your experience is a good idea, because we know a lot of tricks, but even that is up to you - everyone would be happy for the opportunity to welcome you and get better acquainted. ;o)

As far as the fertilizer, there will be basically two schools. One will take the organic road and have you using organic soil amendments as a nutrition source and the other will have you using soluble fertilizers. I'm solidly in the camp of the latter for container culture - ESPECIALLY for newbies. It is so much easier, less confusing, more reliable ....., but that decision is yours too, of course.

Welcome, Lisa.

Al
calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
16 years ago
It is a long distance from California to New York. Here in California we have landscape supplies and farm supplies. These people are used to selling in bulk quantities, but many will deal with the home gardener. Most of my ingredients for container mixes I buy this way. Al
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lisa_z5ny
Original Author
16 years ago
Oh, hm! I didn't think of looking at a farm supply place. Have to look around. Thanks again.
cynna_leaf
16 years ago
Tapla said: "Maybe you should just opt for the soil with the bark component and add a little perlite and call it a day."
Based on this, would you recommend simply adding perlite to a commercial soil mix to improve it? I plan on using one of your recipes for next year, but in the meantime I already lugged home several bags of potting mix (Schultz Moisture Plus), and would love to amend them with something for this year to make my plants (veggies) a little happier.
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
16 years ago
It might shock you to learn that adding perlite to a peat or compost based medium does very little to improve its drainage characteristics, and it doesn't change the height of the PWT. What it does, is take up space that would otherwise be occupied by water, thus reducing the total volume of water any given volume of medium can hold. This means the soil can return to a more healthy air-filled state faster, offering that opportunity for improved root growth/function/metabolism. You (your plants) still have to deal with the negative effects of the PWT, they just don't have to deal with them as long as they would have had to, had you NOT added the perlite.

For perlite to make a significant difference in the drainage rate or the height of the PWT, it would need to be the primary fraction of the medium. If you picture adding a quart of perlite to a gallon of pudding and asking yourself if the combination is well aerated, the answer would be "NO"; but, if you added a quart of pudding to a gallon of perlite we get a much different picture.

You cannot start with an ingredient with a fine particulate size (sand/compost/peat) and amend it so it drains well or to improve it's aeration. You need to have the ingredient with a larger particle size as the primary fraction of the medium to get it to work.

To be fair, perlite does improve aeration and drainage in these fine media for a very short time - until they are watered a few times and the soil particles settle & compact around the perlite particles, but the benefit is so short lived we may as well consider it nonexistant.

Again, the benefit of adding perlite to fine media is in the fact that it simply reduces the total volume of water the media is capable of holding. If it were otherwise, we would have no need to use pine bark at all, we could just load our peat or compost up with perlite and be done with it.

Al
cynna_leaf
16 years ago
Ahh, good to know. So it sounds like there's no point in adding perlite, as it's the longterm (well, 3 months) that I'm looking to have improvement in. Is there something we can add to modify the commercial soil to improve it? Or is that just wishful thinking? ;^)
meyermike_1micha
16 years ago
Yes, it is as easy as adding bark...5 parts bark to one part of that soil mix. You will even want to add a part of perlite too...
You see, get rid of most of the fine particles in that soil, and your plants will bask in a container that lets their roots breath for a long time, more than 2-3 weeks...;-)