It sounds interesting...what's it called/ link?

If the ingrediant lists have two different lists of ingrediants you have two different products. Keep in mind that potting soils are vastly different from garden soil.

If the ingredients are listed in order of the % of their presence in the soil, both mixes sound extremely water retentive to me.

Al

Dognapper: here's the link:

Lyngso Garden Materials
They have a bunch of their soils, mulches and amendments listed if you click the "soil" link at the top of the page also.

Kimmsr: They mix it themselves, so I think it may be more of a website updating issue, than a "two different products" issue. I'm not really sure though.

Al: If they happen to not be listed in the order of their presence in the mix (might give them a call this afternoon to find out, and to see why there's the discrepancy between their website and the printed material), would it be a decent combination of ingredients? I know you are a soil master, so I'm really glad you chimed in here. They had something there that looked a lot like a gritty mix, but I wasn't really sure whether I wanted to go that route or not, so I went with this one. A woman was there shoveling a whole large garbage can's worth and having it hauled into her car, and she highly recommended it, but of course, if I looked long and hard enough, I could probably find someone who would recommend Hyponex too, so that doesn't necessarily mean anything, lol.

Lol - you're right! There are a couple of folks that were swearing by Hyponex a couple of months ago. I imagine by now they're swearing AT it. ;o)

The mini-mulch fir bark looks interesting for use in the gritty mix, if you ever get around to trying that.

I don't know ..... all you can do is try it & see how it works. It Does sound like it will hold lots of water, but hey ..... let us know. You could always add a little perlite/pumice to it to help a little with added drainage/aeration after you have a closer look, if you think it's warranted.

Good luck, Spaghetina.

Al

How does THIS soil mix sound?

"Bar Harbor Blend is our new, all-purpose potting soil introduced for the 2005 season. It is a rich, dark brown and full bodied, designed for re-potting house plants, planting hanging baskets, window boxes and all containers.
Bar Harbor Blend is made with lobster and aspen bark compost, long staple horticultural grade sphagnum peat moss and perlite. Like all compost-based soils, this too requires less watering.
We've named this blend for the town of Bar Harbor, located on Mount Desert Island overlooking Frenchman Bay. Bar Harbor is the gateway to Acadia National Park and one of the jewels of the Maine coast."

I'm on the wrong coast for the 1st site :) Walking past the garden section of the grocery store and I saw bags of this for $4.99. Anyone tried it or one of their other blends? I guess I should buy a bag so I can see what's inside for myself. Maybe not take a sniff test too quickly?

Right now I'm in the mood to check plants daily so "requires less watering" might lead to overwatering, given my history - at least until if/when I revert to desert - flood watering method of past. Which is NOT good but tends to be my pattern.

(Mental image of green thumb in the middle with a little root rot on bottom and crispy tuffs on top. 2nd cup of coffee coming up! Good morning ;)

Here is a link that might be useful: Bar Harbor Blend

Don't agree with this raising the perched water table nonsense. I think it's overthought.

if a layer has clear holes how can the water possibly stay perched there?

Because the soil/mix washes into them there clear holes and plugs them up. Your drainage is only as good as your mix.

Tony - It would be better if you understood a concept before you simply dismissed its application out of hand. Water "stays perched there" for the same reason it does in the sponge you can lift, saturated, from a pan of water, hold by a corner until it completely stops draining, and then still wring out a considerable volume of 'perched water' from it. Had you been growing a plant in the sponge, the space occupied by perched water would have been unavailable for root colonization until the sponge dried to the point where it was just damp - until air could again return to it and support healthy root growth. The same is true of soggy soils that support perched water. Roots grow into those areas only if/when you allow the soil to dry down sufficiently; but then, when you water again - roots in the resaturated areas die. This cycle and its effects continue, often unseen by the grower because it is often manifest only in lost potential; but is still very expensive from the plants' perspective in terms of energy outlay. The energy expended in the cyclic death & regeneration of lost roots could have gone toward increased bloom or crop yields or simply an increase in o/a biomass.

Al

That Coast of Maine Lobster compost that they sell is made from lobster shells and contains a natural source of chitin. Chitin is a control for foliar nematodes, so I use a little lobster compost in the hole of every hosta that I plant. Don't use the potting soil, but the lobster compost is good stuff.

Steve