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Hot Peppers
scorpion_john

mixxes

13 years ago

This year I Had a hard time findintried some interesting alternatives. 5-1-1 with the pine barkg good pine bark. so I . they all did good. shredded Styrofoam, I just tossed chunks in a blender and ground it up. rubber mulch worked great also. no hand picking or screening, just mix and plant. best draining was 5-1-1 made with pea gravel. it will run out the bottom as fast as you can pour it in. and its very heavy also so the wind doesn't blow your containers over. and the rocks staying warm at night seems to help. there were about a dozen other mixes I tried, all did fine. those are just a few suggestions everyone should be able to find easily. John

Comments (8)

  • 13 years ago

    Good info John. I've often wondered about using pea gravel. Did you mix all of these with pine bark?

    Tim

  • 13 years ago

    Tim, I used those instead of pine bark

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  • 13 years ago

    The difference would be that pine bark takes up water and can supply the roots for a while. Pea gravel - not so much.

    Dennis

  • 13 years ago

    yea, they dry quick, but I keep them in the green house and they get watered everyday

  • 13 years ago

    Boy John, I envy you, if I put anything in my greenhouse now it would be cooked. The thermometer in summer pretty much remains pegged at 120, I pull everything out of mine in April (and mine has two doors, west and east, but it's not enough- they should be north and south). Honestly, when I'm outside and thinking how hot and miserable it is, I'll go into the greenhouse for a minute or two, after that the outside feels wonderful. ;-)
    Pam

  • 13 years ago

    Pam, its too hot here too. I keep fans running blowing in and out, it cool enough stuff is setting peppers but if the power went out while I was away they would cook very quick. I don't keep anything important in it this time of year, just some stuff i'm experimenting with, John

  • 13 years ago

    John did you plant any of the seeds i sent you .... would like to know how they are doing if you did ..... also i was wondering if you or anyone on this subject has ever tried that Coconut Coir i herd it is supposed to be some real great stuff to help hold that extra moisture Nutrients and Vitamins .

  • 13 years ago

    I will have to check, my list, i'm sure I did but I can't remember who sent me what. i'll check and let you know. all the mixes I experimented with worked well. like DM said though they dry quick. I spent a lot of time on pine bark this year. I went as far as buying the huge bark cause its easier to hand pick. wife came home and caught me tossing pine bark in her blender one day, blenders don't hold up. it made it through about 5 cft before it broke. I am gonna work on making something that hold up from scratch. last year I was able to find decent bark easy, this year kmart switched suppliers and its terrible. the rustic mulch at lowes is huge, but its very easy to pick, even the orchid mix I've bought this year has had a lot of sap wood in it. Bill and Missy need to start bagging pine bark up and selling it. lol

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