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Container Gardening

5:1:1 mix

10 years ago

I'm sorry if this appears to be a silly question but what exactly is this 511 mix that everyone seems to rave about? Is it a product one needs to purchase or is it something mixed using readily available products?

I've got my tomatoes in large pots with a mix of last year's potting soil, ~1/3 homemade compost and about 10% worm compost. It looks great but I'll have to wait to see how the tomatoes like it.

Harry

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Comments (5)

Dave
10 years ago
It's a mix you make.

5 parts pine bark fines, 1 part peat, 1 part perlite and some dolomite lime.
Sundeep Goel
10 years ago
What are good substitutes for pine bark fines and peat
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Nil13 usda:10a sunset:21 LA,CA (Mount Wash.)
10 years ago
Where are you located? It will help us understand what materials might be readily available to you.

Coir is a great substitute for peat.
Sundeep Goel
10 years ago
I live in India, near Delhi.
UofT student farmer
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
If you live in Canada like me, you might struggle with finding the right type of pine bark fines for decent price. It costed me twice as much per gallon to get 5:1:1 mix compared to miracle grow potting mix, and miracle mix still outperformed.

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