What’s the difference between mine and Promix? Just the price, nothing else. I can make my crap much better than promix. I am crazy to buy a bag that I can make for a 1/3 X 40 tree’s.

It ain’t going to happen.

Tropico, I have tried Miracle Gr, citrus/ avocado mix and Kellog raised bed, I like Kellog a bit better. I stop at my local hydroponic store and check out a product called Growth Stone, as light as perlite, it might be better. Same price as perlite but smaller bag $26.00.

Looks like I would be enough for 5 or 6 good size containers. Didn’t by it But end up buying 4 squat containers, 15 gl ones Use for my next repotting. Stocking up for the next wave.

I have used gro-stones. Great product as a substitute for perlite. In fact it is lot like pumice. Does not crush easily as perlite and is very porous. So it is very re-usable stuff. They area bit on the larger side about 1/4-1/2. But not easy to get here. I would use it if I could get it here easily .

The Kellogs stuff is different depending on where you are. For example mine looked like mostly shredded hardwood mulch. Other places they add bark and perlite too. Not in the bag I got.

Tropic I know miracle grow is different too in different areas I’ve tried it before with good success as well. Bob seems like you’re always repotting something your large collection of trees must grow so fast!

Yeah, most manufacturers are pushing production based on locally available material. Still does not explain why perlite will be missing from Kellogs product depending on location. After all it is a key ingredient otherwise it is not similar product. For years I have been trying to figure out bulk source of fir bark here to no avail. West coast seems to have all the good stuff including pumice and lava rock.

Tropico, everything is available where I am to grow citrus. Fir might be better but not that much better. Can be offset with fertilizer easy. There are so many ways growing stuff with the available fertilizers make your head spin. Just have to pick what works the best for your zone.It,s still a challenge no matter what to reach your comfort level. Dedication is just one part of it.

Here on the east coast, miracle gro garden soil is just horrible. This mix refuses to dry!

Pine bark is not easy to find so I have to use repti bark (expensive) or orchid mix (also expensive).

Out west Miracle grow Garden Soil contains a lot of bark , and maintains good drainage in container culture for a year or longer. As Tropicofcancer wrote above, Miracle Grow Garden Soil is not the same formulation throughout the country.

Great thread guys! Sorry I’ve been MIA! Just today I finished repotting (potting up) some trees that had outgrown their pots. I used 4 bags of reptibark to make 511. Yes, I’ve had good success with it, and since I don’t have a greenhouse, I err on the side of a drier, more porous mix. The trees I repotted today had outgrown their pots before the mix really decomposed much, so I just mixed the “used” mix into the container with the fresh mix to freshen it up a bit. I then used it that way. I’ll post pics later, but my trees are all happy, and when I looked at their roots, they looked very healthy. Jan, I’m glad you’ve had great success with the promix. I asked about that mix here at a local farm store, but they did not have that exact one, just the basic promix. I have used it in my outdoor containers where I plant vegetables for the summer. It’s a nice mix.

I agree with the east and west coast difference I potted my cara cara tree in the miracle gro garden soil a couple years ago and upon repotting a few weeks ago the roots look fantastic! I was surprised as well. Laura there you are! Can’t wait to see pictures of your beautiful trees I know you have such success with the repTibark and that’s amazing I must be doing something wrong.

Hi Jan! I took a few earlier :). Here goes...

Alexander the Meyer lemon...he’s doing great although I sprayed him for scale yesterday :/

The small tree on the bottom right, which I potted up today is my graft of a store-bought mandarin. It keeps blooming and growing, but I’m only allowing it to grow one mandarin because it needs to grow.Bob the calamondin has exploded with growth!Kevin the key lime full of fruitlets...boy is he thorny!Hard to see all, but from left to right - blood orange, lime, miho wase (excellent fruit - potted up today), Seville orange, and sumo) - rose bushes in the ground near our brick patio. We strung up lights along the patio and it is glorious to sit out here at night😊

Laura you have an orchard out there. All looking good.

Pranab, your tree was repotted yesterday too. It has grown quite a bit!

Laura, how are you doing? Hope the family is save and sound. Your tree’s are in excellent shape coming out of captivity.

Laura good to know the tree is growing well. Yours are doing well too. The calamondin suffered a bit through since it almost dies at one point because of lack of watering but it is coming back well.

Laura wow!!!! Amazing trees!!!! I just love your Meyer lemon tree and love so much the fact that you name your trees I do the exact same thing! Lol laura which ones of all your trees are your favourite fruits? How is your Moro Fruit does it get very blood red? And have you gotten fruit from your grafted store bought satsuma yet? my favourite is my minneola and my moro blood orange and my kiyomi! I am so excited to try my xie shan this year for the first year. I thinned a lot of those trees to only a few fruits until they grow bigger! Pictures to come :)

Minneola

Moro

Cara cara

Sugarbelle

sorry they’re so dark taken during the rain last night!

Jan, excellent looking tree’s, real pro looking. You are on the right track.

Jan, just amazing!! I love how you placed that tree into a wood box. I have been thinking about doing the same thing. Does it have a lining inside or is the wood holding up without one? Just beautiful and good growing. Wow on the Sugar belle too!!!

Laura, my God, it looks like they all doubled in size through the winter! I'll bet it feels great to finally have them out and to water freely from leaves right to the soil. I would love to see that patio area at night lit up. I'll bet it must smell so good at times and you must feel like you are in a paradise. Love this time of the year. Finally my lows are reaching above the 50's consistently. Finally. Also love being able to freely spray for possible pests. Do you have any helpful tips for anyone that wants to use that mix properly? How exactly do you make it? Do you use the bigger sized perlite? Just plain peat? What kind? Your mix looks just right, evenly mixed. Great job and yes you were surly missed my friend. Something told me you would be back))

Mike

Bob thank you! Im well on my way to catching up with you pros :) thanks to everyone’s help!

mike the sugarbelles gave me so much grief this year the new growth just would not grow for about two months! They stayed the same size but finally it’s growing now I’m not sure what happened thought they would all fall off. Mike you should do it I love that thing! You know what when I added Soil to it this year and removed the root ball I was shocked that I didn’t line it or even drill any holes in it! and it’s just fine it’s not treated it’s raw wood but it’s holding up very very well the wood base has some gaps between the 2 by 4 boards so it’s not air tight and water does run through it well but for winter I’m finding it keeps the soil very warm compared to plastic or clay. I gotta ask my neighbour what wood he built it out of but I’m sad to say they moved, downsized a couple years ago into an apartment downtown. it’s so sad mike now they’re beautiful garden is filled with weeds new neighbours don’t seem to care much for gardening :(

Jan, I have still not tasted all the mandarin varieties I have, so I cannot give you a conclusive answer. From the ones I've tasted (of the mandarins), I think the miho wase was my favorite. It is wonderful with just the right amount of tart (for me), seedless, and also the pith is very thin. I realized the difference when I tasted the kimbrough satsuma this spring. The tree produced over 20 mandarins, but my kids did not eat them. The pith is tough and it had many seeds. I ended using them up by putting one each morning in our smoothie. I would just peel it, cut it in half, and remove the seeds. My vitamix took care of the tough pith. I think I'll keep it because I can use it that way and it produces well, otherwise I'd find it a home. Of the oranges, the cara cara and blood are great. Unfortunately Jan, the big blood orange tree I have is a RB farms tree that was labeled "blood orange". After calling them years ago they told me that it is either sanguinelli or moro. It is delicious, but did not color up like the Moros in the stores. I think mine tasted better though even with less color. The thing is that since my conditions are not ideal for coloring them up, it may just be a moro that did not color up as much as it would in California where it is exposed to temperature extremes. Either way, I like it quite a bit and the tree is vigorous and healthy. It also does not lose many leaves in the winter, a nice plus. Of the lemons, I have to say that as much as I love Alexander the Meyer (and intend to keep him for sure), the ST, Villafranca, and Genoa are a bit better flavored. My daughter made lemonade with ST lemons this winter because we were overflowing with them, and then again with Meyers. She did not like the Meyer lemonade nearly as much because she thought it was bland. I have made lemon bars with Meyers though and they are incredible. So I guess that covers it for the most common varieties. I still like the yuzu and love the Seville. I had a sour mandarin (sudachi), that I loved, but it was never vigorous, and went to citrus heaven this winter ;). Oh, and the Minneola is nice too...I love that one, but the tree is massive! I don't have a sugar belle.

Bob, we are well here. Everyone is healthy and happy, thank God. The musicians are working hard to write, produce, and record more songs. Swimming has still not started yet to our great frustration. Mike, hang in there and stay healthy. I know you take good care of your Mom - even without hugs!

Laura thank you so much for the insight! Out all the lemons I’m thinking of getting rid of one I just don’t know which ones the problem is I just don’t use them as much as I do the mandarins which I just eat out of hand! But the Meyer lemons are such a classic and yet the Santa Theresa gave me such dry lemons in the past but I made a beautiful limoncello cream for an after meal digestif from their peels! So I guess those two are keepers then lol god knows what will happen if all my trees double in size! oh and I loooove the New Zealand lemon so that stays lol seriously I’m terrible at getting rid of stuff! You should see our garage! I’m glad you’re staying safe Laura i remember you have a puppy large white and husky looking? He’s beautiful! Glad you guys are spending more time in with him amidst all this chaos :)

Promix
Canadian sphagnum peat moss
Peat humus (organic matter)
Perlite
Limestone
Controlled release fertilizer
Mycorrhizae - PTB297 Technology

Promix is just another Canadian potting mix based on peat. Don't get hung up on the brand. There are hundreds of similar potting mix in Canada with identical ingredients. The really important issue using peat is the maximum humidity. These products are all enriched with fertilizer which would feed your plant right through winter. If you took two hybrid tea roses and ran the same test you would have the same result.

Conventional wisdom says cactus don't need a lot of water and plant them in sandy soil and let them dry out between watering's. A year ago March I bought a paddle cactus (not sure the exact cultivar). It had a single paddle and potted in a traditional cactus soil. It was bone dry and so under-watered the roots were withered and half fell off when transplanting. Planted that one paddle in rich organic soil and that one paddle grew 3 feet tall and split from the weight. Made 3 plants from it. It was overwintered in a North facing window. Did very little indoors with low light. Here it is again this summer planted them in rich organic soil and they are exploding with growth from the organic matter. I use to grow hybrid tea roses in this bed for ten years. soil is deep and rich with coco mulch, amendments and manure which created fantastic loamy soil. I accidentally left the sprinkler on for 30 minutes a day for the past two weeks. The 3 cactus are so heavy with growth from water, sun, and organic soil I had to prop it up yesterday with bamboo. The top of the garden is dressed with sand but underneath it is loaded with rich black organic matter. That one paddle has grown into 35x its size (not including the parts I threw out last summer) In 12 months outdoors. Do you think in the desert without water or in pot with bark I would get the same results? Compost and organics make a huge difference in yield.

with in week I will be moving to Washington D.C. for a job

Pro-mix - 40% organic matter.

45 % RH, 79 F, and 2.1 EC before the bags is even opened. Perfect growing conditions. Sadly they don't post the maximum humidity.

Product has a nice loamy composition.

Product also has coco fiber.

Lemon lime your cactus is gorgeous! I’ve never seen one so large! Thank you for all the information lemon lime Im Shocked you can grow a cactus in such soil! how eye opening. I’ve never tried the potting soil it looks very fluffy and great to work with! I’ll have to pick up a bag for my indoor plants when I see it next :) thanks lemon lime!!

my homemade chicken soup tastes like chicken soup because it's pure

Just a little update on the two trees! The one on the right in promix is just about to go through a third growth flush this year! No blooms on it though!

Jan, thanks for the great tip about PRO-MIX. I had seen the packaging before but had never really paid attention. Now its on my radar I see it everywhere. I love the 40% organic matter they use. It is very similar to what I was using just higher organics which I love. Just planted a Dwarf Meyer, Dwarf Ruby Red Grapefruit and thorny Key Lime from cuttings in PRO-MIX. Just feed all my citrus tonight with a helping of cow manure and Trivium NPK.

Interesting thread. You should report back next year as to how they are both doing.

I am assuming that promix has slow-release fertilizer in it like most bagged soils. I wonder how the 5-1-1 plant would have done if you had added an equivalent amount of fert to it...

Hello Jan!!! I'm so happy to see the pro mix is working out beautifully for you . May I say your trees look terrific 5 out of 5 green thumbs for you . Jan I switched to the higher end pro mix only a couple of bucks more .

I find this one so much lighter and airier much easier to water . I must have repotted 15 trees with this mix in the spring and they are all doing much better in this mix much better .

Brian

Jan lol if repotting your trees with larger pots is getting to expensive because pots are ridiculously priced do what I've been doing garbage cans and toy bins lol

Toy bin makes a fantastic pot and it cost $10.00 .

Shasta Gold in the garbage bin . I'm going to spray paint this one . The handles on it will make it easier to move also lol. It only cost $23.00

Brian

Laura, thank you so much for your kind words and all that info. I even learned a lot from that. Between all you guys and gals I am able to narrow down what I want for the limited space I have) Stay safe.

Brian, Jan, lemon, I have more to talk about but I will be back. Had to run!! Quickly, Jan, wow, those pics!!!

Mike

I have not much to say

lemon lime I don't see organic matter in the ingredients? its mostly peat moss which promix are you thinking about lemon lime? I'm interested! let me know which kind you try and let me know :)

Lol Brian! leave it to you to get creative with large pots! I love it! lol I never thought about it but at a certain point when I was about to repot my large cara cara the large garbage bin did look good lol pots are so pricey now Brian over $100 I think since covid everything plant related has gone up in price its insane! oh Brian your Shasta is beautiful!!! I cant wait for the Shasta gold to fruit mine is still so tiny but going through its second flush now I'm so excited! is it good every single year Brian? Brian ever since I put my trees in the prolix its gone crazy with growth they're halfway to your large trees :) Lol Brian 15 trees my goodness how are you still walking right now!

James I actually fertilize every single watering with a little miracle grow I also have some jacks professional fertilizer so I do feed the one in the bark mix although who knows ill get back to you next year I suppose :)

Hi Jan, the HP is a faster draining mix. From memory the HP in the store was 22% organics. The version in my picture is 40%. They make dozens of regional products that are not available In the Greater Toronto Area.

Technically peat and bark (listed as forest products) are both organic material besides compost. All are subject to decomposition over time.

Great pots Nules

remember when they do break down nutrition for plants is released

Hello Jan,

its been very interesting reading about your experience with the 511 mix and the ProMix HP. I’m also having the same dilemma as you did. My 511 is made using the ReptiBark and I’ve never been able to find a large perlite. I would like to know how your citrus are doing since you first started this thread. I live on Vancouver Island and am keeping my citrus in the greenhouse over the summer as well. Where are you located?

HI Mona,

you know what i had a little fire in the greenhouse that burnt up both trees last year but honestly the promix after the second year and going into its third year did even better than the 511!

Hi Jan!! Hoping all is well. Miss you and many. I love your greenhouse. Did you see the eclipse yesterday?
Hugs

oh my goodness Mike!!!!!!!!! oh boy am i glad to see you here!!! I was looking at all the posts and you know what it doesn't look like anyone is still active on here. Amy, Brian, Laura I don't see them anymore. I hope they're all well! How are you my friend??? I missed the eclipse! I was so busy with work i totally forgot about it was it quite something to see? Mike my new greenhouse is here but i have nobody to build it yet. I hope this summer I will be able to post a bunch of pictures of the new greenhouse. Instead of black it's now white and 12 by 16ft! So quite a bit larger. I hope it will be quite a sight when we get it up and running I will definitely be posting here. How are your citrus??? Please post pictures!