My wife bought some cheap potting soil a few years ago, and I swear the stuff would have been used to make actual clay pots. Awful stuff.
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I buy the cheapest “topsoil” bag, add compost from my heap, wormcast, optisorb and perlite, and either soil conditioner or peat depending what I can afford.
I got a huge bag of zoo-doo from the Seattle zoo a few years ago and used it in a raised bed, which produces like crazy still. wish I could afford more bags of that.
peat is pretty expensive here.
someone gave me a bag of “salamander soil” for my starts this year and it was really good. it had sand in it I think. I might try to pick up a bigger bag of sand to add into the mix.
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You are the second one to mention peat moss being expensive where you live. I think someone above mentioned peat doubled in price where they live but it is still the same price where I live. My question is are you going to big box stores or local nursery. I know Lowes had a garden product and my local nursery down the street from Lowes was selling it for a dollar or two more. Even online it is that way. Raintree nursery is selling trees at double what others are charging unless it is a combination tree which is about even. Only difference is the rootstock often times unless it is a more rare variety of plant like a Zaiger plant or rare variety. That is why I am wondering if some are looking around for the cheapest price. I would assume Home Depot has the same price all the way across the country.
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I have a friend who runs a small commercial green house and buys peat moss by the truck load. He said that the sudden impact of Covid created huge demand for peat moss, a lot of it for potting soil. Because it takes a year to dry out the processors can’t instantly fulfill a sudden demand- so demand continues to exceed supply.
As I mentioned, Home Depot didn’t even carry it this year, for the first time I know of. No Lowes in our town but I doubt they have a different story. I do not know where Colorado peat moss comes from- it may be a different part of Canada, but they still have to pay a lot more for diesel and the driver to get the stuff there than they did a year ago. You may be benefitting from bales already stockpiled there.
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At least where I live it is a weird situation. Even with the influx of gardeners big box stores have plenty of stock but online nursery and local nursery sell out quickly. I remember in 2020 people were asking where to find seeds but the Target I walked by was fully stocked. Same with my Home Depot with peat moss. Where I have struggled is getting the trees or plants. Getting plants now online is a major competition because they sell out of the good stuff so fast.
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local nursery has some but it’s pricey, empty shelf at HD and Lowe’s show maybe a dollar less a bag, if they had any, but they don’t. I’d rather spend the extra dollar on a local business, I get my plants and all things there that I can instead of the box stores
This year I have the potted grapes on sand and composted horse manure, so far it is checking all the boxes without having to add peat, coir, vermiculite, or anything else. It soaks water extremely well, seems to retain water very well, and it is not exhibiting any tendency to shrink. I’m beginning to think that overly complex mixes are not all that crucial.
I do like to cut back on compost and use vermiculite (And what the heck, perlite) on my cuttings bed just to make pulling them out a snap.
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I buy potting soil every year. I have noticed that the last 2 years the quality has degraded a great deal. I also did not see any peat moss at the local Lowe’s. If I can find all the ingredients, I’m be mixing my own next year. We grow sweet potatoes in a couple of large muck buckets (we have extras from when we had horses). In the past, the buckets would be packed with sweet potatoes. Last year, the harvest was poor. This year, the plants look poor and not a lot of blooms. I am trying different tricks to boost them up, but they are not doing well. I blame it on the nutrient poor (MG) potting soil. it almost looks like a mixture of wood byproducts with a little composted manure mixed in.
The pots my plants struggle in in miracle grow. I looked at the stuff that is in it. Potting mixes have to state what they have inside it. The mix just contains recycled forest products as a number 1, second is peat moss. I forget most of the stuff in the bags but that was the two biggest. People have had issues with flies and maggots in it because it retains so much water. Even the moisture control mix makes it retain water. Miracle grow has always been known as the cheap mix. Like I said above peat moss retains so much water that in my mixes I do 1/2 a bag of the big 18 or 19 dollar bags of perlite to every 4 bags of peat moss to make the peat not retain water. Even with that and the plants growing in grow bags I can water it once every week without too much if any wilt.
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Lol
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i like coast of Maine and fox farms products but they aren’t cheap so i cut them with peat or coir with some of my composted manure with some perlite and coarse D.E added as well.
I discovered an Ace Hardware store that stocks the ProMix BX 3.8 bales. Their website lists price @ $55 but I was only charged $48. I also picked up some Alaska Fish Emulsion @ Lowe’s, first time using that, too early to have an opinion. A new nursery is also offering baled potting mix, I’m not sure what brand or price, but I thought I might pick up a bale for comparison.
I agree that fox farm is great but with all my trees and the size of pots I need for my trees I simply could not afford the amount. I put in either 6 1.5 ft bags of soil or 2 bags of peat moss, some fertilizer and perlite. At 23 dollars it would cost me 138 dollars per pot for fox farm opposed to 50 something dollars making my own. Costco sales miracle grow for 9 dollars so it would cost 54 dollars to fill the pot with Miracle Grow from Costco. Then you do that per pot and you start to realize why the big box store tires are so cheap.
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i do pretty much the same . i just put enough of the 2 i mentioned to inoculate the soil with the microbes in the mix. im putting in 4 4’ x 20’ raised beds where my green house was. first 5in will be large branches filled in with manure. the top 3in. will be a mix like you mentioned with about a gal. of some fox farm / coast of Maine compost. added per bed. oh and a little lime and azomite as well.
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What is a light weight mix that I can make just for small 1-3 gal potted plants for sale? Something guaranteed not to compact.
We have a company near us that uses products of the many pine lumber mills around here. They make mulch and compost and a product labeled Landscape Growers Mix. It’s a 3 cf bag that is mostly pine bark fines and peat with added sand and a small amount of perlite. I buy these bags (they went up this year to $5) and add more perlite and Osmocote +. It’s better than anything I can buy. (I stocked up on Osmocote when it was $11 for 8 lbs. I don’t want to buy it now. 
. )
My mix of perlite, peat moss and osmocote fertilizer is pretty light. In fact I need the plant roots to take over when I first fill it because it tends to runoff if too much pressure is applied or it is on a hill. I find once I put plants in and the roots actually develop I don’t have the runoff anymore. It is a pretty affordable mix because at least as of last fall peat moss bales were 15 dollars for 3 cu feet and perlite was around 17 then at least with starting seeds you can put a little in and Osmocote can be bought in a big bag. Only problem I see is Home Depot will claim they have 12 bags of Osmocote and you will get there for there to be 2 bags on the shelf. It costs a lot outright but I would say after buying everything cost comes out to around miracle grow fertilizer price. I don’t measure. I just use peat moss, mix in perlite till it turns decently white and sprinkle Osmocote fertilizer in the top like you would a sugar cookie and then mix it in.
Here is a fairly good mix for starting seed. It can be modified slightly to support trees in containers.
3.5 cubic foot bale of peat moss (this expands to 25 gallons)
2 cubic foot bag of perlite (this is about 15 gallons)
2 cubic feet of worm castings or compost (caution that either one will not be sterilized and may cause damping off) (also 15 gallons)
Add 1 pint of dolomite lime
Add 1 or 2 cups of miracle grow 15-30-15 where 1 cup is enough to start seed and 2 cups will grow plants for several weeks.
Mix the above thoroughly adding enough moisture to dampen but not saturate the peat moss.
If growing trees in containers, add about 15 gallons of pine bark fines. This gives the mix more structure for the roots to attach onto. Also add osmocote at a rate of 1 cup per 16 gallons of mix.
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what elivings1 mentioned, using osmicote plus slow release fertilizer
works well.