I’ve been looking around for some good, affordable soil for my potted tropicals here in Boston (citrus, mangos, dragonfruit, etc). I stumbled across a wave of people (reddit, tropicalplants, and a small number on this forum) who appear obsessed with Gary’s Top Pot mix: Soil Info - Laguna Hills Nursery.
I’m curious if anyone here has experience with it, experience making it, or experience with getting a local nursery to order some from BFG supply.
lots of homemade soil recipes online. i make my own in a kiddie pool. its 1/4 the cost of buying premade soil esp. if you need a lot. i go to Lowes to get the ingredients. i make it a few months in advance to let it cook before using.
I make my own and grow everything in it. Mixing soil isn’t really anything complicated, just buy the stuff and mix it together. I use a tarp.
Gary wrote me back:
Hi,
I have not yet heard of anyone in your area ordering through our supply BFG, located in Ohio.
You might check. Someone on the east coast bought it through Amazon (I believe). So someone on the west coast is purchasing it from BFG and sending VIA Amazon to the east coast. Someone told me that their cousin bought it for $35 per bag…most of the cost being for shipping.
BFG is capable of sending to garden centers in your area but it is manufactured in Sacramento, California. So far the furthest east that BFG has shipped it (that we know of) is Idaho and/or Arizona…but it would be simple to ship it. Probably up to BFG (Burton Flower Garden Supplies) to figure out if the demand is high enough for the effort.
Our soil is not magic.
It’s a mix of
35% peat moss
30% pumice
20% perlite (similar to pumice)
10% sand (this can be increased)
5% charcoal
100% sand works well and was the original potting soil used centuries ago. It’s simply just heavy to carry. Our blend is simply a lighter version of sand and less likely to promote root rot disease than other sand substitutes.
Many materials can work…just keep materials that are freshly killed, or can otherwise spoil a bucket of water, out of the mix.
getting Gary-pilled on soil:
[see linked PDFs on mineral composition, bonsai soils used in historic japan and renaissance france, etc]
Wow, these PDFs are really interesting. He argues for removing as much organic material/compost/etc from container soils as possible, that pure sand is ideal (just too heavy for convenience), etc.
ive been using peat and whatever form of mineral is cheapest, usually pea pebble/gravel. i like to also use oil dry as well.
thing i dont like about perlite is the top inch or so separates from the mix and floats when watering. the opposite with sand as it separates and sinks.
also, not sure i buy into things like wood/pine bark/organics break down into “sludge” and harm your plants after a season or two. maybe that happens if the mix is not porous or permeable and maybe that happens if the organics break down over time 
the problem is you have people, even here, who have been growing for years in containers full of organics without issues. or nurseries with many year old trees in mixes with lots of organics.
i did my outdoor containers in 4(organic(50% peat/50% pine bark mulch):1(mineral(50% pea gravel/50% oil dri). the pine bark mulch is a cheap filler that helps permeability so you can increase the ratio from an ideal 1:1 organic:mineral to 4:1 or higher. i havent made the switch on my indoor or indoor/outdoor plants yet and keep them at 1:1. maybe i dont need to.
back to cost. id love to use pumice or lava rock as my mineral component but pumice isnt cheap and the lava rock you can get at a good price here is too large. maybe i should reconsider thinking that perlite is too expensive as well because if can get 4cuf of coarse/super coarse for $28/$33 shipped from amleo when those deals come around, it might be worth it. id still be unhappy with its separation.
then theres weight. obviously the mineral component will always be the heaviest. sand being right up there. if youre not going to be moving the containers around that much it might not be an issue. until it comes to uppotting. what if you plan on shipping? might as well stick to peat:perlite 1:1.
would love to hear others input. sorry for the brain dump.
in my mix i use peat, perlite, worm castings. kelp meal, blood meal, fish bone meal and some azomite with a shovelful of compost to add microbial life to it… if i have good, finished compost i mix it with the peat , perlite and azomite. mix it all in a kiddie pool or tarp and wet well. i loosely cover it and at a minimum let it cook in full sun for at least 2 weeks. a month is better. once it doesn’t smell of rot anymore its usually done composting.
Main thing is that pumice is much harder to get per pound on east coast.(if you can source it, great - but it’s uncommon)
I use it and love it! It is actually more draining than what works for me here, I’m in a dry, drought area. So I make it more water retentive for my needs. I also add coco coir to prevent the peat water phobia issue that always seems to happen with it alone. I eliminate adding any extra perlite (I use Sunshine Mix #4 as my base which already has 30% perlite) and use pumice for aeration. I can’t stand perlite other than its lightness.
You can really work off the ratios by adding things that appeal to you. Right now, I’m eliminating the sand and using decomposed granite or basalt instead out of curiosity for their paramagnetism qualities.
I’ve used a portion of coarse vermiculite in it before as well and it has worked well. I’m not a huge fan of it because it breaks so easily, but it is light!
Zeolite pellets or clay pellets are also interesting additions. Zeolite can swap out or be used along with biochar.
The web is loaded with stories about Al’s famous 5-1-1 mix. (Pine bark fines-peat-perlite) with some dolomite lime. I can vouch that it’s great for containers, and much less expensive than big box stuff. I’m a commercial grower so I use a lot of it. I sub gypsum for the lime–pH stays low. Lately I’ve modified it to 4-1-1. Good drainage and good air. Compare that to some commercial mixes with an abundance of fine moisture holding particles that soon turn into pudding and suffocate the plant.
For small amounts it’s easy to mix on you pavement with a scoop shovel. Add some CRF while you’re at it.