Blond Peat
Shrimp compost
Sand
Some of his garden soil
I’ve never heard or seen blond peat. And I’m short of my own garden soil; unless I want to dig holes. I used to buy bagged garden soil from a nursery back in the 90’s and it was from Amish country. Excellent stuff. But it went way downhill after a few years. Recently looked around and all the box store garden soil is garbage.
Half sta-green potting soil, half miracle gro because I’m at over 200 potted plants and don’t have time for mixing much these days.
When they go in ground, i give them a bag of garden soil and compost as mulch on top. I don’t ever just give them straight native soil. I feel that they seem happiest this way.
Seeing your enthusiasm for all purpose sand on various threads, I got bag from HD and tried it recently potting. The one HD sells here is clearly manufactured from rocks and man was it rocky and heavy. It was certainly a cheap was to go, and I envy anyone with a property conducive to wheeling containers that can use this. Here, I have to be able to carry the containers, so pine nugget and perlite help immensely. I did use play sand earlier this year for my melon grow bags and small 1g elderberry cuttings that don’t need to be moved/can easily be moved because of size. (Play sand because that’s what I had leftover from a project.) This is just my first year mixing soil: aside from the sand endeavors, I mixed pine nugget, coir, compost, perlite and Dr earth seed starter. I used vermiculite in containers going on my hot deck to add more moisture retention.
I should add- I couldn’t get any mini pine nugget that was legitimately mini like all the threads here discuss. My “‘mini” still had 0.5-3” pieces. So, I didn’t do a 5:1:1 as is often recommended. I broke it up by hand as best as I could (time consuming, but I don’t have access or funds to rent machinery) and then did more 2-3:1:1 (nugget, coir, compost) and then maybe .5 perlite and or vermiculite. Still chunky and very porous. I planted some trees just 1 month after potting in the spring and I was astounded by how the 15g bags were filled with new roots.
For the pine fines, I search for the finest pine bark I can find and then screen it. The fine stuff goes into my potting mix, the rest I use for mulch or whatever.
I’ve had great results using about 50 percent coarse pine bark nuggets and 50 percent Promix HP or similar fines. The coarse nuggets give the mix some structure that holds up well for years. The mix doesn’t settle much. The fines fill in the spaces between nuggets. This has held up at least 5 years and probably 7-8 years in 25 gal fabric bags. The figs still grow like they always have without repotting. And it’s not too heavy.
I’ll post a picture as soon as it gets light outside of mix taken out of the bag after many years. Even the bottom hasn’t broken down like finer mixes can.
@Eme
You appear to have only considered drainage. While the sand is good for texture, it is also necessary for complete biology in the pot. If the weight is inconvenient, then consider a dolly or motorized wheelbarrow.
Not sure why you made this assumption. The mixes I have been using are a pretty close take on what many people here post about using. I considered drainage, texture, ease of mixes and movement, microbes, and nutrients. I didn’t list added nutrients. I’m certainly new to all this, but I don’t think sand is vital to a container mix. What biology do you see sand as adding that sand-free mixes are lacking?
As I said in my post, I have to be able to carry my pots. Not everyone has a layout that makes wheels feasible.
I’m only 2 years into potted fruit trees, and I use same approach as @fruitnut and it has worked well so far. I am still trying to figure out fertilizing- what and when. Have been using fish emulsion 1x month April- Early August. As well as occasional handful of compost top dressing. But it seems that with watering the nutrients are likely to leach out. Any recommendations?
Igneous and metamorphic sands are a critical host and catalyst in soils. The most cost-effective retail-size is 1/2 cu.ft. (50 lb) “all purpose” sand from home depot.
For those who buy in larger quantities, a soil supplier will bring pre-mixed 3 parts cured compost + 1 part horticultural sand to your driveway in 15 cu.yd. loads.
Richard I don’t think many soil scientists are going to agree with that statement. Sands are by and large inert rocks. The only plus I can see for sand in a mix is the pot is less likely to blow over.
you can water an amount that produces no runoff. you can use a slow release fertilizer like osmocote. you can add high cec material to your mix like clay(oildri/safe-t-sorb/basic cat litter/turface).
for sand i would use it because its heavy as well. and readily available in large quantities. its not really cheaper than perlite if a 50lb bag of all purpose sand is 0.5cu and $5 its par with a 4cu bag of perlite at $40 shipped to your door. if youre planning on shipping plants you wouldnt want to use sand. if youre not fertilizing with organics then you dont need to worry about the biology of the mix in that regard.
im glad you posted about your pine bark mix. my local menards has pine bark nuggets and pine bark mulch. the nuggets look much larger than whats in your mix and ive been using as mulch to top off my pots. the mulch is like half fines which remind me of peat and chunks up to like a quarter or slightly larger. that looks more like what you have going off of your foot. i was adding lava rock to my bigger pots like bananas but might just switch over to my nugget size. as for the promix side, i just get bails of peat and mix in sand or perlite to make my own.
