Try it. Do this exact thing for several months and then take the plant out of the pot, soak it in water, and be amazed at the huge air pockets and completely bone dry potting soil, or maybe you’re right
I watered my pots twice a day until they overflowed well from the bottom, if I adjusted the frequency enough to what you are talking about that would just be drip irrigation
i dont care how its done im just giving solutions to the problem. i dont really have a problem with fertilization, im mostly using osmocote. sometimes i manually water deep and once-a-day and sometimes its shallow and twice-a-day. sometimes its drip. just depends on the pots and locations in the yard. i dont have any issues.
The nuggets in my mix are bigger than they look. It’s the ones in the purple bag. The biggest you are showing aren’t too big. Add enough fines to fill in the voids and you’ll have my mix.
Instead of mini nuggets, I use soil conditioner. It appears to be pine bark that is much more finely shredded. It’s much better for small containers than the bigger nuggets. I mix with peat, compost and perlite in a rotating compost bin.
I have had way too many plants killed by the brand name crap at big box stores. One year it’s great, the next year it’s toxic.
btw, were you ever making your own peat-based/promix style mix before just buying the promix outright? if so id be interested in knowing what you used for that as the other 50% of your current potting mix.
I’ve used a lot of things. The Pro Mix HP is just a good representation of what I’ve found that works.
Soils containing sands are the most critical part of a healthy ecosystem.
I use a slow release like Osmacote Plus and a water soluble like Jacks. If you want to go organic, that would be much harder lol.
I like sand, too, but it just becomes very heavy. I don’t use any compost, though.
I’d agree that it can be heavy. I’ve never detected it changing mass after being placed in a pot.
In my experience, 1.5 cu.ft. of Kellogg’s Patio Plus mixed with 1/2 cu.ft. (50 lbs) of all-purpose sand yields enough soil for six Stuewe 915R tree pots. In terms of net weight, that works out to about 8 1/3 lbs of sand per pot.
For short term potting I have had great success with any bagged potting mix and pine nuggets (purple timberline bag). I do about 75% pine nuggets and 25% potting mix. It’s well draining and hold just the right amount of moisture that you don’t have to water it every day.
That’s not a lot different than what I’m suggesting. The purple bag nuggets and enough fines to fill the voids. You like it short term and I’ve found it works for more than 5 years in big fabric pots.
And by the way I’ve been a certified soil scientist since 1967
and a nursery operator for the last 10 years. Sand isn’t essential to a healthy soil mix.
That’s awesome! I’m always reading to learn new things! You always have great advice!
have you ever tried a pine bark only mix as long as theres enough fines? foregoing the peat mix part. as i noted the local pine bark mulch has fines similar to peat in size along with small chunks. only things that concerns me would be that it might breakdown faster, not hold as much water and not hold as many nutrients(cec) as peat. otherwise it would be way easier and cheaper to just use the pine bark mulch for small containers and a combo of pine bark mulch/nuggets for larger ones. seems even the porosity and permeability would be satisfied w/o needing a sand or perlite component.
I’ve tried lots of things. And one time I ran across real pine bark fines. Looked fantastic so I bought about 12 bags. But I haven’t had that much use for it. I did mix it 50:50 with peat moss for blueberries. That worked just as good as 100% peat moss but no better. Both the best I’ve ever done.
I will probably need some sand in the mix. The wind blows over potted trees here like crazy. Although the figs will be low with big pots. I will use dolly or cart to move them. I only have room for a few in the garage. I don’t like growing in pots, but in-ground figs have not worked out so far.
internet photo
Next year I will have to get some photos of the trees all blown over at the big box stores. What a mess! But I don’t know if sand would have saved them. 7-foot trees in little pots.
I’ve been told sand is good for weight and water retention. All the commercial trees I buy have no sand in them. Just bark.
Wow. I’d think that is too big for potted plants. Is that what you all use?
I thought shredded bark would be better. But just guessing.
Anyone use their garden soil in the pot mix?
Well, that’s half right. Sand is great at adding weight but retains nearly zero water. It would have to be very fine sand to retain any significant water.
seems fine.
