Best mixes for hot and dry conditions?

[michael68]

Besides water crystals and mulching, what's a good container or fairly universal in ground soil mix you can put together?

Would a compost, peat, perlite mix make sense? (plus dolomite and maybe a little fertilizer) How about a wetting agent? Just brew some yucca foilage and pour it around the plants?



Also where can you generally buy perlite and how much is it? I've never seen it at a Lowe's or anything besides the miracle gro stuff.

Thanks for any help.

 

[jaykush]

go to the Organic Soil Stickie Library up in the stikies. and then go to the terra preta thread.

 

[michael68]

go to the Organic Soil Stickie Library up in the stikies. and then go to the terra preta thread.

Thank you, seems like a very rich and nice soil but some of that stuff i don't have available to me.

 

[mad librettist]

Replacing perlite with turface or calcined DE screened to size will allow you to hold more water.

 

[heady blunts]

second on the DE suggestion. it's working great for me.

 

[michael68]

Where can you buy it and what brand/type is best?

Btw what percentage of perlite/calcined DE is best or I'm guessing it depends on the majority of the soil mix? I've read anywhere from 5% or 25%.

Is 15% doable with a peat/compost mix?

 

[jaykush]

Thank you, seems like a very rich and nice soil but some of that stuff i don't have available to me.

what stuff cant you get?

 

[h.h.]

Having recently burned some plants by leaving the pots in the sun, the couple pots that had the DE mixed in suffered the less damage. Only coincidence perhaps or maybe some insulating factor.
Don't build too hot a soil in hot weather. Keep the nitrogen low. Be extra vigilant about drainage. Damp airy soil stays cooler while wet soggy soil can hold heat. Plants become extra susceptible to low oxygen. Wicks and reservoirs are cool.
Try and shade the soil somehow. Water the whole area, not just the plant. An afternoon spray with filtered water if possible. Too much alkalinity in the spray is not good. A window screen over the plant for midday shade will cut heat without blocking too much light and also will break up your spray into a mist. Try to work with the breezes for a swamp cooler effect.
Mulch everywhere. Not just around the plant. Bare ground heats up the entire area. A loose airy mulch will cool it down.

 

[zymos]

I dunno...
I'm growing (in containers ranging from 3 to 37 gallons) in the high desert, where temps are in the mid to upper 90's every day, and unless I keep the soil pretty wet, they are going to be wilting by late afternoon.
Believe me- you want a soil that holds water- drainage is not the main issue in this environment.

 

[h.h.]

I dunno...
I'm growing (in containers ranging from 3 to 37 gallons) in the high desert, where temps are in the mid to upper 90's every day, and unless I keep the soil pretty wet, they are going to be wilting by late afternoon.
Believe me- you want a soil that holds water- drainage is not the main issue in this environment.

Not to over do it of course I don't use raised beds for that reason. 37 gallons and wilting? They must be some monsters or your pots must be getting too hot. With that size, the extra soil is the wick, moving the pwt away from the roots. With the 3 gallon, in hotter 100+ weather, the water gets hot. In the 90's, there is little heat stress to worry about. A little yucca and a little silica if they seem to need it. Shade your pots. Watch for magnesium deficiency, curl top. Watch your N.