Should I flush cheap supermarket soil?

Hubbleman · Jan 20, 2019

I got some cheap all purpose peat based compost / soil round my home improvement store. It says on the label it's got a month worth of nutes in it... now I got some proper expensive organic nutes I want to use instead, how do I go about it? Should I water the supermarket soil several times before planting? Will it get rid of synthetic nutes from it?

Paddi · Jan 20, 2019

Hi Hubbleman

This will not answer your Q, but why dont you
buy some proper good (expensive?) growmedia?
Guess I would.

That could make a perfect match for your proper expensive organic nutes.

:plant grow:

P

Hubbleman · Jan 20, 2019

The thing is, that hasn't crossed my mind :chin:

There's only one big garden improvement store in town...... I heard thro grapevine there's a small garden shop near by... I'll have to research it

TychoMonolyth · Jan 20, 2019

Sure. If you added nutes there's probably some in there. Flushing will just ensure your plant doesn't get anymore.

h.h. · Jan 20, 2019

Probably time release fertilizer. Flushing won't help.
Just deal with it or bareroot and repot.
You don't need expensive fertilizer.

Hubbleman · Jan 20, 2019

Time release fertiliser ? Flushing won't help?

Cvh · Jan 20, 2019

I tried it once.

I had this bag of super cheap supermarket soil laying around.
I flushed it and amended it with some good organic amendments.
(Atleast I thought I got the synthetics out of it...)

But no, I was wrong. I planted into it and after a short while I was running into issues. Know as Synthetic Death. It can happen when you mix synthetic and organic nutrients. My plants where clawing like crazy and were showing several other overfertilization/lockout issues.

I managed to pull the plants through. But the soil was pure crap also. After a few weeks it turned into this compact block which took forever to take water in...

I won't be doing that again.

Hubbleman · Jan 20, 2019

Whhhooooaaa

Flushing didn't work out for u too ??

h.h. · Jan 20, 2019

They use a binder that slowly desolves.

It would take a lot of flushing.

Hubbleman · Jan 20, 2019

Going round smaller family run garden shop tomorrow, wish me luck

Hubbleman · Jan 20, 2019

h.h. said:
They use a binder that slowly desolves.
It would take a lot of flushing.

How many???

If I prep a 10 litre pot, water it every day for a forthnite??? Will that help??

moses wellfleet · Jan 20, 2019

Dude you don’t want to take the advice given!

Learn the hard way. Watch your plants die. Next time you will make the effort to do things properly!!

Hubbleman · Jan 20, 2019

Dude wtf?? I said I'm going to local nursery tomorrow to look for quality compost. I'll report when I'm back. Period

h.h. · Jan 20, 2019

Hubbleman said:
How many???

If I prep a 10 litre pot, water it every day for a forthnite??? Will that help??

You could start picking it out.
I just cut my losses and moved on.
Cried a little.
Cried a lot.

Hubbleman · Jan 21, 2019

Going to garden shop tomorrow

What should I ask them ? I'm looking for plain organic potting soil??

What about coco coir? Do they add cheap nutes to coco coir bricks?

Read in the book some mix coir and perlite 50 50..... :chin:

I might do coir peat perlite 1:1: 1

redlaser · Jan 21, 2019

A lot of soil mix recipes seem be based on (by volume)
45% drainage
45% peat
6-8% castings
1-2% roughly nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and trace elements, whichever you choose.
I try to add a bit of local topsoil 5-10% too, so I put a bit less peat.

That being said, deficiencies come up unpredictably as time progresses, so it helps to top dress along the way.
Soil test is really the only way to see what’s happening, showed me high iron, phosphorus, calcium and aluminum. Low zinc and potassium.

If nothing else it tells you what you have too much of, so you can stop adding more.

Now I’ve go that phrase “supermarket soil” stuck in my head, I find myself whispering it under my breath

soil margin · Jan 21, 2019

Hubbleman said:
Going to garden shop tomorrow

What should I ask them ? I'm looking for plain organic potting soil??

What about coco coir? Do they add cheap nutes to coco coir bricks?

Read in the book some mix coir and perlite 50 50.....

I might do coir peat perlite 1:1: 1

My suggestion, if you want a high quality medium at the lowest price possible is start with organic coco coir (approx 40%). Add some perlite/lava rock/pumice/sand/etc. for drainage (approx 20%). Add some green matter like composted coffee grounds,leaves,egg shells,etc (approx 15%). Add some organic worm castings (approx 20%), and any combo of standard organic fertilizers to get your NPK levels setup (approx 5%). Some dolomite lime, azomite rock dust and you're good to go.

Throw some mycelium starters, a little biochar, humic acid, diatemaceous earth in there if you feel like splurging.

Hubbleman · Jan 21, 2019

This dude here:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=359157

Said coco coir got nutes added too :/

soil margin · Jan 21, 2019

Hubbleman said:
This dude here:

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=359157

Said coco coir got nutes added too :/

Maybe some brands. This is what I use and I guarantee there are no nutes added, it's 100% organic, OMRI-listed. You have to add your own calicum and magnesium/etc. Plenty of other similar products from other brands you can find on amazon and other online stores.

https://www.amazon.com/Coco-Bliss-P...=1548040386&sr=8-3&keywords=organic+coco+coir

Hubbleman · Jan 21, 2019

No such product on UK amazon

Got this instead:

Should I flush cheap supermarket soil?

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