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Outdoor soil mix

Treevly

Treevly

Active member
I am reappraising my soil mix for nexr year because I wish to make it lighter in weight to carry. This probably means using less black earth and more composted sheep manure and more light media, i.e. moss, vermiculite & perlite, etc..

Questions: (1) What is the maximum non-feeding media you use, that is, peat etc..? (2) What is the maximum organic feeding stuff, i.e. compost of various types, humus, etc.? Would 20% sheep manure compost be too high?

I'm trying to aim in the direction of light media + compost, or as close as I can get.

Thanks
 
C

CrushnYuba

Well-known member
I like 1/3 fluff (peat), 1/3 compost or manures, 1/3 drainage material like perlite or pumace.

I don't think vermiculite has any place in a soil mix.
 
S

smokinfat024

Member
I need to add fluff next year this is my 4th year running the same soil without adding to it. I had some issues last year with the way the plants looked so I watered the hell out of my pots before planting this year. Everything looks fine now but I’m def gonna lighten the mix next year. The soil is very heavy almost like clay right now.
 
Treevly

Treevly

Active member
CrushnYuba said:
I don't think vermiculite has any place in a soil mix.
Click to expand...

I think that whether or not vermiculite is appropriate depends on the climate, therefore the weather, the drainage of the soil in which one is planting, and how often you can get to water it.
 
Switcher56

Switcher56

Comfortably numb!
Treevly said:
I think that whether or not vermiculite is appropriate depends on the climate, therefore the weather, the drainage of the soil in which one is planting, and how often you can get to water it.
Click to expand...
Vermiculite turns to mush after a spell = less available oxygen to your roots. But, please feel free to use it if you want.. Your winging everything else!
 
Treevly

Treevly

Active member
Switcher56 said:
Vermiculite turns to mush after a spell = less available oxygen to your roots. But, please feel free to use it if you want.. Your winging everything else!
Click to expand...

I don't need your permission. At long distance, you have quite the volume.

I must remember not to view this forum with javascript disabled as the 'ignore' function no longer works. Antisocials reappear.
 
troutman

troutman

Seed Whore
I like using Pro-Mix as my base and add manure, bone meal, fish emulsion, bat guano, greensand, etc. when growing outdoors. :tiphat:
 
Treevly

Treevly

Active member
troutman said:
I like using Pro-Mix as my base and add manure, bone meal, fish emulsion, bat guano, greensand, etc. when growing outdoors. :tiphat:
Click to expand...

Thanks for that - and for introducing me to greensand! I'd never heard of it. Your mixture sounds very good, but I can't use bone meal or fish or blood meal because my gig features about 3 coyotes per square yard and they dig that stuff up pronto, probably before I get home, so I have to work around those ingredients. In spring I hope to use ProMix and composted sheep manure and not much else, but I'm leaving the last 10% open for consideration. Question: how much (%) of your base ProMix do you use, and which version of ProMix?
 
troutman

troutman

Seed Whore
There's many versions of Pro-Mix. Indoors, I prefer using the PRO-MIX Organic Vegetable & Herb Mix.
Outdoors, I'll use the above along with PRO-MIX Garden Mix type. I get them either at Canadian Tires
or Lowes. I may try other Pro-Mix type someday though. It helps to use maybe up to 1/3 native soil
mixed in when you grow outdoors to cut down on costs and make it more natural.
 
Treevly

Treevly

Active member
troutman said:
There's many versions of Pro-Mix. Indoors, I prefer using the PRO-MIX Organic Vegetable & Herb Mix.
Outdoors, I'll use the above along with PRO-MIX Garden Mix type. I get them either at Canadian Tires
or Lowes. I may try other Pro-Mix type someday though. It helps to use maybe up to 1/3 native soil
mixed in when you grow outdoors to cut down on costs and make it more natural.
Click to expand...

Comparing the All Purpose Mix to the Organic Vegetable & Herb Mix, I see that they both have limestone to adjust pH, but the latter mix also has gypsum. That is not the commonest additive.
 
Treevly

Treevly

Active member
troutman said:
mixed in when you grow outdoors to cut down on costs and make it more natural.
Click to expand...

Come to think of it, there may be 2 advantages to using a certain amount of native soil. First, it means not carrying that much other soil/media out to the spot. Second, the soil here is clay, fairly stiff stuff. Chopped up and mixed in at about 1/4 or so, it would very likely retain water a bit, a handy thing when one has to drag water to the gig. Vermiculite might be unnecessary.

I think the ProMix Organic Vegetable & Herb Mix is the one.
 
Last edited:
troutman

troutman

Seed Whore
Covering your holes with maybe 1 inch or 2 inches of natural soil after you plant will help retain water longer than pure Pro-Mix as well. :)

Pro-Mix exposed to sun and win dries a little too fast I think.
 
Treevly

Treevly

Active member
Yes, I do that. I'm smarter than I look. The last thing I do after planting is put a certain amount of the native soil, including grass clumps, around the base of the plant.

I started another thread on here about hole sizes.
 
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