SOIL/POTTING MIX

[helpmegrowbro]

WHAT SOIL/POTTING MIX BEST TO PURCHASE FOR GROWING WITHIN UNDER LIGHTS?

Just starting to get into growing here, but I'm still unsure about exactly what type of potting mix/soil to look for. I live in Perth, Western Australia and i was wondering if any other growers in WA could recommend some tried and proven potting mixes. The ones i've been able to find in K-mart all seem to have timed released ferts which has been causing problems with my first set of plants that I experimented with.Also have been told that soil that is ACIDIC is no good and soil that is alkaline is no good as such am seeking advice on correct soil/potting mix to purchase that preferably have all that is needed to grow succsesfully in.Or correct soil to purchase and add own nutrients in ect,ect.

By the way am going to be growing in SOIL/POTTING MIX but under LIGHTS.

I was thinking of going down to Bunnings and checking there, but there'll be an even bigger variety there and I'm still unsure what type of potting mix/soil I should be looking for here in Australia.Would love to be able to just go into a store and get the right soil am unsure if soil that is used to grow tommatoes is ideal.

It seems that in America they have soils you can purchase and all u need do is germinate ones seeds then place purchased soil into pots and then plant germinated seed.Damn they got evrything in America!

Well if anyone knows of a fully ideal potting soil mix that is avail please let me know .Thank you would appreciate any good advice

 

PS~PEAT IS NO GOOD IS IT?

How about soil/potting mix sold in city farmers for growing tomatos in? Or are tomato soils to acidic/alkaline?

[CannabisMan]

i use Yates premium potting mix with added growth enhancer and dynamic lifter. It is the shit man try adding some course coco coir to it to about 1/4 course coco with the potting mix. You can get the yates stuff for $12 a bag from bunnings

[Rosey]

Use any premium potting mix, it should all be PH balanced. I use bailey's now but have used yates in the past. Yates make one called proffesional potting mix, it stinks because they put dynamic lifter in it. I always mix it 50/50 with perlite/vermiculite and have good results. Straight potting mix is too dense. Next i'm gonna try 1/3 potting mix, 1/3 perlite, 1/3 coco and see how i go.

 

Oh, and dont fertilise for at least 2 weeks after potting up. I always check the EC of the runoff to get an idea on whats going on and my reading are off the chart (like 5.0 - 6.0EC ) after watering fresh potting mix! So it obviously has alot of nutrient salts in it.

[playfieldmta]

Is it possible to have good results from straight premium potting mix?

[brick]

I have used Rose (the flower) potting mix with good results made by Brunnings. Try and get some perlite as well. 10 handfuls soil one handful of perlite. Mixed well. Both should be at Bunnings.

If you are not on a budget (who isn't these days) Canna Terra Professional Potting mix is the ducks guts. About $30 for 50 litres. Not easy to find but available in a few hydro shops in Melbourne.

[CannabisMan]

atm mine where in a potting mix / perlite mix but when i transplanted to larger pots i didnt worry about the perlite. Perlite has a nice water / air absorbing value that can definatly improve your potting mix, i notice straight potting mix can be very coarse maybe some decent fine coco coir (not the block shit) just to give the roots more room to populate, you get more root space in fine coco than potting mix but a 75% potting mix / 25 of either perlite or good fine grade coco coir should do the job nicely

[skinneh]

yates prof and dabbo/dabco organic and prof mixes have given me great results so far, but iv also added extras like blood n bone, dolomite lime, perlite, vermiculite and coco coir like mentioned in above posts, i went about learning these mix's the hard and long way so my advice to anyone is to follow these recommendations for ingreadiants and you will save a massive head f*ck they are all there for a reason.

[Cyclops]

When my wife worked for the CSIRO we made our own potting mixes and it's really easy.

I personally think any serious gardener should experiment with making their own mixes as commercial potting mixes are always a compromise on price vs. performance. For the uninitiated here are the basics.

 

1. Drainage - at least 50% - 70% of your potting mix should be coase sand or something which holds the soil structure open. Most commercial mixes use composted pine bark partly for this purpose, which can tend to be quite acidic and breaks down causing the mix to 'colapse'. Clean sand is the best but you can add perlite or vermiculite if you wish to make a lighter, fluffier mix.

 

2. Water holding (compost). Well rotted cow manure is excellent, so is organic compost from your own compost heap or purchased. Coconut peat is excellent too, very fiberous and long lasting as well as cheap! Sphagnam moss and peat are excellent too but expensive. Many sources of compost are quite acidic, keep this in mind.

 

3. Nutrition and pH - You will need to add some nutrition to your mix. Slow release fertilizer granules are excellent, or some dynamic lifter. If you use rotted manure you won't need to add any extra nitrogen. You should add the following. Two tablespoons of dolomite, one tablespoon of gypsum and one teaspoon of lime, per bucket of soil mix. Mix all that well, OR add 4 tablespoons of blood and bone, which contains calcium and magnesium as well as other trace elements. Moisten the mix, depending on how wet the ingedients are and mix mix mix... It's fun experimenting with different mixes, you can buy a cheap pH test kit and adjust the pH yourself to suit.

Add lime to raise the pH and Alum to lower the pH.

 

This mix works both indoors and outdoors,

 

Hope someone finds this useful ....

[BaronS]

my 1st run at soil under lights and everyone can tell you I'm not having a good time. I don't think soil is my main problem though.

 

(all IMHO)

I like the Yates Pro mix but it does seem to hold too much water. I've been mixing perlite with it at varying rates but I like the idea mentioned earlier about adding some coco (which I'm pretty sure it already contains). I'd already thought my next trip to bunnings include coco.

I think if it's fresh mix you need to be careful about how much Dynamic Lifter you add, if any. Yates Pro is already DL boosted.

The growth rate from soil will be lower and the fact it is a 'robust medium' works both for and against you. If you stuff up (something like PH or additional nutes, say), soil is a bit forgiving, but it also takes time to correct such error.

Small nudges in the direction you wish to move work better than trying to force something right NOW.

 

basically a bit of additional info/opinion. The few pots I put outside recently BOOMED. I had a reveg experiment that were sick neglected little girls but more impressive was some others I put outside 'properly', hardened them off a bit in shade before moving them to full sun, they TOOK OFF (and should today be experiencing their 1st taste of bush dirt). Point being that the same potting mix used inside vs outside can be expected to give different result.

 

Yours Sincerely

Plant Killer