View Single Post
Old 12-27-2007, 08:33 PM   #30 (permalink)
jason
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 124
BananaBucks : 24,362
Feedback: -1 / 0%
Said "Thanks" 15 Times
Was Thanked 26 Times in 18 Posts
Said "Welcome to Bananas" 3 Times
Cold Re: what are you using for potting soil?

Quote:
Originally Posted by sandy0225 View Post
ProMix HP is the best one I've found so far. It already has the increased perlite levels in it, so it drains well and doesn't hold too much moisture. It's balanced, doesn't compact easily over time, and it has a small starter charge of fertilizer, and ph balanced. The only complaint I have with it is that it's lightweight, so plants tend to get top heavy and tip easily.

Even with it, be careful how much you water a potted banana in the winter! and don't overpot, keep the roots crowded for winter so they dry out faster.

I agree that Miracle gro soil is worthless for aeration of roots. Once you wet it out, if you live in a humid climate, or have it in a humid greenhouse, it takes FOREVER to dry out. It's fine here for mid-summer potting of containers that are in full sun, but don't even think about using it in the fall or winter in Indiana unless you cut it 50/50 with perlite. Don't cut it with bark and then pot it up for a long term plant, because that changes the ph of your mix over time as the bark decomposes, it ties up the nitrogen and you'll end up with very light green, spindly thin weak growth, unless you change the ph of your watering/fertilizing water. If you have a lot of plants, unless you mixed all the soil at the same ratio with bark, then you have a lot of different ph levels to adjust. Too much work!

And I would love to go organic in my greenhouse. Just give me the name of a fertilizer that won't run off the customers with the smell, that I can apply in a convenient way (and that I can actually afford-that would be a nice bonus!), a soil that drains properly for long term production, and some pesticides that actually kill more bugs than leaves.

My 2 cents worth!
Sandy @ Northern Tropics
yes I would have to agree with the people that did not like miracle gro ,in my opion its crap soil if you even want to call it that ,I call it fake soil. If you have to buy a soil that is avalible almost anywhere i would buy fertilome it has no built in fertilizers so you can add what you need ,not all plants like the same N P K so why give them all the same by buying miracle gro ,I only use fertilome and sometimes mix my own soil mixture ,but my base that i use for my soil mixture always starts out with a bag of fertilome in the equation. Jason .Grower of many different tropicals!!!!
jason is offline   Reply With Quote Send A Private Message To jason