By the way...whenever I post a photo, the text of my thread is cut-off (in my browser at least, IE8) with the site's ads. Any reason why the text isn't wrapping around?

This post was edited by njitgrad on Thu, Apr 25, 13 at 15:08

Anyone?

It's not advisable that you expect an ordinary potting mix to maintain its structure and porosity for more than one long growing season. Most (not all) commercial potting mixes are composed of peat moss with a few other ingredients in very small amounts. The productive life of these mixes is limited....they simply break down too fast. A very porous, coarse textured medium is what we should be aiming for.

You can improve its usefulness by adding a large percentage of bark fines for that second season. Not wood chips or pine bark nuggets but bark fines. Adding perlite can help, too.

I've never seen bark fines at my local garden centers. And how does perlite help?

Are there any other alternatives? Can't I just add something (in layers) to my containers next season when I re-fill them. As I said, my plan was to dump my geopots (so I could wash them and store them) at the end of this season in my garden on a tarp and then cover the pile with another tarp. When refilling the containers next season, couldn't I just sprinkle something in with each shovel-full transferred from the pile to the containers?

ProMix has the same re-useability as any other potting mix has and there are numerous discussions on many forums here that the search will pull up by just using "reuse potting soil" or something similar as the search term.

And as rhizo discussed the friability and/or stability of any potting mix is discussed in exceptional detail in several long discussions over on the container forum.

I've never seen bark fines at my local garden centers. And how does perlite help?

Info and sources for bark fines is on the Container gardening forum. Use the search there. So is all the info on perlite.

Are there any other alternatives? Can't I just add something (in layers) to my containers next season when I re-fill them. As I said, my plan was to dump my geopots (so I could wash them and store them) at the end of this season in my garden on a tarp and then cover the pile with another tarp. When refilling the containers next season, couldn't I just sprinkle something in with each shovel-full transferred from the pile to the containers?

Yes, there are several alternatives. No, you never add things in layers. It must always be well mixed in, No you never just sprinkle in something it needs to be added in the right proportions. Again all of this is discussed on the Container forum in detail.

You can but most do not dump out their containers and mix in new ingredients until spring. Store them indoors filled to prevent weathering and exposure to outside weathering and contaminants. Tarped in the garden just exposes all your mix to pest and bacterial contamination.

seems to be the only one that I actually get answers from relatively quickly.

Since it was a question about reuse for next year there is little need for immediate answers. You have plenty of time to do your searches and research.

Dave

PS: the bales of Promix should not be exposed to any sun. The temps inside those sealed bags easily reach 120-150 degrees and over time that can kill the beneficial bacteria that has been added. Ideally it is stored indoors out of the sun and heat.

Dave:

I have zero room in my house, garage, and shed to store containers filled with growing mix. So my only option is to dump it in a pile (which you said is bad) or give it away. I welcome any alternative suggestions.

Regarding ProMix and storage in sun....the place I purchased it from had it right in the middle of their loading yard in direct sun so at the very least I improved its lifetime, unless all the bacteria is already dead.

I am nowhere close to being a professional gardener, nor will I be able to do everything by the books. I just try to do as much as I can with the very limited time I have. My work and kids literally eat up all my time so I try to squeeze gardening tasks in whenever I can...on my lunch breaks, occasionally after work for an hour if my wife can handle the kids, and at night when the kids are asleep. Weekends are filled with kids' sports, house projects, shopping, etc. Plain and simply, I do not have time to search and filter through tons of gardening threads on the subjects I need to know about. I hope you can understand that and rather than telling me about how much time I have to research something for next season, a simple one or two line explanation or suggestion would suffice. I appreciate all your help, but wish you would be a little more understanding of my situation.

I do understand the constraints of time. But we all have all the same time constraints as you do.

Yet you want US to find and take the time to, yet again. provide detailed replies to your basic questions that have already rehashed numerous times and are readily available to read. Is your time somehow far more valuable than ours?

And a simple one or two line explanation isn't possible when it comes to the problems of container gardening so it isn't as simple as you would make it out.

Now it is questions about what to do next year. Yet you offer the need for immediate replies as justification for not posting on the proper forum.

All your posted questions are about container gardening yet despite repeated suggestions that you make use of all the great resources there you continue to post on Vegetable Gardening. Container gardening is unique. It is more complex in many ways. It's methods are totally different, its soil mixes are totally different, the varieties used for it a often very different, its feeding and watering regimen are totally different, etc. That is why it has its own forum populated by many very knowledgeable and experienced container gardeners who are happy to help.

And when we lack the time to do something right then most recognize they are trying to do too much. And when we lack the necessary storage space for our projects perhaps we need to cut back on our projects. Otherwise we do the best we can with what we have available. But we can't complain when alternative recommendations are provided.

Dave

Dave, while I appreciate all of your tremendous help in the past, please disregard my posts in the future if it pains you as much as it seems to. If you have an issue with enforcing the posting of the right questions in the right forums, I suggest you take that up with the mods. Others here are willing to help without the sarcasm and negativity so I will continue to seek answers as I please. No hard feelings, just disgard my posts and we'll both be better off.

njitgrad, I think the best answer is as noted above that yes it can be reused. However, It may need a supplement. I reuse my potting soil mixes and generally add fertilizer and a bit of peat moss. I have not used Pro Mix BX but it sounds like something you would want to re-use.

Where you keep it will depend on your available options... I keep my previously used potting mixes in 5 gallon buckets. My buckets are protected from rainfall so I do not need lids. Otherwise, I'd put a lid on them.

grandad, is it okay to keep them in buckets with air tight lids or do you need ventilation?

You repeatedly miss the point, which is to get you to the most helpful and reliable source of the info you need.

Personally i don't care where you post but forum-irrelevant posts are often treated superficially or even ignored - just as I and everyone else did yours until you booted it back up again. That doesn't happen when one posts on the correct forum which is one reason why the forum use guidelines say to be sure you are posting on the most relevant forum.

I suggest you consider this. The correlation between success of gardening and the amount of time invested in it is well documented. Yet you have opted to take on raised beds, growing your own seedlings from seed and now container gardening all at the same time and are essentially new to all three,

Given all the demands on your time and the little you apparently have to devote to learning about how to do all these things, it will be even more difficult to find the time needed to care for all these plants once planted.

Perhaps it is time to slow down, back off a bit, reconsider your priorities, and focus. Otherwise it ends up being more of your time wasted.

Dave

njitgrad, welcome to the forums from a fellow NJ gardener... :)

Dave, please stop lecturing me. It's getting old fast. My method of procuring information is not required to be in line with yours, so please just move on and learn to deal with it. I'm trying to be civil here. Other people are trying to help me and you continue to persist with your responses. Do you have nothing better to do with your time?

njitgrad, in my experience, either way has worked OK -- specifically, both with and without ventilation.... but again, I have not used the ProMix BX. So don't know if there would have been a difference.

This post was edited by grandad on Wed, May 1, 13 at 9:49

This is the exact mix I'm looking for, but none of our local stores carry it...I even asked the farm store if they could find it and order some for me...they couldn't. Where, or I should say, who, carries this? Do one of the big box stores routinely carry it, say Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes? I would make a trip to the city to buy some if I knew who carried it.

As for re-using...my motto is never, ever let any dirt go to waste. Even if you can't re-use it as the primary container mix, it can always be a compost mix, which can then be added to future container mixes. I don't know if this is the right answer, but that's what I do with used stuff.

I have reused my soil since I started gardening in 1980. Digdirt is usually not so intense. I don't know what's up with that. I would just fertilize after your pot is repotted. Promix was always the deluxe mix for me. I think I only bought a few bales of it in the beginning when I first started my wholesale nursery. My ways may not be kosher to some, but they worked fine for me, without fines!!

Most Agway stores carry it. Home Depot did too, for a while and at a reasonable price. Unfortunately they stopped carrying it last year (at least those stores in my area did).

Container gardening is not my forte, but I can tell you I reuse Promix. I just mix it with some finely screened aged compost. Seems to work fine for me. This might not be the most orthodox thing to do if you are a container gardening pro, but it has always worked fine for me. IMHO, Promix is too expensive to only use once!

-Diggity

I'm so sorry that people on here have been so negative. What's with that?? None of us are perfect by far. I reuse everything I can. I have always taken on more than I can handle and it has worked out for good most of the time. Sorry that so many people have been so negative to you! Geez! Please hang in there! This forum is usually alot more positive.

I found some promix! Ace Hardware is ordering some in for me. I'm so happy. It is pricey tho. yikes.

-edit- Deleted...I don't wanna get into it.

Long story short, I agree with the point about keeping it out of the sun and I'd add a suggestion to watch out for garden/home improvement/etc places that store it out in full sun on pallets.

This post was edited by nc-crn on Sat, May 4, 13 at 23:12