The thread is over 2 years old but the subject is still fresh and interesting. With respect to pros and cons of 5-1-1 , there are several issues: 1) Its effectiveness, as far as plants are concerned. An I am considering annual plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants. NOT house plants. 2) Cost Effectiveness: 3) Growers' convenience. I am a pro on (1) and (2) but con on (3). Since 5--1-1 does not come in ready to use form, it requires some efforts to procure the ingredients, quality check, mix, add calcium/magnesium (Lime), store your mix ... In this respect, it is not for everyone. On number (2) , cost effectiveness, It all depends where you are, what your sources are. Currently I make my own mix for under $3.00 per cf. Even if ready mixed potting soils like MG or Pro Mix cost about the same (which is unlikely) , I still prefer my own 5-1-1 mix for its EFFECTIVENESS in drainage and correct moisture retention. I have to mentioned that, I have been studying container media for the last 4 months of my gardening winter break. And with my past experience with media like MG, I have come to the belief that the bark based 5-1-1 is a better option. I might even try to modify it to some extent to better suit my application and climate. But it will remain basically BARK-BASED.

Let me start out by saying I'm no expert, but have been gardening, lets say 60+ years. I love peat pots because of easy plant watering and easy planting. Yes, I use all kinds of little and big solid containers but peat pots let me keep using two words, easy & reliable. This is my approach. Never buy a jiffy peat pot because they are too thick, too short and have no holes for water absorption. There are peat pots out there ½ the thickness of jiffies, aprox an inch deeper and most important they have at least 4 slits around the bottom that go up about ¾ inch. This all leads to easy watering by putting 18 pots in those black plant trays you see everywhere. Put the tray where you want it, put an inch or plus of water in the tray, come back next day to see if top is damp, if not, put more water in tray. Just keep top damp about 50% of the time. One more little item-----is the tray & water level? If not get that level out and make it so. This is nearly always necessary in my state of TN. When planting take your finger and with a little thump the wet bottom will fall off without disturbing the root system..That's it, nothing fancy.

>So, I guess my question is what habitat is being destroyed? "To harvest a bog for peat moss, it must first be drained, dried and then cut. The resulting fields can be too dry for Sphagnum to regenerate and even if the water level returns to normal, it can take years for bogs to return to their former state. " to me that is habitat destruction and everything within that area including plants, birds, insects, and other life is going to be seriously affected. some things will probably perish while others will be displaced to other areas to compete in unfamiliar territory for their survival. Imagine for a minute that everything you rely on for survival like shelter, food etc is on your property. Then one day someone comes along with a bulldozer and knocks down your house, digs up your food crops, runs over your chickens and tells you to get out and go somewhere else, and you can come back in 20 years and start again. Then they said "whats the problem? yours is the only house in the suburb we're doing this to (for now) so it's not like it's a big deal" it wouldnt be much consolation to you :) "Development or alteration of peatlands can have a significant impact on their carbon storage capacity, and can change them from sinks to sources of carbon. For example, drainage leads to the oxidation of the peat layer and the accelerated release of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere" Is this something we really should be encouraging? It doesnt matter what we do, it always has an affect but the human race is very good at convincing ourselves (or being convinced by invested parties) that we're not really doing any damage. But all that aside there is so much organic waste being thrown away that it seems so wasteful to spend resources on mining and transporting peat around, draining and disrupting peat bogs when we could just as easily use compost in most cases and utilise a lot more of this waste that we all generate. Here is a link that might be useful: The Importance of Being a bog

I am at at Tim Horton's parking lot (free WiFi) so that I can get on my macbook to find a thread in the Hosta forum somewhere that could help me remember exactly what size pine to use in my media for my pots. Well, lo and behold I found this perfect thread and I thought it could use a 'bump' for this season considering there have been media questions. Anyway, now I can go back into Canadian Tire feeling confident that I will buy the right stuff. You should have seen the young lads face when I couldn't decide what to buy and I told him that I would be back after I visited my forum and asked my hosta friends :) Again...thanks so much to all of you really experienced folks who share your knowledge with the rest of us!