Cheap potting soil

19 years ago

Hope this isn't verbotten, but I thought I'd pass along the info that Oakland Plants has got their Pro-Mix potting soil on sale for $2 a bag.

Potting soil is always a struggle for me (I end up amending whatever I get and still not being satisfied), but a lot of folks on the Winter Sowing forum swear by the Pro-Mix, so I bought 6 bags I'm going to keep in the basement for winter sowing.

Along with the pop bottles, the milk jugs......

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Comments (5)

bakemom_gw
19 years ago
I used it and I liked the premier I think. It dries out faster, but that wasn't an issue really this last spring. I think it's nice stuff for the early plant outs and I would use it on poppies, bachelor buttons etc.

Things that remained longer in their containers for whatever reason, didn't do as well as the ones in Miracle Gro - not a huge difference, just not as vigorous. Promix is nice to work with and those compressed bales go a long way.

I think the people who were disappointed with it tried to use it as a longer-term potting soil rather than a seed starter.

Thanks Alison, that's a sale worth checking out!
ohio_homegrown
19 years ago
Alison, I too had a problem with potting soil and found the ProMix which i now use. Darn it i missed the sale. I'm not to happy with the bagged garden soils that i buy for putting in my flower beds and raised vegy beds. Do you know of a good source for bagged topsoil & manure. So far i think the Kmart's Hyponox Topsoil and Manure has worked the best for me. I also buy a block of spagnum peat moss to add to the mix. I really am not too impressed with Lowes, Walmart or Ohio Mulches stuff.
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Welcome to the forum GoW - It's hard to know how to interpret someones commentary, so I'll ask you not to think I'm talking down to you. I'm anxious to see that you get all you can out of your foray into container gardening and help you along the way toward success. It's helpful to understand the very significant differences between container culture and gardening in the earth. If you read the original post & the subsequent conversations if you like) at the thread I'll link you to below, I think you'll have a much greater chance for a effort:reward quotient that leaves you feeling satisfied. You'll also see a recipe for a soil (the 5:1:1 mix) toward the end of the post that, in the long run, should cost about half as much to make, as a commercially prepared potting soil based on peat would be to buy. It has the additional benefit of being much easier to grow in, AND of providing a much wider margin for grower error in the areas of watering and fertilizing. There are a lot of good people here, most of them very enthusiastic, that carry a positive message and are willing to help you. I'm sure we all hope you stick around a while. ;-) Al Here is a link that might be useful: More on soils. If you click me,I'll take you there.
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Brad, I used wal-mart potting soil last winter when I ran out of my other stuff (a blend of garden soil, vermiculite and peat). That wal-mart stuff really was awful stuff. I even added vermiculite and it didn't help much. Buy a small bag now and check it out, and watch how it hardens into a brick in the container. (Mine was soaking wet in the bag, so that didn't help) I didn't have many containers with no germination, but I think every single on of them was a "brick" container. And the plants that did sprout did not grow very quickly--I had monarda seedlings 6" tall in other containers, and those in the brick were 1" tall. There is another wintersower who says the wal-mart soil works just fine for her, but I didn't find it to be the case for me. Today I have been mixing all my random soils (including bricks of wal-mart stuff) with sand, peat, vermiculite, and horse manure. I've been mixing it in my wheelbarrow. I think I'm making a pretty good mix! Does it work out to be much cheaper than just buying miracle grow potting soil? Well, bulk peat and vermiculite is cheap, and the rest was free. As for getting your beds ready, adding compost or manure is a good way to do it, since your beds are already there, and hopefully the soil is pretty loose. Can you find a horse stable nearby? You can get free manure that way, and it doesn't need to be aged/composted, as it would if you applied it onto growing plants. Or you can buy the bags of manure at the garden center/hardware store. If you don't have a compost pile, now's the time to start! Grab those yard waste bags on the roadside and start dumping them into a pile. You can get advice on that in the soil and composting forum, or just ask here.
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A ph of 8 is higher than desirable. However, changing it takes time and it's too late for this crop. Garden sulphur is commonly used to lower ph, but it works over months, not days. Amending the garden soil with peat is also helpful as peat is acidic and acidifies the soil as it decomposes. A *trick* you can put to good effect is to use common, cheap household vinegar when you water. About a cup of vinegar to a 5 gallon bucket of water should do the trick. The idea here is that plants feed in the watery zone immediately next to their roots. This is where the soil ph is most important, right next to the roots. So, water with a small amount of vinegar in the water and it is acidic, just like the rain is. This effect will not last very long, but while it does those roots are able to get the nutrients they need. I have a friend in Texas with a soil ph of around 8-8.5 who did this last year and she reported back to me that the improvement in her plants were immediate (few days). Now, the overall yellowing of your plants may be ph influenced, but the cool, wet, sunless weather is also playing a huge role in this all over the place this year regardless of soil ph.
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alison
Original Author
19 years ago
You know, I thought it was a limited sale too, but when I stopped by to window shop yesterday, they still had it!

Picked up a few more bags. You know, just in case.....
dudleydorite
19 years ago
anybody happen to know who handles the promix in san antonio? seems the nearest place is houston and it costs too much to ship. would you be kind enough to e-mail me at dtroost@sbcglobal.com

thanks, dick
therealKYgirl
19 years ago
We don't have one of those stores around he, so I go to Wal-Mart and get the cheap stuff. (Now here's where the fun part coms in at,lol.)

You the take said soil, add about one 5 gallon bucket of fresh cow poop, and tons of nasty wet leaves, and add to one of those big plastic containers. Add water and cover for a few days, after that mix it all up really good and till into the soil.

I have used this stuff for years and now my real dirt is as rich and black as the regular potting soil. The only problem I have is that EVERYTHING wants to grow in my beds.

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Cheap potting soil

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bakemom_gw

ohio_homegrown

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Cheap potting soil

Comments (5)

bakemom_gw

ohio_homegrown

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alisonOriginal Author

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alison
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