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Best potting mix for potted hot peppers

pkapeckopickldpepprz

17 years ago

I've been doing it for a few years using different brands and blends. I seem to have the best success with a blend I make myself. Seems to work even better than the Pro Mix or Fafard by itself.

Basically it is 1/3 potting mix, 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 (sand/perlite blend (50/50)) builders sand or builders base / leveling sand. Then I generally amend that with that Jersey green sand and a scoop of homemade fertilizer (alfalfa meal/bonemeal/blood meal/cotton meal/epsom salt mix)

Works great and the drainage is just as good as the Pro Mix with the wetting agents. I use this mix for seedlings (for this I skip the fertilizer step) as well as plants at all stages. I actually use this on my potted roses as well and they are all doing exceptionally well.

Anyone want to post what works for them will be greatly appreciated!

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Comments (7)

pkapeckopickldpepprz
Original Author
17 years ago
I re-read and the sand/perlite blend while not an exact measurement (out of laziness) I generally use by volume 65% perlite/35% sand, I don't know why my mind spit out 50/50. Hope that helps.
fiedlermeister
17 years ago
I used to mix my own from bagged top soil, peat,and perlite with some organic fertilizer from Agway. Worked fine but was a lot of work and Pro Mix and Fafard seem to work as well without the work.

john
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pkapeckopickldpepprz
Original Author
17 years ago
BTW what's the best price you can find the Fafard and Pro Mix for? I had to search high and low to find a good price on the Pro Mix with fungacide or that other ammendment they add for $27.99 compressed 3.8 cu ft. bale. The Fafard I can't get the compressed bale for some reason and I paid around $20 for a 2.8 bag.
fiedlermeister
17 years ago
The Blue Seal here sells them both for around $20 for the 3.8 cf compressed bale. I think the Micorise ( it's not a fungicide but benificial organisms) added $2 per bale.
pkapeckopickldpepprz
Original Author
17 years ago
That's it microrise. When I called the 800# for the US Distributor they told me there wasn't the black compressed bale available anymore (which is what I was familiar with) and the only ones were the white/silver bags with the added fungicide or microrise.
John__ShowMe__USA
17 years ago
The new ProMix is like $24 a bale here now. I was used to paying $10 extra for their micorise inoculate and think the new mixture is really a bargain.
jdwhitaker
17 years ago
Check the attached link for all you ever wanted to know about container soil...and then some.

Al (tapla)'s post basically encourages the use of a pine bark (rather than peat) based mix. The pine bark is coarse and holds its structure very well--leading to excellent drainage and aeration. I've found this formula to work quite well for vegetables, annuals and perrenials.

Pro-Mix is great stuff too. I still use it for seed starting, but have found the pine bark mix to be more economical for large containers as well as longer lasting.

Jason

Here is a link that might be useful: Container soils and water in containers

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