I thought I posted this on the gardenweb forum. Now it's houzz? Had to sign up for a new user name. Anyway soo - you can get the Naked Gardener Compost or Debco Premium Potting Mix from Masters (closing soon). Course Perlite is from The Perlite & Vermiculite Factory Myaree (much cheaper than anywhere else). Sand I got from a bulk landscape place (lawn mix) but you can get 10 or 20kg bags of builders sand at Bunnings. Zeochlor is in the pool section at Bunnings. Rock Dust I got from the manufacturer direct somewhere in Bibralake (called Natural PK) but I think but you can now get a similar product from Waldecks (in Myaree at least). Waldecks also sell bentonite clay. I still want to try the gritty mix but getting my hands on all the materials has proved very difficult when I tried last year. I found a Queensland company that makes course DE (for mopping up oil/chemicals) but they didn't have a distributor in Perth. Nobody I could find has pine bark in the right size - and even if they did I'd have to by a cement mixer and modify it with a fine wire to screen it. Honestly, if an agricultural company were to produce the gritty mix and sell it in bags I think they'd make bank - even considering how long it lasts.

Hi Rhizome, here's my advice: GET THEE TO A TRADE SHOW, as soon as possible. Perhaps you were able to attend the PANTs show last week in Phily. At these shows you will meet suppliers and compare prices and get the best deal. Also become active in your state's Nursery Association, meet other container growers, make alot of visits and ask alot of questions. In my area we use pine bark amended with slow release to include trace elements. Ground limestone also depending on what species. In Spring we also include top dressing of slow release plus fertigation. I do not regard the link for container soils as appropriate for you, that looks more like a gardening mix. In my area no commercial grower has used perlite for his tree soil mix in 30 years. Our local supplier sells 4CuFt perlite/$11.34 maybe thats why. Its gonna be amazing how quickly those 15 gal cans swallow up the soil. I highly recommend that you set the plants down so they don't have to be moved again until shipment. I'm curious, sounds like you won the bid for a large contract right? Do you have the manpower and equipment to mix this volume of soil? Are you going to use trickle? How are you going to overwinter?

I got this one years ago off the side of a Betty Crocker Supreme Brownie mix. It's really good and I make it regularly. OATMEAL BROWNIES 2-1/2 cups oatmeal, uncooked 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1/2 tsp. baking soda 3/4 cup butter, melted 1 pkg. brownie mix + ingredients needed on box 1/2 cup chopped nuts Heat oven to 350° F. Grease bottom only of 13- x 9- x 2-inch baking pan. Mix oats, flour, brown sugar, and baking soda; stir in margarine. Reserve 1 cup of the oat mixture. Press remaining oat mixture in prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes; cool 5 minutes. Prepare brownies as directed on package; stir in nuts. Spread over baked oat layer; sprinkle with reserved oat mixture. Bake 35-40 minutes; cool. Cut into bars. Yield: 48 brownies.

When making pancakes, I often wing it!.....Remember that for every 2 cups of flour, you will need 1 tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp salt.....sweetening, fat of some sort.....and milk. So I make up a 2 cup measure of mixed flours...amybe 1 cup unbleached all purpose, 1/8th cup buckwheat ( a little goes a long way!) 1/8th cup of wheat germ, 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/4 cup rye flour. Then mix up 2/3 cup milk, one egg, 1/4 cup honey....or brown sugar....or some honey and some molasses, 1/4 cup vegetable oil or soft butter....and mix intio the flour.....add more milk as needed to make cakes as thin as you like. And sometimes I just use white flour and whole wheat....1/2 and 1/2 of each. And....I always add 1/2 tsp vanilla extract. Linda C