do you add perlite - the 2nd '1' in the 5-1-1 - so water moves through the soil? Also, petsmart sells a 'very expensive' reptibark product that some have used as a pine bark fines surrogate. I have had issues with pine bark at my area Lowes as well. I got a huge bag of large pine bark, and put the bag in another bag and put it in the driveway and drove over it a bunch to break it down.

Hi bkay, I found my bark at a bulk sand & gravel company. Sample on the right.

Rob

Thanks, Bragu. I never thought about that running over it with the car.

Yes I added the perlite. I didn't add the lime(?) as we have alkaline water. Hosta like acid conditions, so I skipped that part.

Thanks Rob. I'll call some of the sand and gravel companies. Actually, that fine bark looks about like the landscapers mix. I just don't know what kind of bark it is (if it's bark), though.

Someone suggested Tractor Supply. Theirs is shaved pine, not pine bark, so I'm not sure that would work.

bk

The small bark is from a bonsai nursery "Lawn care - soil pep". Make sure you get bark & not the inner sap wood, sometimes they are mixed

Rob

What part of the country do you live? You can also make some pretty great mixes with a lower bark content and using pumice and coco. There's lots of talk about good mixes on bonsai forums. I have about 15 trees in 5-1-1 but it doesn't hold enough water for me so I've switched to a different mix based on the same ideas of drainage and compaction.

I don't know if search tab works here, but there were posts in the past listing places to buy good bark (and other ingredients), by area (not zone). Try searching this forum and also houseplants forum. .

I'm in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.

The problem with hosta is hitting a happy medium. It's sometimes hard to keep them hydrated in the summer, but somewhat dry in the winter. If it holds too much moisture, it will rot over the winter. If it won't hold enough moisture in the summer, then you get dried edges. If they get no moisture in the winter, then they will dry up and die. It seems that I can never hit the right balance.

bk

I did the search. It seems that the Landscapers mix will work, but it has to be screened to remove the fine particles. That may be why it held too much moisture when I tried it before. There is also a post from a few years ago that says the fines was available at a local nursery chain with a different name.

Yes, you can still search the old posts.

bk

Try this... Here is a link!! Hope it works!!

To look up great threads.. Go to top right where it says latest activity, use the arrow to show " popular". And you can find most popular threads. Administration is working on some threads that have been shortened. They are still stored with the data and will be fixed soon.

Hope this helps!!

Laura

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/1390792/supplies-by-state-region-als-gritty-mix?n=150

I don't know anything about hostas, but if I had a situation like that I would focus on making a mix that had the necessary drainage and solve the water supply issue with an irrigation valve and timer.

Thanks for the link, Laura. I checked it out. There was no suggestion for Texas other than that reptile stuff from Petsmart. When you're talking 50 pots that could get pricey.

Thanks Nil, you're right. I need to set up a drip irrigation system. I've tried a couple in the past. I didn't have much luck with the ones for pots, though. I found some posts on youtube that looked do-able for drip. I have about 80 pots of hosta plus my annual pots, so hand watering gets old about August 1 every year and I get lazy.

bk

I use spot spitters. They use 1/8" poly tube that goes striaght into 1/2" poly tube with no fittings. You just use a special tool to punch the appropriately sized hole in the poly. The emitters also have a plug on one side so that you can easily remove containers from the circuit.

Spot spitters

I just took a bunch of plants out of the nursery.

Looks great, Nil...

I don't remember which rep demo'd the whole "just jam the 1/8" into the 1/2" poly," but I do remember being a little giddy about not needing a truckload of barbs.

Nil, so there's no barb in the connection between the 1/2" and the 1/8" hoses? You "just jam the 1/8" into the 1/2" poly,"?

I followed your link for the spitters. Thanks.

I just found the irrigation forum!

bk

Thereis no barb between the 1/2" and the 1/8". You use an 1/8" punch tool. The description will say that it can be used with 1/8"tube. I saw one at The Drip Store online, so it can't be too hard to find. Then you take the 1/8" and cut it at a 45deg angle. You punch the 1/2" and just push the angled piece of 1/8" into the hole. That's it.

I went out looking for pine bark fines substitute today. The orchid mix is a little pricey when you're talking about 50+ pots, as is the stuff at Petsmart. Lowe's had something called pine bark mulch 1" or less. Is that fine enough? It's finer than what I've been mixing with my MG potting soil, but coarser than the landscapers mix. I stopped at a hardware store and they didn't have anything to use to screen the Landscapers mix. I'll try another hardware store.

My hosta are starting to come up, so I have to make a decision quickly. If you can do them before they leaf out, it's a lot easier.

bk

The bark really needs to be 1/2 inch and less.

1/2 inch hardware cloth should be available at most Hardware stores.

Josh

Being brand new to container planting I am surprised that all the mixes seem to avoid native soil but stick to things like pine bark, sphagnum, perlite - and no much compost either, Is that really so?

Many of us agree that soils which support little or no perched water offer a better opportunity for plants to realize more of their genetic potential. Said another way, we agree that soils that remain saturated or partially saturated after a thorough watering are significantly more limiting than soils that remain free of that saturation after watering. In order to be as free of that saturation as possible, the soil needs to be made from materials comprised of a very large fraction of particles larger than about .100" (75-80% or more). Since compost, coir, peat, composted forest products, sand, topsoil, manure ..... are all comprised of very fine materials, limiting their use to very small fractions of the whole or not using them at all helps to eliminate the sogginess we find limiting.

Al

Actual native soil has been out of fashion so to speak for a long long time.