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Container Gardening

Used planting mix, not potting mix

taylorjonl Taylor

7 years ago

I didn't notice this when I bought it but I bought planting mix marked as garden soil instead of potting mix. I have 15 seedling oak trees in 1 gallon pots using this mix. There are 5x of Shumard Oak, Chinkapin Oak and ShuWillow Oak. Most of the trees seem to be doing well but a couple of the Chinkapin Oak trees are looking really bad.

I am not sure if I am under/over watering or if it is the potting mix. This is a link to the potting mix I bought:

http://kellogggarden.com/products/gborganics/soils/?s=planting-mix

I water them every day to every other day in the morning. Before watering I stick my finger 1" to 2" into the soil to see if it is really wet. I won't water if it is really moist but in general it is pretty cool and there is still some moisture below 1", above 1" it is generally pretty dry.

These trees are getting full sun.

Here are a couple more pics of the others that are doing ok.

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Comments (4)

elevensixty
7 years ago
"Potting mix" is supposed to be for containers (supposed to), while "garden soil" is intended for the ground, it may have clay and pack down, while the potting mix should stay loose.

Most commercial soils aren't good for containers, as they hold too much water and not enough air. (I've had pretty good short term success with some store bought soils, but it breaks down too fast)

Spend a few minutes reading this post and saveyourself a lot of time and money: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/2842847/container-soils-water-movement-and-retention-xxii?n=589

You'll soon have your plants in happy soil and can use the stuff you have now to start a compost bin or somewhere nice on the ground
taylorjonl Taylor
Original Author
7 years ago
That thread is a lot of information to go over. I have no idea where I would find pine bark fines. The mix I have has "recycled forest products", it appears close to as course as the mix in the images in that thread, slightly finer.

Would the soil act so fast? I have had these in pots for less than a couple weeks.
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taylorjonl Taylor
Original Author
7 years ago
Would this be considered appropriate for "pine bark fines"?

http://jlgardencenter.com/products-soil-mulches-types-of-mulches-soil-pep/

I can get this stuff easily. Before I do this though, I am still concerned that the soil isn't for sure the issue, my current mix is fairly coarse.
elevensixty
7 years ago
2 weeks is fast, maybe shock from potting up, or was it a repot -did you wash the old soil off, or prune roots much.. if so they normally need shade for a period, plus this is a hard time of year for it

Hoping a tree pro sees this quick- there could be something more complicated, but in the meantime every day may be too much water- stick a chopstick or something down in the soil and see how much moisture is in there, and check out the moisture at the drain hole- try putting a wick in there which touches the ground and it'll let the excess moisture wick out(!)

The composted bark may be broken down more than you want (I have a hard time getting bark fines too! If you don't mind the crazy price, "repti-bark" sold in pet shops is great.)

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