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Container Gardening

Does this look like correct pine bark for 5:1:1 mix ?

forever learner

7 years ago

I read somewhere on this forum or elsewhere that 'Frey Bros. Soil Conditioner' that I can find locally works well for 5:1:1 mix and bought a bag today. The bag says 'Organic Pine Soil Conditioner' and this is how it looks. If someone can please confirm that this looks right, I plan to buy more bags.

I intend to plant hydrangeas in it. Probably hibiscus, mandevilla and gardenia too, which I need to bring inside soon.

Thanks in advance.

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Comments (3)

tropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)
7 years ago
That looks OK. You will still have to sift out the larger pieces (greater than 1/2 inch). Probably there isn't much to sift out. There are bits of sapwood (the lighter coloured wood). A small fraction is fine but if you see a lot you may want to "pick" some of those out too.

Another thing is that this is not good time to do a full repot.
forever learner thanked tropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)
forever learner
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you!

When is a good time to repot? The hydrangeas have some burnt leaves and some leaves are starting to get mildew. So not in the best health.

The hibiscus and gardenia are starting to turn yellow but that may warrant a new post.
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Nah. Looks good. The reason you want bark pieces is that they're big. "A little too big" is no issue at all. In fact, much of my mix is "too big". The long skinny pieces are wood (vs. bark) and should be picked out, but you're probably okay there too. Lime would have been nice but it's no big deal. When you get some you can mix with water and drench the pot. The fertilizer you can't really tell without looking at the mixing instructions. 5 Tbsp of 3:1:2 and 5 Tbsp of 33:11:22 are very different animals (the latter 11 times stronger than the former) so would be mixed, i.e applied, in different quantities. Personally I use a slow release fert like Osmocote in my mix and 5 Tbsp would be about right for that pot. FYI, you can get 1/2" "hardware cloth" or "wire cloth" at HD. Make a square of wood, stretch the "cloth" over it and staple. Instant screen. Very useful in the garden. You have a very healthy and soon to be very happy plant there. May the same soon be said about a certain baby! God bless, Dennis
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does this 5-1-1 mix I just made look good?
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it looks like the mix you made will enhance uneven drying out process. It seems to have too many fine particles and a few big pieces that will gravitate towards the top as the finer stuff settles towards the bottom and staying wet far longer than the top.
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I know some people do not shift there bark at all, but mine had a lot of ‘dust’ and tiny pieces. I kept everything that didn’t fall through the 1/8in mesh up to 1/2in - which is technically a little too big, but I know plenty of people who use the larger size with great success. I did break any larger than average chunks up a bit, if they stood out. I opted to try to have an even range of sizes, but eliminated the dusty bits. I would recommend you pick out the sapwood. I quite literally drove myself mad picking out sapwood and didn’t get it all still, but I can see it in the pictures. As far as mixing the bark with reptibatk, personally I thought about doing the same. Reptibark will likely take longer to break down than the regular bark because it’s not already partially composted. I don’t think there’s any harm in mixing it, but you might end up dumping the mix when your reptibark is still good, if the other bark is decomposing (in about 2-3 years). My feeling on all of this is that there’s no perfect 511 - it’s a starting point. You can mix it to your own specifications as long as you make sure you properly water for the mix you have. Bigger pieces dry out faster than the fines. Reptibark should be well soaked before mixing.
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The main issue I see with raw pine bark is that it is pretty hydrophobic because of the high lignin content. Aged pine bark has much less of this problem since some of that lignin would have decomposed. Last year I filled a 55 gallon drum with the raw bark with a handful of high nitrogen fertilizer and left it outside. I have not used it yet but looks nicely aged - that is uniformly black instead of brown. Nitrogen binding (and decomposition) is a very slow process and requires proper microbes to be present. In containers with chemical fertilizer it is less of an issue. The fertilizer is immediately available to plants and is mostly consumed in a short period. Aged bark not only holds water better but also releases the fertilizer better. Peat does the same even better than bark but is much too fine to be used as the main ingredient.
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tropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)
7 years ago
If you are just going to pot-up then you can do it now. Potting up involves minimal root disturbance - taking out the circling roots, taking out a bit of the old mix all around the root ball and potting with fresh mix in a larger pot. Repot involves removing the old mix, good amount of root pruning and starting with fresh mix. For tropicals the bes time is late June and around that time when the plant is growing vigorously. For temperates the best time is when they break dormancy in spring.

Hibiscus and gardenia will have some yellow leaves as days become shorter. So I would not be too concerned with that. Unless, of course, a lot of leaves are turning yellow and dropping.

I do not know much about hydrangeas. They will be going into dormancy in a few weeks and so I would be inclined to leave it alone. You can probably spray some fungicide.
forever learner thanked tropicofcancer (6b SW-PA)

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