Low Cost Potting Mix - How To Start A Nursery PT 4
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- Опубликовано: 6 июл 2024
- A big part of running a small or large plant nursery is all about Potting Mix or Potting Soil. We go through many possible ingredients you might use to make your own potting mix. Pre-made mix, Spagnum Peat Moss, Humus, Coco Coir, Pine Bark, Hardwood Bark, Course Sand, Perlite and more. We give examples of 3 mixes we recommend but there are many other options. See our page on this topic at: growingourretirement.com/make...
We would love to hear your comments!
Great run-down of the ingredients and what they bring to the mix!
Thanks Jason! There really are so many options. Much is about where you are and what you can access in bulk. We have tried so many mixes!!!
Thanks for the great video. Greetigs from El Paso Tx.
Thanks for watching 🌲🌲🌲
Other sources of potting mix ingredients are triple ground hardwood bark triple ground pine bark and for those close rice hulls are great. If your big enough the can be delivered in huge quantities reasonable. Pea gravel is nice with bigger pots/plants as it helps keep them from tipping over
Hi Thanks, The one we didn’t mention is rice hulls. Looks like a great soil amendment. It’s heavy so it would probably be better to find a source to pick up from. 🌲🌲🌲
Do you guys ever do an ph testing on your media? Just wondering if you’ve ever had an issue with that especially with growing ericaceous plants. I’m assuming with wood and peat your mix runs slightly acidic. I know a lot of big brand companies add lime to their peat based medias to balance it so I’ve often worried about the ph if I was making it myself. I’m probably just overthinking it. Any thoughts?
Also, leaf compost aka leaf mould makes an excellent potting soil. It’s really widely used in the UK. It’s pretty dang heavy though so it would probably be best to cut it with some pine bark and/or perlite. Pretty similar properties to peat moss, but much higher nutrient content.
Hi good questions. We didn’t get into ph testing but it’s a good idea. We also don’t use peat the way we used to. We use it with perlite in rooting mix but not so much with woody plants and trees. I don’t know if UK peat moss is the same as the Canadien Spagnum Peat we have?
The humus we use is essentially leaf mold. We mention that on our website but should have in the video. The humus we get is about 70% leaves and 30% grass clippings. It is aged, turned and screened. Nice stuff and only $20.00 per yard delivered if you can take 10 yards at a time. Mixed with hardwood bark and perlite it’s probably fairly ph neutral.
The bark we use has very little wood in it. Probably less than 5%. As we mentioned wood or wood chips isn’t good in a potting mix. The decomposition of the wood will rob phosphorus from your mix and probably mess up your ph.
Easy enough to get a ph testing kit and if needed like is very inexpensive here. Thanks, hope that helps 🌲🌲🌲
Hello. Thanks for all the info y’all share. We really enjoy your videos, very helpful. I’ve been hearing that we should stop using peat moss and I’m a little confused on the topic, not so sure if I agree. Anyone have any insights on the subject? Thanks
Hi thanks for watching and asking a great question. Peat moss is excellent at holding moisture but alone it won’t drain well enough. The store bought mixes have a lot of peat moss in them but also bark or perlite to give that needed drainage component.
There has also been some negative mentions about peat moss and its sustainability. While it may be an issue in certain places like the UK, peat moss appears to be very sustainably harvested in Canada. I think competing products have done a bit of an attack on peat moss. Since a naturally occurring plant, it just grows back. It’s something to watch and read about. You have to decide for yourself.
We really prefer using locally sourced components of our mix and buying in bulk. Peat moss gets expensive. We primarily use compost, hard wood bark and about 5-10 perlite. Other than the perlite this all comes in bulk, supports a small business and there is no packaging. It’s a great mix if you can buy the components in bulk form. Thank you 🌲🌲🌲
Love all the info. Would you share the link for peralite that you use from Amazon?
Thanks for asking, here is a link to just about everything we use. Pots, tools, fertilizer, perlite, etc. growingourretirement.com/backyard-nursery-resources-guide/
hi, i have watched all your series. i have watched many youtube videos, but nobody shows or even mentions how to store thousands of plants over winter. in my area its gets below -20c, i have tried couple of conifers which were hardy to zone 3(my area is zone 5) i kept them in a green house to protect from winds but they just died. i was watering them quite well. but thousands of plants you would need really large greenhouse. so how do you keep them alive overwinter?
Hi thanks for watching. We don’t cover our plants in pots over the winter. We are in zone 6a/6b. The plants we are propagating over winter stay in their plastic totes.
The big threat in winter is the winds. If you are having trouble a low tunnel cover would probably help a lot. Even some burlap attached to stakes to make a wind stop fence would help against the wind.
You might also want to keep your planting to just spring. This would allow your plants to become more established before winter.
We don’t do any additional watering over the winter, just what occurs naturally. Plants should be dormant in the winter and don’t require a lot of water.
Don’t quit! We have had winters where we lost some plants. We reuse the pots and soil mix. Keep at it!
@@Growing-Our-Retirement thank you that helps a lot. i am not quitting, was thinking about sheltered location, now you clarified it :)
Glad you won’t give up! Let us know how you do.
Thank you! Where do you store your truckloads of additives delivered?
Good question. Getting larger deliveries can be an issue but it saves a lot of money. If you have a driveway that a truck can back into they can back in and dump. If you got for example a load of bark and a load of humus, they could be dumped side by side. Then you can do some mixing in the middle of the piles.
We have a good size space to receive materials in but the truck needs to come down, do a bit of a K turn, dump and pull out. They dump on a space about 50’ x 20’ and we take it from there.
We do have the 4 cu feet bags of perlite delivered. Sometimes 10 bags at a time, two bags per box. They come in big boxes right from Amazon. The driver drops them and we open them, pretty heavy. Once opened, each bag is not to heavy.
Hope that helps. You can do this without a whole lot of space. Just the end of your driveway. Thanks 🌲🌲🌲
@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thank you! I'll talk with my husband about the best places.
Interesting content, but please improve your volume level. It is hard to hear.
Thanks again! Really do appreciate the comments. Helps us improve 🌲🌲🌲
@@Growing-Our-Retirement Thank you for your kind reply.
We do truly appreciate the comments. Thank you 🌲🌲🌲
Have you considered adding charcoal?
We haven’t but it would be great for drainage. We have a fair amount of wood ash from burning wood. Could probably add that with good results.
Where are you all at in the north east?
Hi, We are in Northwest New Jersey. Much more rural than what people think of when thinking of New Jersey.
All I find is non hardwood mulch. Is softwood no good. Hemlock? And it’s twice what you pay here in Massachusetts.
Softwood bark is perfect. Fir or pine is good. It’s widely used in the South and Pacific Northwest. It just needs to be finely ground so you don’t end up with air pockets around your plant roots. If it’s too chunky, you could add some humus.
Hemlock is great too, but not at $30-40 per yard.
We have an easier time finding hardwood bark. It doesn’t come finely ground so we buy it at least 6 months in advance and let it decompose a little. We even scrape it out of plant beds and then use it in our potting mix. Then we put new hardwood bark in the beds.