If I don't have finished compost

[happychick]

and I can't get really high quality compost, what should I use to make potting soil, if I want to use coconut coir instead of peat moss? The only composts available locally all have tons of sticks in them and one particular brand is full of both balls of clay and tons of sand. I haven't seen pine bark fines anywhere and I'm quite tired of looking and calling around, to be quite honest. I thought my own compost would be finished by now, but it isn't and there's still so much large stuff in it, that it seems like there'll be nothing left if I try to screen it. So without good compost or pine bark fines, is it even possible to make your own mix or will I have to use a commercial one?

[Zana]

The first couple of years that I did container gardening, I didn't have allot of compost to amend my soil mix. But I bought peat moss, some vermiculite and pearlite (sp?), some coarse sand and sheep manure compost the first year. The second year I went knocking on a few of the seafood restaurants and asked for allot of there shellfish shells and fishbones. I pulverised them in the wheel barrow, then put them in a 30 gal container (with lid), added some partially decayed leaves, peatmoss, coffee grounds, epsom salts and water...and let it steep for about 3 weeks before draining it. I took the dreggs and added to peatmoss in my wheelbarrow and a large amount of commercial soil-less mix....and let that sit for a week. That was put into a large rubbish bin with lid on wheels to use as the "base" for any further container mix I used that year. When I went to mix up more, I'd add soil-less mix, base, some slow release fertiliser and filled up my containers.

I now have 3 composters going at any time. At the moment 2 are completely empty (just used the last of their contents) and one is full, but not mature by any stretch of the imagination. At the rate that particular composter churns it out, and if the weather holds, more than half of the contents will be ready to use before the end of the season.

At the end of the season, I empty all the "soil" contents of the pots/containers into the wheelbarrow again, add more of the compost, mix it, then throw it into one of 3 rubbish bins on wheels that I have. It seems, lol, that I end up adding another each fall, since I more than I can fit into the previous years. I put one in the garage to keep "semi-warm" to use for starting seeds coming spring and the rest stay out in the backyard out of the way for the winter. Come spring, I mix those contents with more fresh compost, other amendments and plant up my pots and containers.

All 17 varieties of tomatoes, 5 beans, 5 peppers and various herbs are in pots and containers....last I counted I passed the 100 mark and decided not to keep track of how many there are...lol. So you could say I'm a bit of a dab hand at container growing. lol

hope that ramble helps some.

[feldon30]

Originally Posted by happychick

and I can't get really high quality compost, what should I use to make potting soil, if I want to use coconut coir instead of peat moss? The only composts available locally all have tons of sticks in them and one particular brand is full of both balls of clay and tons of sand. I haven't seen pine bark fines anywhere and I'm quite tired of looking and calling around, to be quite honest. I thought my own compost would be finished by now, but it isn't and there's still so much large stuff in it, that it seems like there'll be nothing left if I try to screen it. So without good compost or pine bark fines, is it even possible to make your own mix or will I have to use a commercial one?

I've been able to find decent compost at Home Depot, but it's $5 a bag. I agree with you that the $.99 and $1.99 stuff at Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. is collected trash in a bag. But the $4.99/bag Black Kow composted cow manure is fantastic, premium stuff. It's fully broken down and rich, velvety compost. I find that a little goes a long way. If you are really feeling extravagant, Ladybugs brand Compost is $11-15 a bag for 2 cu ft. But I just think that's too expensive for my needs.

I think Coconut Coir and Peat Moss are equally good. I think peat moss is cheaper though. I actually buy a block of compressed (2.2cu ft -> 4 cu ft) Pro-Mix Potting Mix and mix in a bag of 2 cu ft of shredded pine bark. It yields a grand total of 6 cu ft (3 good wheelbarrow loads or roughly 50 gallons) of very good potting mix for $14. I guess this could be used as a soil or raised bed additive as well.

Since you are growing in containers, I think you are supposed to limit the amount of compost you add to each container. Perhaps 10% or less of the total volume should be compost? I'm guessing here.

[happychick]

Wow, Zana! I hope I have such a big operation one day. I'm jealous.

Feldon, I haven't found Pro Mix at the three places I've looked so far. I did end up getting a bag of nice composted cow manure tonight. I had been afraid that manure compost would have too much nitrogen. (I'm still new at this.) I'm glad to hear it's okay. I think I'll give the pine bark a try - I had read I should only use composted pine bark, but I also read someone in another thread (maybe you ) saying they used the uncomposted bine bark, so I also grabbed that while I was out. Now I just have to find a large bag of Pro Mix. I hope they'll have that at Lowe's or Home Depot. My local nurseries don't have it for some reason - maybe the season?

[Zana]

Should have it at either Lowe's or HD. Go for the compressed 4 cu. ft., its definitely worth it.

[feldon30]

My local Lowe's never had it. My local Home Depot used to carry Pro-Mix but no more. Not sure where I will get more.