I have had a rough year with my pepper plants in the 5-1-1 mix. With help from esox07, we have pretty much narrowed it down to bad/slow draining of the mix. A couple of things I did not do this past spring was....screen the mix, add lime, and/or reduce the peat due to a high ratio of fines in the pine bark. This is what my mix looked like this year (this was at the bottom of a 3 gallon container after at least 5 days of no added moisture)

So, I just went out to the garage and screened some pine bark. This was the same brand of pine bark that I used earlier this year, but remember I did not screen the mix this spring. Below is the mix screened thru a 1/2" screen, and the stuff that did not go through.

Couple of questions. I have heard of others not adding peat to their mix due to there being enough fines in the pine bark. Do you think there is enough fines in my screened mix to NOT add peat? How does this pine bark look overall?

Would those big pieces of bark in the above photo create havoc in the mix if I did not screen them out of the mix (kind of what I did in the spring)?

Finally, how detrimental was it to not have added the lime?

Overall, I think I know what some of my issues were, but I am looking for help in getting the mix right the next time. I sure don't want to lose a whole growing season with more bad choices:( Any help would be greatly appreciated!

You mentioned my bark looking uncomposted, exactly what does this mean for my mix? Higher foliage pro dosing? Lime playing a bigger part then in composted bark?

Thanks for your help!

Actually, if you'd known what was going on with the excess water retention, you might have been able to do a few simple things that would have eliminated or reduced considerably the impact of the extra water. See the link below and pay particular attention to wicks, partially burying the pot, and tipping pots after irrigating or during prolonged rain

Al

Is there a picture of the proper 5-1-1? I've seen tons of pictures of the gritty mix but have done some searching for the 5-1-1 and haven't been able to find a good picture.

Greenman (Josh) has the video, right? It was great but no clear closeups of the mix (because it's a video, of course).

These three pictures have un-composted bark mixed in and I like it. I make sure to fertilize on a regular basis. The first two pictures is what the mix looks like wet.

This is a view before it's even used, before it is watered. The very light coating of white you see is the lime.

This last one is the unaltered version with just composted bark.

Mike

What happens is that the fines gravitate towards the bottom leaving you with just the large pieces towards the surface giving you an enhanced perched water table. The tricks Al showed you can do wonders if you find a re-pot is a pain.

If you compare the bark pieces you used along with your penny and the bark pieces I used and my penny, there is a huge difference. I did not have to sift my bag of bark at all. Maybe you could find a supplier that supplies smaller pine bark pieces or a way to crush them smaller, like using a lawn mower? I never tried that but have heard many do.

Mike

If you look at my 2nd pic, I have screened out all pieces of bark that were larger than 1/2". Is this the picture that you think looks radically different from your mix? What are your opinions on using the pine bark in the 2nd pic?

We are very rural and in searching high and low in the sprigtime, only came upon one source of pine bark. I have about 7 bags of this stuff, so would like to be able to make it work. I still need to add perlite to it, but am really thinking about lowering or totally leaving out the peat.

It looks doable! If you find that using that mix with perlite still holds too much moisture, you could use an insect screen and get rid of the very fine particles.
It looks like with perlite you might be very happy.

Don't forget to use lime and moisten the mix before filling up your pots with it so that the peat sticks evenly to the bark throughout the whole pot.

Live and learn, right? I think you are on your way to a very productive mix for you and your plants. :-)

Mike

I really appreciate your help! And I did add the lime:)

I'm very lucky in that I have a large overhang on the east-facing garage in front of which I do most of my container growing outdoors. When weather promises to be very inclement, I pull the pots further into the garage until the weather gets better.

Other variables I had to deal with this season, that are unusual, were intense heat and sun. Even though many of my garden planted plants were moist enough and fed, the leaves still showed burn and/or wilt due to this unusual heat and hot sun. If Mother Nature was having a tough time of it, even with my help, I know my potted plants were having a more difficult time.

So, knowing and understanding the concepts of the mixes I use, and knowing that I had other different environmental variables to deal with, I did ok with the extra shade from the garage overhang. Anything in pots out in the hot sun all day, without anything to shade it, burned and wilted horribly.

Here in the Midwest, we didn't have to deal with excess moisture from rain... we barely got any! I watered all containers by hand, and was forced to use soaker hoses in the gardens a lot earlier than normal.

I'm very glad I learned how and why the 511 and the Gritty Mix work... and can adjust them to suit a number of variables that might only apply to me and my unique micro-environments.