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| I have a buddy with very sandy soil. He is growing most of his vegetables in containers in a so-so compost mix. He then takes the spent soil each year and amends the garden with it. Since his sandy soil would benefit from the addition of calcined clay, I was wondering if he could make a 5-1-1 with turface instead of perlite for his containers? I know the turface holds more water, but we are in L.A. |
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| I'm thinking maybe a 2:1 of composted wood:turface. |
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| I'm thinking maybe a 2:1 of composted wood:turface. |
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| That would work fine. We used to have a contributor (Justaguy) that grew in pine fines + Turface - no peat or perlite. I think he was using about a 5:1 ratio, but the ideal ratio is going to depend almost entirely on the size of the bark you're using. Al |
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- Posted by meyermike_1micha 5 (mikerno_1@yahoo.com) on Sun, Sep 2, 12 at 13:05
| Josh too uses no peat at all in most of his 5.1.1 mixes. In fact, I think he hates peat, right Josh/ :-) Mike |
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- Posted by greentiger87 none (My Page) on Sun, Sep 2, 12 at 13:58
| Count me in as a peat hater. Btw, my hydroton + bark fines is doing really well. I'm getting worried it might be too fast for the smaller containers I chose this time :D |
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- Posted by greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a (My Page) on Sun, Sep 2, 12 at 15:53
| Hey guys! I've used straight bark and turface, and didn't care for the results so much. Peat has a place, certainly. I think it's a better choice than Coir in a mix, as well.
Josh |
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| Great thanks everyone. We are going to give it a shot. Greenman, that extra moisture retention sounds good to me. We are in SoCal. |
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- Posted by greenman28 NorCal 7b/8a (My Page) on Mon, Sep 3, 12 at 19:25
| Give it a try. At first, I found that I underwatered the bark and turface; then, I found that the mix was holding moisture for longer than I wanted. Also, I wasn't as consistent with fertilization then, and so the plants would become chlorotic, then I would have to catch up. Thus my caveat. If you are diligent with with watering and fertilization, give it a try.
Jos |
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