Soil to use when potting up?

[Aphid]

I make my own compost and also have a worm bin that produces lots of castings , so thats what I add to my pots as I pot up the plants. I start the seeds in jiffy mix. I also give them an occasional spray of sea magic.

[mysterymeat]

i used 2 different kinds of starter with fertilizer for 6 months(or some such) from HomeDepot/Lowes this year. after 2 months, the seedlings are a full 2" tall.

in the past, i have used ProMix, but did not this year as promix is $40 a bail(i understand wholesale is $32 a bail).

[the999bbq]

I usually take geranium-typed potting mix for tomatoes and peppers since it is not too high in nitrogen and has some extra P and K too help form roots, overall strength and flowering. That said maybe the period they are in the potting mix is too short to benefit from the plant feed added, usually slow release 'good for 6 months' they should be in the soil by than ;-)

[amideutch]

This year I used a geranium mix over here that consisted of 85% white peat and 15% coir plus Pine bark fines and perlite for my container mix. So far so good. Ami

[Medbury Gardens]

I'm like Aphid where i make my own compost which is added to a 30/70 soil mix,compost being the 70.
Fertilizer is dissolved seaweed from the beach and fresh cow poo with solids removed mixed together.

[kevinrs]

I'm using burpee seed starting kits that were on clearance at target last year when they were closing the garden section. Not sure what the pellet formula is they use, but it seems to hold moisture a little too well. The stuff looks grainy, with light colored stiff fibers(coir?). My next flat I've put the pellets in a bag, wet them, broken them up, and letting them dry 2 days before putting it in the cells.

I've been trying to look into what to use for transplants, I find where someone's tested multiple different soils, and come up with what looks like a strong recommendation or 2, but then I find something else where the formula has apparently changed, and so what I read about was probably outdated. I have locally, lowes, home depot, walmart. I checked the nearest "nursery" that I thought might have some supplies, looks like they've gone to almost nothing but landscaping. There is one other nursery 30 miles away that I haven't got to yet to see what they have, and I'm sure there are good ones 60 miles away in the Los Angeles area.

Are any of the Miracle grow/Sta-Green/Kellogg/Gardners products I'm seeing locally worth bothering with? They do seem to have peat moss in large or small bags, and small bags of vermiculite and pearlite.

I'm also going to have to figure out what to add to the bare dirt that the plants will eventually go into, anyone have any specific recommendations or warnings on those bagged composts etc?

[erlyberd]

I plan ahead each season. I use 100% compost for all my seedlings. I filled two 40lb recycled bird seed bags before freeze up and put them in the basement for the winter.

Priceless!

[dice]

[Preparing a garden bed in SoCal]

The Earl Raised Bed Method:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=4709

A faster way to do this is to build the sides
for the finished beds like in his photo, maybe
a foot taller, and just have compost, manure,
topsoil, etc hauled in. With manure, one should
test it for aminopyralid contamination first.
If you use the search button at the top of each
page here to search for "aminopyralid", you
will find some explanations and horror stories.
(Aminopyralid is the active ingredient in some
broadleaf herbicides marketed by Dow Agro to
hay farmers. Horses and other livestock fail to
digest it, and it takes years to break down in the soil.)

A thread on raised beds and soil amendments
for a Southern California grower:
http://www.tomatoville.com/showthread.php?t=4648

[potting up]

Some people use compost, some use soilless container
mix, some people use "the cheapest thing at the
store", some use well-tested professional nursery
mixes, etc. If there are any indoor growing and
hydroponic stores in easy driving range, they often
have "the good stuff" (for somewhat higher prices
than big box hardware stores, of course).

This page lists some respected brands of container
mix for starting seedlings and potting up before
transplanting (not that you will want to pay
shipping, of course, just what to look for):
http://homeharvest.com/pottingmixes.htm

[kevinrs]

Originally Posted by dice

[potting up]

Some people use compost, some use soilless container
mix, some people use "the cheapest thing at the
store", some use well-tested professional nursery
mixes, etc. If there are any indoor growing and
hydroponic stores in easy driving range, they often
have "the good stuff" (for somewhat higher prices
than big box hardware stores, of course).

This page lists some respected brands of container
mix for starting seedlings and potting up before
transplanting (not that you will want to pay
shipping, of course, just what to look for):
http://homeharvest.com/pottingmixes.htm

Problem I'm seeing here, is I've not found those brands locally. Actually I did see 1 product from Premier at Lowes, sphagnum peat moss 2.2 cf $12.56.
Everything else even in potting mix was lots and lots of miracle grow, some Sta-green, some gardners(being the cheapest per unit, guessing it's junk) and 1 type and size of supersoil. Not seeing anything listed for seed starting but the small bags of jiffy starting mix, and miracle grow starting mix. Then there's potting soils, made for long term potting, like houseplants or patio plants. Problem I think is the nurseries downsized or closed, because everyone buys stuff cheaper at lowes/homedepot/walmart, and now all that's left is nurseries that basically have landscape plants, and the 3 big name stores. I'm not that far out, I'm considering local an area with 4 walmarts, 3 lowes and 3 home depots.

[dice]

We see that, too, at those types of stores. Some people
use Miracle-Gro potting mix for potting up seedlings to
4" pots or similar. YMMV.

I used some Supersoil one time. It collapsed as soon as it
got wet. I would pot up a seedling, set it in a little tub of water
to soak up water from the bottom, and the next time I looked
at it, the little pot appeared to be only half full of potting mix
and the top of the seedling was no longer above the top edge
of the pot.

Relatively close to you (IIRC), this place lists high-quality
FoxFarms products:
http://roomtogrowav.com/

(Typical online prices for 1 cubic foot of FoxFarms Light Warrior:
http://www.google.com/products/catal...d=0CDgQ8wIwAg#
)

[newatthiskat]

I use plain ole Miracle-Gro potting mix to pot up with. Don't get the soil kind. I might halfway through add a very weak solution of seaweed and fish emultion mixed with molassas. Not saying this is the best way, but it works very well for me. I then put the plants into styrofoam cups that have holes punched in the bottom or lower sides.
Kat

[dice]

On a whim, I searched Google Images for "potting up" and
"potting mix":

This blog page has a good description of someone mixing up
their own potting mix out of compost, peat, and perlite:
http://tinyfarmblog.com/tag/potting-up/

An in-depth description of soilless potting mix components:
http://www.progressivegardening.com/...ernatives.html

[sprtsguy76]

Nothing wrong with using MG or StaGreen or generic potting mix for potting up. You could add a little more perlite if your concerned about peat heavy stuff which all of the above metioned products are. If you want something more premium I would suggest Light Warrior or Ocean Forest by Fox Farms, its the only stuff I use for potting up. Any hydro shop should have that stuff. Its worth the drive in my opinion.

Damon

[kevinrs]

If I was to add perlite to lighten it up, what proportions would I use?

[dice]

If I was to add perlite to lighten it up, what proportions would I use?

I would guess that about 1/7-1/8 perlite would be plenty.

I mixed some up over the winter out of coir, earthworm
castings, and perlite, at 5 parts coir, 1 part earthworm
castings, 1 part perlite. Using it in newspaper pots, that
was easily enough perlite for good drainage, aeration,
etc. (The coir drains pretty well on its own, anyway.)

It could actually use another part earthworm castings
in there, 5-2-1 instead of 5-1-1. In newspaper pots,
equivalent to a 3 inch square pot that is 3.5 inches tall
and wicks water away from the potting mix, they dry out
fast at indoor temperatures under lights. I have been
needing to water every 3 days or so. This could be a hassle
if one were bottom watering a lot of seedlings in individual
pots. (Damping off is not going to be much of a problem,
though, with pots that dry out in 3 days.)

They also have looked like they could use a little more nutrition
than what is in 1/7th earthworm castings. Making it 1/4
earthworm castings would hold water a bit longer, too.
Potting up into plastic pots instead of newspaper pots changes
how fast they dry out quite a bit, remembering last year where
I had around 90% of the seedlings in newspaper pots and just
a few in 4 inch plastic pots.