On 5/4/2009 5:28 PM, brooklyn1 wrote:
Phisherman wrote:
I have been buying Miracle Grow potting mix. Anyone else notice
that potting mixes have a great deal of wood chips and no peat moss?
The wood chips decompose, draw nitrogen and encouraging small gnats to
breed in it.


I've never seen wood chips in Miracle Grow potting mix... I think it's a
bit pricy for what it is but I see nothing bad about it if all someone needs
is a relatively small quantity of quality potting mix... peat moss is not
necessarily a good thing and you wouldn't actually see it in a mix anyway.
Perhaps you got a bad batch, save your packaging and contact their customer
service and I'm positive you will be issued a refund and coupons for your
next purchase... I've found major brand gardening products (like others) are
very honest. I never hesitate to contact customer service when I'm not
satisfied with a product, I can't remember the last time I got blown off.

Using equal parts of coarse sand (washed plaster sand) and peat moss per
my recipe gives a mix with the following characteristics:

* It's easy to wet. Straight peat moss can repell water, but this mix
absorbs water.

* It has excellent drainage. If you over-water, the excess runs out.
Unless the container's drain holes become plugged, the mix never becomes
soggy.

* Moisture within the mix remains available to plant roots until the
mix becomes almost completely dry. In some mixes, surface tension of
moisture around mix particles makes the moisture unavailable when the
mix is still quite moist.

* Air easily penetrates the mix, carrying oxygen to roots.

None of these characteristics can be obtained with only coarse sand or
only peat moss.

The one major drawback is that the excellent drainage means that
nutrients can be leached away very quickly if the mix is overwatered.
Thus, although the mix will not become soggy and drown plants, you must
still be judicious when watering.

By the way, the mix is based on research by the University of California
at Davis (the UC system's primary agricultural campus) done about 40+
years ago.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean
Sunset Zone: 21 -- interior Santa Monica Mountains with some ocean
influence (USDA 10a, very close to Sunset Zone 19)
Gardening diary at http://www.rossde.com/garden/diary