potting mix frustration
 

hello,
my first gripe - modern potting mix just seems to be useless!! stuff does
not grow in it properly!! (i fully expect my one potted tomato to drop dead
shortly. it's perfectly healthy for now, but with my new set against Modern
Potting Mix, it surely cannot last!!)

my second gripe is that my last batch had mites in it(!!) i was having a bit
of a bad day so i used it anyway, but the cuttings died & when i pulled them
out there were maggoty things in there. (baby mites, i'm assuming.) now i
don't know what to do about the rest of it. i don't want to spread mites. if
i cook it in the oven, will the mix still be any use afterwards? should i
cook it in the oven (or pour boiling water on it) & just dump it & try the
other bag instead? (which, being Modern Potting Mix, won't be any use either
whether it has mites or not g. ) or are mites quite all right in small
quantities in a garden?

on the bright side (i've finished griping now ;-) we have two loquat (i
believe) trees, which we've essentially ignored. today i realised one has
some ripe fruit! we ate one - it was fabulous!! so now i feel rather silly
that i never even watered the poor things - not even once - we might have
had more fruit (it only had 5 - ahem). the only, i might add, fruit we'll
probably get from any of our trees this season, as the frost killed off all
the peaches, apples, etc. next year i am going to do my best to ensure
loquats a go go, they're fantastic (and apparently frost proof). and
furthermore, our second crop of willy wagtail babies has just been born (in
the aforementioned loquat tree - it might not have many fruits, but is
producing baby willy wagtails quite well g. you'd think with all my willy
wagtail watching, i'd have noticed a few fruits before now, wouldn't you?)
kylie

potting mix frustration
 

Hi Kylie, congrats on the willy wagtail babies!! A huge butcher bird keeps
eating mine...very sad. As for potting mix, the only stuff I've had any luck
with (I even use it for Bonsai plus other stuff of course) is spent mushroom
compost; a bag from Big W is about $8 I think? My modern potting mix is
horrible and won't grow a thing either. Give the mushroom stuff a go. Did
you manage to get hold of my dad?


"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
hello,
my first gripe - modern potting mix just seems to be useless!! stuff does
not grow in it properly!! (i fully expect my one potted tomato to drop
dead shortly. it's perfectly healthy for now, but with my new set against
Modern Potting Mix, it surely cannot last!!)

my second gripe is that my last batch had mites in it(!!) i was having a
bit of a bad day so i used it anyway, but the cuttings died & when i
pulled them out there were maggoty things in there. (baby mites, i'm
assuming.) now i don't know what to do about the rest of it. i don't want
to spread mites. if i cook it in the oven, will the mix still be any use
afterwards? should i cook it in the oven (or pour boiling water on it) &
just dump it & try the other bag instead? (which, being Modern Potting
Mix, won't be any use either whether it has mites or not g. ) or are
mites quite all right in small quantities in a garden?

on the bright side (i've finished griping now ;-) we have two loquat (i
believe) trees, which we've essentially ignored. today i realised one has
some ripe fruit! we ate one - it was fabulous!! so now i feel rather silly
that i never even watered the poor things - not even once - we might have
had more fruit (it only had 5 - ahem). the only, i might add, fruit we'll
probably get from any of our trees this season, as the frost killed off
all the peaches, apples, etc. next year i am going to do my best to ensure
loquats a go go, they're fantastic (and apparently frost proof). and
furthermore, our second crop of willy wagtail babies has just been born
(in the aforementioned loquat tree - it might not have many fruits, but is
producing baby willy wagtails quite well g. you'd think with all my
willy wagtail watching, i'd have noticed a few fruits before now, wouldn't
you?)
kylie

potting mix frustration
 

On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 12:18:30 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

hello,
my first gripe - modern potting mix just seems to be useless!! stuff does
not grow in it properly!! (i fully expect my one potted tomato to drop dead
shortly. it's perfectly healthy for now, but with my new set against Modern
Potting Mix, it surely cannot last!!)

my second gripe is that my last batch had mites in it(!!) i was having a bit
of a bad day so i used it anyway, but the cuttings died & when i pulled them
out there were maggoty things in there. (baby mites, i'm assuming.) now i
don't know what to do about the rest of it. i don't want to spread mites. if
i cook it in the oven, will the mix still be any use afterwards? should i
cook it in the oven (or pour boiling water on it) & just dump it & try the
other bag instead? (which, being Modern Potting Mix, won't be any use either
whether it has mites or not g. ) or are mites quite all right in small
quantities in a garden?

on the bright side (i've finished griping now ;-) we have two loquat (i
believe) trees, which we've essentially ignored. today i realised one has
some ripe fruit! we ate one - it was fabulous!! so now i feel rather silly
that i never even watered the poor things - not even once - we might have
had more fruit (it only had 5 - ahem). the only, i might add, fruit we'll
probably get from any of our trees this season, as the frost killed off all
the peaches, apples, etc. next year i am going to do my best to ensure
loquats a go go, they're fantastic (and apparently frost proof). and
furthermore, our second crop of willy wagtail babies has just been born (in
the aforementioned loquat tree - it might not have many fruits, but is
producing baby willy wagtails quite well g. you'd think with all my willy
wagtail watching, i'd have noticed a few fruits before now, wouldn't you?)
kylie


What brand are you buying? If you get the cheap brands as sold by supermarkets, then expect
problems.

I've found Debco and Amgrow brands to be very good.

potting mix frustration
 

potting mix frustration
 

"meeee" wrote in message
...
Hi Kylie, congrats on the willy wagtail babies!! A huge butcher bird keeps
eating mine...very sad. As for potting mix, the only stuff I've had any
luck with (I even use it for Bonsai plus other stuff of course) is spent
mushroom compost; a bag from Big W is about $8 I think? My modern potting
mix is horrible and won't grow a thing either. Give the mushroom stuff a
go. Did you manage to get hold of my dad?

i haven't tried yet! i had this idea of contacting him for some tips after
hippie solar dude visits us - well, mainly i'm just very disorganised, i
think! do be sure to tell him not to _wait_ for me g. sorry about that.

thanks for the mushroom tip! i've been thinking about getting some after
reading through (parts of) garden len's site, & other sites where people
sing its praises, (& also it is cheap!) i feel a bit more inclined to track
some down now & see what it's like. there's no way it could be worse than
some of the crap i've had recently.
thanks!!
kylie

potting mix frustration
 

wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 12:18:30 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

hello,
my first gripe - modern potting mix just seems to be useless!! stuff does
not grow in it properly!! (i fully expect my one potted tomato to drop
dead
shortly. it's perfectly healthy for now, but with my new set against
Modern
Potting Mix, it surely cannot last!!)

my second gripe is that my last batch had mites in it(!!) i was having a
bit
of a bad day so i used it anyway, but the cuttings died & when i pulled
them
out there were maggoty things in there. (baby mites, i'm assuming.) now i
don't know what to do about the rest of it. i don't want to spread mites.
if
i cook it in the oven, will the mix still be any use afterwards? should i
cook it in the oven (or pour boiling water on it) & just dump it & try
the
other bag instead? (which, being Modern Potting Mix, won't be any use
either
whether it has mites or not g. ) or are mites quite all right in small
quantities in a garden?

on the bright side (i've finished griping now ;-) we have two loquat (i
believe) trees, which we've essentially ignored. today i realised one has
some ripe fruit! we ate one - it was fabulous!! so now i feel rather
silly
that i never even watered the poor things - not even once - we might have
had more fruit (it only had 5 - ahem). the only, i might add, fruit we'll
probably get from any of our trees this season, as the frost killed off
all
the peaches, apples, etc. next year i am going to do my best to ensure
loquats a go go, they're fantastic (and apparently frost proof). and
furthermore, our second crop of willy wagtail babies has just been born
(in
the aforementioned loquat tree - it might not have many fruits, but is
producing baby willy wagtails quite well g. you'd think with all my
willy
wagtail watching, i'd have noticed a few fruits before now, wouldn't
you?)
kylie


What brand are you buying? If you get the cheap brands as sold by
supermarkets, then expect
problems.

I've found Debco and Amgrow brands to be very good.

the batch with mites (any ideas about that, btw?) is amgrow, funnily enough
:-) not sure if i've ever had debco or not, but it's just that for the last
10 years or so, i haven't been able to get _any_ that's nice, squishy &
loamy like one used to get. i've got it from various sources, including that
made at one of the "resource centres" (or whatever it is they call the tip
these days) in canberra, & it's all the same - full of woodchips with barely
any dirt-type stuff, dry & nasty. the "good" stuff seems no better than
cheapie supermarket stuff i (must have) bought at times. some i used while
at a propogation course at the c.i.t. (like tafe) in canberra, they made
themselves & it was much nicer, i must say. i asked our teacher who
confirmed that the recipe for potting mix has, in her experience, totally
changed in recent times - it's "meant" now to be more of a holding medium
than a soil.

the big problem i have with it atm, as i don't have any potted plants at all
atm (except one tomato) is that i grow seeds in it, & they come up & it's
all good for a while, but then the seedlings just stop growing, but they're
often not big enough to plant out yet. some i have repotted afresh & they
have another go, others i just put out into the garden & hope for the best
despite their tininess. those that live, once in the garden recover
completely & start going gangbusters.

am i doing something wrong?
kylie

potting mix frustration
 

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...
"meeee" wrote in message
...
Hi Kylie, congrats on the willy wagtail babies!! A huge butcher bird
keeps eating mine...very sad. As for potting mix, the only stuff I've had
any luck with (I even use it for Bonsai plus other stuff of course) is
spent mushroom compost; a bag from Big W is about $8 I think? My modern
potting mix is horrible and won't grow a thing either. Give the mushroom
stuff a go. Did you manage to get hold of my dad?

i haven't tried yet! i had this idea of contacting him for some tips after
hippie solar dude visits us - well, mainly i'm just very disorganised, i
think! do be sure to tell him not to _wait_ for me g. sorry about that.

thanks for the mushroom tip! i've been thinking about getting some after
reading through (parts of) garden len's site, & other sites where people
sing its praises, (& also it is cheap!) i feel a bit more inclined to
track some down now & see what it's like. there's no way it could be worse
than some of the crap i've had recently.
thanks!!
kylie


Absolutely! I used some once to mix some bonsai potting mix, and noticed the
change in the trees, so now I use it for everything. See if you can track
down a local mushroom farm as they sell it cheapetr than Big W.

Dad won't mind when you contact him, he's not exactly the most time
conscious person either....probably a better idea to chat to hippie solar
dude about what you want to do first anyway.

potting mix frustration
 

Yeah, you cannot be sure youve got the whole pot watered properly
The only way to make ssure is to dunk the pot into a larger container
full of water. A lot of these potting mixes are water resistant, they
reject water untill its forced into the porers of the "pine bark" or
whatever they use, therefor hard to make water stay.Debco use those
water crystals, making it better but still more expensive.
BTW most potting mixes still need to have trace elemnets added to them
so the things can start building cells. Thats another story...

0tterbot wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 12:18:30 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

hello,
my first gripe - modern potting mix just seems to be useless!! stuff does
not grow in it properly!! (i fully expect my one potted tomato to drop
dead
shortly. it's perfectly healthy for now, but with my new set against
Modern
Potting Mix, it surely cannot last!!)

my second gripe is that my last batch had mites in it(!!) i was having a
bit
of a bad day so i used it anyway, but the cuttings died & when i pulled
them
out there were maggoty things in there. (baby mites, i'm assuming.) now i
don't know what to do about the rest of it. i don't want to spread mites.
if
i cook it in the oven, will the mix still be any use afterwards? should i
cook it in the oven (or pour boiling water on it) & just dump it & try
the
other bag instead? (which, being Modern Potting Mix, won't be any use
either
whether it has mites or not g. ) or are mites quite all right in small
quantities in a garden?

on the bright side (i've finished griping now ;-) we have two loquat (i
believe) trees, which we've essentially ignored. today i realised one has
some ripe fruit! we ate one - it was fabulous!! so now i feel rather
silly
that i never even watered the poor things - not even once - we might have
had more fruit (it only had 5 - ahem). the only, i might add, fruit we'll
probably get from any of our trees this season, as the frost killed off
all
the peaches, apples, etc. next year i am going to do my best to ensure
loquats a go go, they're fantastic (and apparently frost proof). and
furthermore, our second crop of willy wagtail babies has just been born
(in
the aforementioned loquat tree - it might not have many fruits, but is
producing baby willy wagtails quite well g. you'd think with all my
willy
wagtail watching, i'd have noticed a few fruits before now, wouldn't
you?)
kylie

What brand are you buying? If you get the cheap brands as sold by
supermarkets, then expect
problems.

I've found Debco and Amgrow brands to be very good.

the batch with mites (any ideas about that, btw?) is amgrow, funnily enough
:-) not sure if i've ever had debco or not, but it's just that for the last
10 years or so, i haven't been able to get _any_ that's nice, squishy &
loamy like one used to get. i've got it from various sources, including that
made at one of the "resource centres" (or whatever it is they call the tip
these days) in canberra, & it's all the same - full of woodchips with barely
any dirt-type stuff, dry & nasty. the "good" stuff seems no better than
cheapie supermarket stuff i (must have) bought at times. some i used while
at a propogation course at the c.i.t. (like tafe) in canberra, they made
themselves & it was much nicer, i must say. i asked our teacher who
confirmed that the recipe for potting mix has, in her experience, totally
changed in recent times - it's "meant" now to be more of a holding medium
than a soil.

the big problem i have with it atm, as i don't have any potted plants at all
atm (except one tomato) is that i grow seeds in it, & they come up & it's
all good for a while, but then the seedlings just stop growing, but they're
often not big enough to plant out yet. some i have repotted afresh & they
have another go, others i just put out into the garden & hope for the best
despite their tininess. those that live, once in the garden recover
completely & start going gangbusters.

am i doing something wrong?
kylie

potting mix frustration
 

Damn my spellcheckers on strike
Jonno wrote:Yeah, you cannot be sure youve got the whole pot watered
properly
The only way to make sure is to dunk the pot into a larger container
full of water. A lot of these potting mixes are water resistant, they
reject water until its forced into the porers of the "pine bark" or
whatever they use, therefor hard to make water stay. Debco use those
water crystals, making it better but still more expensive.
BTW most potting mixes (Debco is OK) still need to have trace elements
added to them
so the things can start building cells. Thats another story...


0tterbot wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 12:18:30 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

hello,
my first gripe - modern potting mix just seems to be useless!! stuff
does
not grow in it properly!! (i fully expect my one potted tomato to
drop dead
shortly. it's perfectly healthy for now, but with my new set against
Modern
Potting Mix, it surely cannot last!!)

my second gripe is that my last batch had mites in it(!!) i was
having a bit
of a bad day so i used it anyway, but the cuttings died & when i
pulled them
out there were maggoty things in there. (baby mites, i'm assuming.)
now i
don't know what to do about the rest of it. i don't want to spread
mites. if
i cook it in the oven, will the mix still be any use afterwards?
should i
cook it in the oven (or pour boiling water on it) & just dump it &
try the
other bag instead? (which, being Modern Potting Mix, won't be any
use either
whether it has mites or not g. ) or are mites quite all right in
small
quantities in a garden?

on the bright side (i've finished griping now ;-) we have two loquat (i
believe) trees, which we've essentially ignored. today i realised
one has
some ripe fruit! we ate one - it was fabulous!! so now i feel rather
silly
that i never even watered the poor things - not even once - we might
have
had more fruit (it only had 5 - ahem). the only, i might add, fruit
we'll
probably get from any of our trees this season, as the frost killed
off all
the peaches, apples, etc. next year i am going to do my best to ensure
loquats a go go, they're fantastic (and apparently frost proof). and
furthermore, our second crop of willy wagtail babies has just been
born (in
the aforementioned loquat tree - it might not have many fruits, but is
producing baby willy wagtails quite well g. you'd think with all
my willy
wagtail watching, i'd have noticed a few fruits before now, wouldn't
you?)
kylie

What brand are you buying? If you get the cheap brands as sold by
supermarkets, then expect
problems.

I've found Debco and Amgrow brands to be very good.

the batch with mites (any ideas about that, btw?) is amgrow, funnily
enough :-) not sure if i've ever had debco or not, but it's just that
for the last 10 years or so, i haven't been able to get _any_ that's
nice, squishy & loamy like one used to get. i've got it from various
sources, including that made at one of the "resource centres" (or
whatever it is they call the tip these days) in canberra, & it's all
the same - full of woodchips with barely any dirt-type stuff, dry &
nasty. the "good" stuff seems no better than cheapie supermarket stuff
i (must have) bought at times. some i used while at a propogation
course at the c.i.t. (like tafe) in canberra, they made themselves &
it was much nicer, i must say. i asked our teacher who confirmed that
the recipe for potting mix has, in her experience, totally changed in
recent times - it's "meant" now to be more of a holding medium than a
soil.

the big problem i have with it atm, as i don't have any potted plants
at all atm (except one tomato) is that i grow seeds in it, & they come
up & it's all good for a while, but then the seedlings just stop
growing, but they're often not big enough to plant out yet. some i
have repotted afresh & they have another go, others i just put out
into the garden & hope for the best despite their tininess. those that
live, once in the garden recover completely & start going gangbusters.

am i doing something wrong?
kylie

potting mix frustration
 

Jonno wrote:
Damn my spellcheckers on strike
Jonno wrote:Yeah, you cannot be sure youve got the whole pot watered
properly
The only way to make sure is to dunk the pot into a larger container
full of water. A lot of these potting mixes are water resistant, they
reject water until its forced into the pores of the "pine bark" or
whatever they use, therefor hard to make water stay. Debco use those
water crystals, making it better but still more expensive.
BTW most potting mixes (Debco is OK) still need to have trace elements
added to them
so the things can start building cells. Thats another story...


0tterbot wrote:
wrote in message
...
On Sat, 16 Dec 2006 12:18:30 GMT, "0tterbot" wrote:

hello,
my first gripe - modern potting mix just seems to be useless!!
stuff does
not grow in it properly!! (i fully expect my one potted tomato to
drop dead
shortly. it's perfectly healthy for now, but with my new set
against Modern
Potting Mix, it surely cannot last!!)

my second gripe is that my last batch had mites in it(!!) i was
having a bit
of a bad day so i used it anyway, but the cuttings died & when i
pulled them
out there were maggoty things in there. (baby mites, i'm assuming.)
now i
don't know what to do about the rest of it. i don't want to spread
mites. if
i cook it in the oven, will the mix still be any use afterwards?
should i
cook it in the oven (or pour boiling water on it) & just dump it &
try the
other bag instead? (which, being Modern Potting Mix, won't be any
use either
whether it has mites or not g. ) or are mites quite all right in
small
quantities in a garden?

on the bright side (i've finished griping now ;-) we have two
loquat (i
believe) trees, which we've essentially ignored. today i realised
one has
some ripe fruit! we ate one - it was fabulous!! so now i feel
rather silly
that i never even watered the poor things - not even once - we
might have
had more fruit (it only had 5 - ahem). the only, i might add, fruit
we'll
probably get from any of our trees this season, as the frost killed
off all
the peaches, apples, etc. next year i am going to do my best to ensure
loquats a go go, they're fantastic (and apparently frost proof). and
furthermore, our second crop of willy wagtail babies has just been
born (in
the aforementioned loquat tree - it might not have many fruits, but is
producing baby willy wagtails quite well g. you'd think with all
my willy
wagtail watching, i'd have noticed a few fruits before now,
wouldn't you?)
kylie

What brand are you buying? If you get the cheap brands as sold by
supermarkets, then expect
problems.

I've found Debco and Amgrow brands to be very good.

the batch with mites (any ideas about that, btw?) is amgrow, funnily
enough :-) not sure if i've ever had debco or not, but it's just that
for the last 10 years or so, i haven't been able to get _any_ that's
nice, squishy & loamy like one used to get. i've got it from various
sources, including that made at one of the "resource centres" (or
whatever it is they call the tip these days) in canberra, & it's all
the same - full of woodchips with barely any dirt-type stuff, dry &
nasty. the "good" stuff seems no better than cheapie supermarket
stuff i (must have) bought at times. some i used while at a
propogation course at the c.i.t. (like tafe) in canberra, they made
themselves & it was much nicer, i must say. i asked our teacher who
confirmed that the recipe for potting mix has, in her experience,
totally changed in recent times - it's "meant" now to be more of a
holding medium than a soil.

the big problem i have with it atm, as i don't have any potted plants
at all atm (except one tomato) is that i grow seeds in it, & they
come up & it's all good for a while, but then the seedlings just stop
growing, but they're often not big enough to plant out yet. some i
have repotted afresh & they have another go, others i just put out
into the garden & hope for the best despite their tininess. those
that live, once in the garden recover completely & start going
gangbusters.

am i doing something wrong?
kylie

potting mix frustration
 

wrote in message

I've found Debco and Amgrow brands to be very good.

I've also found Debco Terracotta and Tub to be good.

potting mix frustration
 

"0tterbot" wrote in message
...

the big problem i have with it atm, as i don't have any potted
plants at all
atm (except one tomato) is that i grow seeds in it, & they come up &
it's
all good for a while, but then the seedlings just stop growing,

To grow seeds you need a seed raising mix and not a potting mix. It
can be bought at garden centres in similar plastic bags but it's quite
different to potting mix.

potting mix frustration
 

Farm1 wrote:


To grow seeds you need a seed raising mix and not a potting mix. It
can be bought at garden centres in similar plastic bags but it's quite
different to potting mix.


Hi Farm1, I've got a lotta seeds I want to start (not now, next year)
and I'm wondering what is different in seed raising mix? No wonder I
didn't have much luck with the last lot of seeds! I used potting mix
and probably not even a very good one. Thanks.

potting mix frustration
 

Linda H wrote:
Farm1 wrote:


To grow seeds you need a seed raising mix and not a potting mix. It
can be bought at garden centres in similar plastic bags but it's quite
different to potting mix.


Hi Farm1, I've got a lotta seeds I want to start (not now, next year)
and I'm wondering what is different in seed raising mix? No wonder I
didn't have much luck with the last lot of seeds! I used potting mix
and probably not even a very good one. Thanks.
All the info you need, plus hints and all you do is add water....

http://www.greenharvest.com.au/seeds...sing_info.html

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/seeds.htm

potting mix frustration
 

"Linda H" wrote in message
Farm1 wrote:


To grow seeds you need a seed raising mix and not a potting mix.
It
can be bought at garden centres in similar plastic bags but it's
quite
different to potting mix.


Hi Farm1, I've got a lotta seeds I want to start (not now, next
year)
and I'm wondering what is different in seed raising mix?

You can make your own if you have access to sand and buy some of those
compressed fibre blocks that you put into a bucket of water to soak
and then expand (made of coconut fibre or something like that) add
soem vermiculite too if you are using bigger seeds but not if you are
sowing fine seeds also add a minute amount of blood and bone but not
much. Sometimes I make it, sometimes I buy it but first time round it
might pay you to buy some so you can see what it looks like so you can
make it up later.

Don't use jiffy pots - a waste of tiem I've found.

No wonder I
didn't have much luck with the last lot of seeds! I used potting
mix

Not fine enough for anything but big seeds like say broad bean seeds
but then you'd be sowing those direct anyway.