By Todd Alvis
Before I put all my plants up for the winter, I try to clean out the old soil and repot my plants. Last year I ran out of time and did not get to re-pot as much as I would have liked so I’m trying to do it this year. One thing you will notice is I use a high portion of pine bark components. With the amount of fertilizer I use the pine bark will break down into muck in two to three years. This is a great time to clean up the plants and repot.
*One thing to consider is I make a mix for pots, in a greenhouse, on a watering system.
My mix is:
- Soil Conditioner- 35%
- Potting Soil – 25%
- Perlite – 15%
- Manure or compost 5%
- Pine bark mulch 20%
These are rough numbers and I use whatever soils I can get. This is my ideal setup.
Soil Conditioner
“The first component that I use is Gardenese Soil Conditioner. This is a really good, finely ground pine bark mulch. This is good for water retention, but it doesn’t hold a lot of water on the plants.”
Potting Soil
“Next, I use Sta-Green potting mix. One of the big reasons is that it has a lot of pine bark in it. It comes with some fertilizers in it. This is the one I typically go with and it’s one of the least expensive ones at Lowes.”
Perlite
“You can get any kind of perlite you want. The Aero-Soil Horticulture Perlite is inexpensive. It is recommended to wear a mask when handling this or other perlite media. I understand perlite can be as bad as asbestos in your lungs.”
Manure or Compost
“Next, I put a little bit of cow manure compost just to cover up the perlite. I use a lot of different ones. You can use cow manure, compost or a combo of the two.”
Pine Bark Mulch
“The next thing is Gardenese Pink Bark Mulch. I do actually like this pine bark mulch. It doesn’t have a lot of additives in it. Do not get nuggets, you do not want the nuggets. This mulch is good and has some size to it. It really holds everything together. It gives me some good moisture retention.”
Finish off the top of it again with the soil conditioner. That allows me to get soil conditioner throughout.