Thank you for your valuable information. Every word in these videos i have confirmed to be truth. Compost and wood chips inside the soil means slow death for many plants. My potted plants where always dying after a 1-2 years and i thought it was natural. I have seen huge improvements the moment i started using sand, peat moss and other sterile media for soil. Our geraniums have 2 or 3 times larger leaves and two of them are now producing flowers even in the middle of winter. Leaves are not yellowing any more. I planted some fig cuttings early in spring in large pots and they have grown 4-5 feet in one year. They look like the have outgrown the pots in just one year!
Since I've stopped using compost and other finely-divided biodegradable material like coco coir (cocopeat), I am no longer losing citrus and other container plants to root rot. For pots and containers, I am getting excellent results with a mix consisting of: coarse (approx. 1 cm size pieces) and lightweight pumice, perlite, coconut husk chips (not the fine coir!), charcoal chips, 'kittydama' (calcined clay coarse 'gravel' sold by bonsai specialists as a cheaper substitute for akadama), and just a small amount of peatmoss thoroughly mixed in to counteract any alkalinity (charcoal can be alkaline, so can some rock-based aggregates).
@Chris Flay I'd rather use coir husk chips instead of bark. Coir husk chips contains more lignin, which resists biodegradation better than bark. I find that bark chips break down too quickly, and it attracts fungus gnats. I only use a minimal amount of coir husk chips in my container substrate. Obviously, natural outdoor soil is mostly made up of inorganic matter (mineral aggregates/weathered rock/silica). So, it makes sense to try to replicate this in pots. But it is not a good idea to use loam in pots, as it performs poorly, as the particles are too fine. By the way: Kaisen Bonsai sell coarse-grade pumice in 14 liter sizes.
I am going to buy a pallet of your Top Pot thru my local nursery. They are going to order it for me directly from BFG. (I hope you are getting a %!) I do have a question on your percentages, do I assume correctly that these ratios are by volume, not weight? I also remember you mentioned rice hulls being inert. Can rice hills be substituted into your potting mix and if so what would it be taking the place of and how much to substitute? Thanks Gary
Thank you so much for providing this information, God bless you 😁
WooHoo. I’ve got my pallet of Top Pot! Now I have to get all my trees repotted.
Thank you for your valuable information. Every word in these videos i have confirmed to be truth. Compost and wood chips inside the soil means slow death for many plants. My potted plants where always dying after a 1-2 years and i thought it was natural. I have seen huge improvements the moment i started using sand, peat moss and other sterile media for soil. Our geraniums have 2 or 3 times larger leaves and two of them are now producing flowers even in the middle of winter. Leaves are not yellowing any more. I planted some fig cuttings early in spring in large pots and they have grown 4-5 feet in one year. They look like the have outgrown the pots in just one year!
Since I've stopped using compost and other finely-divided biodegradable material like coco coir (cocopeat), I am no longer losing citrus and other container plants to root rot. For pots and containers, I am getting excellent results with a mix consisting of: coarse (approx. 1 cm size pieces) and lightweight pumice, perlite, coconut husk chips (not the fine coir!), charcoal chips, 'kittydama' (calcined clay coarse 'gravel' sold by bonsai specialists as a cheaper substitute for akadama), and just a small amount of peatmoss thoroughly mixed in to counteract any alkalinity (charcoal can be alkaline, so can some rock-based aggregates).
@Chris Flay I'd rather use coir husk chips instead of bark. Coir husk chips contains more lignin, which resists biodegradation better than bark. I find that bark chips break down too quickly, and it attracts fungus gnats. I only use a minimal amount of coir husk chips in my container substrate. Obviously, natural outdoor soil is mostly made up of inorganic matter (mineral aggregates/weathered rock/silica). So, it makes sense to try to replicate this in pots. But it is not a good idea to use loam in pots, as it performs poorly, as the particles are too fine. By the way: Kaisen Bonsai sell coarse-grade pumice in 14 liter sizes.
I am going to buy a pallet of your Top Pot thru my local nursery. They are going to order it for me directly from BFG. (I hope you are getting a %!)
I do have a question on your percentages, do I assume correctly that these ratios are by volume, not weight?
I also remember you mentioned rice hulls being inert. Can rice hills be substituted into your potting mix and if so what would it be taking the place of and how much to substitute? Thanks Gary
How do peppers grow in your acid mix? Anybody tried ?