
DIY Potting Mix Recipe to Save Money
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I normally make my potting soil as below and it has given good results throughout.
1/3 coir 1/3 yard compost and 1/3 garden soils or soil and sand mixed equally. I also heat soil to 60 deg C for about 20 minutes to kill unwanted Organics including seeds to sterilise. It is also advised to sterilise the vermicompost as above, if it is from unknown source. Also it is better to wash the coir 2 or 3 times to remove its acidic nature and dry it well. I also add a dash of oil cakes of neem, peanut and sesame seeds. Adding phospho-bacterium and Trichoderma viride helps in providing microbes and fungal resistance to saplings/seeds. Hope this helps.
My recipe for soil includes screened mulch, egg shells, coffee grounds, fireplace ashes and finely shredded paper mixed in a 50 gal drum
Please inform your readers of the negative environmental effects of peat moss and promote sustainable alternatives instead, like coconut coir.
Peat moss takes tens of thousands of years to form in bogs, then is dug up and put in bags for gardeners in a matter of days. That natural wetland bog environment uses the peat to filter and purify water, and thousands of animal species live in bogs. Draining and digging them up for gardeners is unsustainable and bad for the environment. The bogs will never recover fast enough for more peat to be harvested in the same area, so new bogs must be destroyed all the time. Digging up peat bogs releases massive amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere and peat moss is often exported from poor countries to be shipped to rich countries at non fair-trade prices.
Peat bogs are even known to catch on fire when they are drained, and the peat can burn underground for months on end, releasing tons of smoke, CO2 and other hazardous chemicals into the air.
Consider buying compressed coconut coir online for adding organic matter to soil. Unlike peat moss, coconut coir is completely renewable (it's made from waste coconut shells), and is pH neutral (peat moss is acidic). It ships in small cardboard boxes, which is better for the environment than giant plastic bags filled with peat.
You have a responsibility to the Earth and your readers to be informed about these types of concerns.
No one sells real peat bog moss anymore, relax. Nearly everything sold in the us market as peat is simply composted lumber mill waste from canada. Yes it's a scam. But it's much less of a scam than pretending that mass monoculture coconut farms destroying jungle and shipping the discards 5,000 miles on diesel ships is carbon neutral.
Hi Thomas, yes, you still can find peat moss as an ingredient in bagged soil & potting mixes. I had to spend a little time looking last year to avoid buying soil without it.
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