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annastasia76
- Senior Member
- Posts: 223
- Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:59 pm
- Location: Southern Ca
question about soil for tomatoes
this year I am planning on planting my tomato plants in 5 gallon pots (the black kind that trees come in) can I use straight compost as soil for it?? or does something else need to be used, I was thinking straight compost because we can get a truckload (pickup) for $12 and potting soil is about $12 per bag (I think it's 2 cubic feet). I can't afford the potting soil if I will be doing about 20 plants but I can afford the compost.
The general answer is no, you can't use straight organic matter compost as a potting soil.
The cheap truckload of compost you can get is what garden centers sell as "Garden Soil" and it is used as an amendment to a mineral soil such as the dirt in your yard.
Potting soil must contain some portion of mineral content, usually sand, pearlite, lava rocks or whatnot.
An optimal soil for any crop production would look something like this:
25% Water
25% Air
40 - 45 % Mineral Loam
5 - 10 % Organic Matter
Where Mineral Loam is equal parts of Sand, Silt, and Clay.
This is called soil with good Tilth.
What you can do with a truck load of cheap compost is mix it with other affordable ingredients to create a good Tilth soil.
So, adding some sand, back yard dirt that you run through a screen etc can produce a relatively inexpensive mix that will be close to optimal Tilth.
The trick in doing this on the cheap is making sure you can get the Air and Water into your mix and keep it there. Screen both the dirt and the compost and use the smallest particles while removing the big stuff. Use the big stuff as mulch.
Always work soil mixes when they are dry. Working wet soils will cause them to compact and clump, thus driving out the air and water holding spaces.
Good Luck.
The cheap truckload of compost you can get is what garden centers sell as "Garden Soil" and it is used as an amendment to a mineral soil such as the dirt in your yard.
Potting soil must contain some portion of mineral content, usually sand, pearlite, lava rocks or whatnot.
An optimal soil for any crop production would look something like this:
25% Water
25% Air
40 - 45 % Mineral Loam
5 - 10 % Organic Matter
Where Mineral Loam is equal parts of Sand, Silt, and Clay.
This is called soil with good Tilth.
What you can do with a truck load of cheap compost is mix it with other affordable ingredients to create a good Tilth soil.
So, adding some sand, back yard dirt that you run through a screen etc can produce a relatively inexpensive mix that will be close to optimal Tilth.
The trick in doing this on the cheap is making sure you can get the Air and Water into your mix and keep it there. Screen both the dirt and the compost and use the smallest particles while removing the big stuff. Use the big stuff as mulch.
Always work soil mixes when they are dry. Working wet soils will cause them to compact and clump, thus driving out the air and water holding spaces.
Good Luck.
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annastasia76
- Senior Member
- Posts: 223
- Joined: Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:59 pm
- Location: Southern Ca
I have alot of theose tree black pots some pretty big more than a gallon! What I do that works for me with my tomatoes is actually make a compost in the bottom 4 inches of the container and cover with a inch of soil and blood meal. The rest of the pot plant your tomato with whatever you use and in a month or more the tomato seems to really keep growing. My black pots have side holes in the bottom so it does drain good! I usually put paper leaves and a few bananna peels or fruit peels with a little blood meal and let it compost under the tomato! It works why wondn't it! No my tomatoes don't taste like banannas but it would be nice! I feel my black buckets with garden soil over the compost an top with 2 inches of potting soil! Saves me alot of money!