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ApertureF11Sniper
- Cool Member
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2023 3:07 pm
- Location: Washington State
Soil Choices???
Picking a soil can be a challenge to someone newer like me. I want to stay organic but I read things and have no way to verify them and the internet accuracy can be problematic at best. I read that Kellogg soils have human waste in them. To add to this argument a poster pointed out their plant was located right next to a sewage treatment plant. Anyone know anything about this? There was a poster disputing this but that could be someone from the company posting from the office. No way to know whos saying what or the accuracy of it. I have been going with EB Stone and BlackGold as well as Whitney Farms.....The Whitney Farms product though has a LOT of very small trash in it. Bits of plastic and Debree so I would not recommend it. The product seems like a good product but the lack of quality control ruins it.
We crossed our fingers and made a switch to Fox Farm. So far, it is working out.
I nearly had an early season catastrophe one year, about 20 years ago. Chose randomly at a hardware store. Just had enough time to restart early plants.
Yes debris. It may have to do with the widely available, inexpensive city composting products. The soil companies are cutting too many corners!
Steve
I nearly had an early season catastrophe one year, about 20 years ago. Chose randomly at a hardware store. Just had enough time to restart early plants.
Yes debris. It may have to do with the widely available, inexpensive city composting products. The soil companies are cutting too many corners!
Steve
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pepperhead212
- Super Green Thumb
- Posts: 2888
- Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2014 1:52 pm
- Location: Woodbury NJ Zone 7a/7b
I make my own mix, with simply peat, maybe some coir (if I have some left from my hydroponics), some worm castings, and some perlite (about 20%, or a little more). I started doing this years ago, mainly because it's cheaper! Recently, a lot of bad experiences have been happening, involving potting soil, some with seedlings, and one recently where the gardener put some in the hole, where she planted the peppers and tomatoes, and they simply were not growing! After a lot of discussion about it, she dug them all up, and removed the soil she added, re-planted them, and very soon after, they started growing, though she said the peppers were slower (but they always are). She said she never had a problem with Black Gold, so she said she won't get the "cheap stuff" anymore, though I've heard of similar things happening with well known brands.
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ApertureF11Sniper
- Cool Member
- Posts: 82
- Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2023 3:07 pm
- Location: Washington State
The garden center I go to the owner is very strict about being organic only and what the ingredients are. I like the Whitney farms but just so much trash in it. Black Gold and EB Stone both solid products. I read the ingredients now to see if any of the terms used for human waste are among them....The human waste can hit the fan, I just don't want to be planting in it.
Most soil choices even the ones that say organic on them, are made from forest by products. I.e. composted sawdust from sawmills. The organic ones add organic fertilizer. feather meal, cottonseed meal, chicken manure, lime ( organic does use mined products). Most peat moss also has lime added to balance the pH. The difference between regular peat moss and organic peat moss, is that the organic peat moss uses an organic wetting agent, which happens to be inferior to the synthetic wetting agents of the regular peat moss.
Kellogg's Amend and other products did contain sewage sludge. Supposedly, they changed their product. The OMRI listed products do not contain sewage sludge as of 2017. Their other products are usually used for turf. The sludge is not as big a problem as the heavy metals and pesticides in the waste stream.
If that concerns you, don't look too closely at organic products like bone meal which may have higher levels of lead. Lead and mercury are heavy metals that build up in bodies of animals. The longer lived the animal, the more toxins they will carry. You won't find this listed on an organic label. In fact, you may not find any analysis at all on some organic labels. They just list the source. This is not really a problem of the animals, but the consequence of human activity on the global environment.
That being said foxfarm is among the best organic products if you can find it and afford it.
Coir is an alternative to peat moss, which is a natural product. Peat moss is a natural product, but except for Canada, it is not harvested sustainably. Coconut coir is made from the shredded coconut husk. It is an exploitive product. The people living on those islands don't have a lot of fresh water, so the coir is usually washed in salt water. As a result, some coir can be very high in salt unless you are careful and wash it well before using it. It is actually a waste product, like plastic, they just found a use for it. I have not had good luck with it and for me it is hard to find and more expensive to use than peat moss and my plants did not do well in it. Now, if I have a coconut husk, that is a different story. A husk takes about 2 years to breakdown if you try to compost it. It is a decent orchid media. I can plant an orchid with some sphagnum in a husk as a raft.
You do have to be careful when getting soil or compost because you really don't know what is in them unless you specifically test it. Persistent herbicides may not only contaminate compost, but also manures, animal feed, and hay from fields that were sprayed. If you have a local composter, you may be able to get a copy of their soil test. Composters usually test their soil, but they don't test every batch and they do not test it for contaminants. You would have to find out when the last test was done or get a sample and have it tested yourself. But you can't wait too long, because that batch of compost may be gone by the time you get back and you still won't know what is in the next batch.
If you are not putting things in containers, then you could make your own compost and use that. At least you will know what is in it. In ground, you can test your soil and use that as a base.
Kellogg's Amend and other products did contain sewage sludge. Supposedly, they changed their product. The OMRI listed products do not contain sewage sludge as of 2017. Their other products are usually used for turf. The sludge is not as big a problem as the heavy metals and pesticides in the waste stream.
If that concerns you, don't look too closely at organic products like bone meal which may have higher levels of lead. Lead and mercury are heavy metals that build up in bodies of animals. The longer lived the animal, the more toxins they will carry. You won't find this listed on an organic label. In fact, you may not find any analysis at all on some organic labels. They just list the source. This is not really a problem of the animals, but the consequence of human activity on the global environment.
That being said foxfarm is among the best organic products if you can find it and afford it.
Coir is an alternative to peat moss, which is a natural product. Peat moss is a natural product, but except for Canada, it is not harvested sustainably. Coconut coir is made from the shredded coconut husk. It is an exploitive product. The people living on those islands don't have a lot of fresh water, so the coir is usually washed in salt water. As a result, some coir can be very high in salt unless you are careful and wash it well before using it. It is actually a waste product, like plastic, they just found a use for it. I have not had good luck with it and for me it is hard to find and more expensive to use than peat moss and my plants did not do well in it. Now, if I have a coconut husk, that is a different story. A husk takes about 2 years to breakdown if you try to compost it. It is a decent orchid media. I can plant an orchid with some sphagnum in a husk as a raft.
You do have to be careful when getting soil or compost because you really don't know what is in them unless you specifically test it. Persistent herbicides may not only contaminate compost, but also manures, animal feed, and hay from fields that were sprayed. If you have a local composter, you may be able to get a copy of their soil test. Composters usually test their soil, but they don't test every batch and they do not test it for contaminants. You would have to find out when the last test was done or get a sample and have it tested yourself. But you can't wait too long, because that batch of compost may be gone by the time you get back and you still won't know what is in the next batch.
If you are not putting things in containers, then you could make your own compost and use that. At least you will know what is in it. In ground, you can test your soil and use that as a base.