Potting Soil - Possible Problem?

[shaefins]

I had an open bag of potting mix purchased this year, and a sealed bag of potting mix purchased....well....not sure when it was purchased, but since it was sealed I figured it was OK to use. I mixed the two and used it to uppot spinach, lettuce, parsley and peppers last night (I've already been told the first 3 should be in the garden now, but I'm late ). The mix was *very* hard to water, as it wouldn't absorb. Ended up having to mix the mix and water outside in a bucket, then use it in my 9 oz styrofoam cups w/ holes poked in the bottom. Once the water was mixed in, it didn't drain very well. I know potting mix holds water, but this was kind of excessive.

So my question is....if the mix stays too wet for too long, I'm going to lose those little plants, right? But I'd think that if I tried to take them out of it and put it into new mix, I'd freak them out even more? Or is this when you guys tell me to stop thinking so much and just see what happens?

[Zouaoua]

Maybe try to sieve the soil first to get some air into the mixture. If you add compost to the mixture, it should dry up a lot faster than normal soil or potting mixtures.

Myself, I never use potting mixture because I just use sieved compost and soil from my garden, so I have never experienced that problem.

I hope this helps a bit!

[garden5]

I, too, am using a compost/dirt mixture, so I suppose I'm not too experienced on this subject, either. However, if your pepper plants appear healthy, you could probably re-pot them into something else and still have them survive. I can't tell you about the greens, though.

One thing I can suggest is putting a small fan on the seedlings for a little bit each day. It will strengthen the pepper stalks, help prevent damping off and possible wick some moisture out of your soil.

Good luck.