Any ever use this soil?

[Canachris]

Went to my local Walmart yesterday to get a bag of soil, the website said they carried it. But when I get there they only had miracle grow or these 2 I got 2 of the Whitney farms and 1 of the expert Gardner. The stuff looks pretty shitty looked em up on line an didn't like what I found out. Any of you ever use either of them

 

[CaptainLucky]

Went to my local Walmart yesterday to get a bag of soil, the website said they carried it. But when I get there they only had miracle grow or these 2 I got 2 of the Whitney farms and 1 of the expert Gardner. The stuff looks pretty shitty looked em up on line an didn't like what I found out. Any of you ever use either of them

Same thing happened to me but I went ahead and ordered the FFHF +FFOF. It was free shipping and I received it in 4-5 days. CL

 

[Canachris]

Yeah I saw that option when I was looking online. I didn't have room on my CC to order anything. I figured I had cash so just go to my local Walmart and get a bag of FFOF, I tend to be impatient and in a rush to have a container ready for my auto Bruce banner if she ever pops I got this shite. I might be able to soup it up a bit with some old buckets of used soil

 

[Canachris]

Welp after sifting out the logs and boulders, Ok maybe it was twigs and bark but a butt load of em. it looks ok and after sifting my old dry coast of Maine soil and mixing them it looks really good, I think the coco in the COM soil absorbed most of the water from the too wet Walmart potting mix. it was ruff sifting and mixing my elbows will be sore tonight. pics for the curious. I have no more tools so I couldn't make a proper sifter but I did have some 1/4" hardware cloth it did the job

 

[CaptainLucky]

Yeah I saw that option when I was looking online. I didn't have room on my CC to order anything. I figured I had cash so just go to my local Walmart and get a bag of FFOF, I tend to be impatient and in a rush to have a container ready for my auto Bruce banner if she ever pops I got this shite. I might be able to soup it up a bit with some old buckets of used soil

I think what they do is make you think it’s @ the stores so they don’t have to stock it and then they make you order it. CL

 

[Canachris]

I got a gallon of twigs an bark, I still have another 8 quarts to sifting. The airplane glue should get me thru it

 

[Canachris]

I looked this stuff up online and it has a lot of shit in it , and depending on what state it comes from the shit differs. I'm assuming that because I'm in Massachusetts this batch came from New Hampshire that was the closest option. Back to sifting

 

[Canachris]

all in all i have about19 gallons of soil, 13 of coast of Maine Stonington blend and 6 gallons of cheep compost. Im pretty sure coast of Maine sells a rejuvenating additives . Be interesting to see how this turns out

 

[CaptainLucky]

all in all i have about19 gallons of soil, 13 of coast of Maine Stonington blend and 6 gallons of cheep compost. Im pretty sure coast of Maine sells a rejuvenating additives . Be interesting to see how this turns out

I forget who makes it but there’s this stuff called are Re-Charge for making used soil alive again. CL

 

[SmokingWings]

Welp after sifting out the logs and boulders, Ok maybe it was twigs and bark but a butt load of em.

Those sticks and pieces of bark and wood chips belong there. They are part of the "aged forest products" that are the principal ingredient on most of the potting soil mixes we buy now-a-days including the Fox Farms and Roots Organic soils. In many cases the forest products are from the tree trimming and tree removal businesses.

The chipper trucks used by tree trimming crews will dump the chips and then truck loads of compost are mixed in. Since wood is a drain on any available Nitrogen while decomposing is happeing they add high N sources. Blood Meal is a popular source. Turn the huge piles on a schedule and maintain the level of moisture that the compost farm wants is part of the process. Takes about 2 years and the majority of the wood is decomposed. After sifting out the really large wood pieces that are left it is ready to be sold by the ton or box-car load to companies. Those companies that mix it with more compost, maybe some perlite and maybe some peat moss to make the "potting soils" that are used to fill the plastic bags.

So why are these small sticks and pieces of wood left in the mix? Because they are sponges and will hold water just like the peat moss does. They are still decomposing and releasing NItrogen and other macro and micro nutrients and they do a better job of that than the peat moss ever will. Plus, the roots of the plants will penetrate into the wood chips and those become anchors for the plant. But, mostly the reason the chips are left in the is the water and nutrient holding ability.

Sometimes I get the feeling that I am the only person who reads the back of the bags of soils and then wonders what those "Aged Forest Products" or "Composted Forest Products" and similar sounding terms were all about. It only takes a couple of minutes to do several searches find out what they were. Then I spent about 10 hours spread over 6 to 7 days tracking down how they were made and finding the companies that made forest products. Spent some time reading up on the process. A couple of phone calls to the companies got the names and phone extensions of people to talk to about why the wood chips are left in the Forest Products.

My personal experience is that the sticks and chips left in my soil mixes take another 12 to 18 months to finish decomposing as long as the soil is kept damp. And, the plants do not care that they are there. I have added more partially decomposed chips and sticks back into my soil when it is time to replenish the mixes

Right now, in the backyard, I have two buckets each holding 10 to 12 gallons of a home-made "Aged Forest Product" mix. I got curious and wanted to see if smaller amounts are easier to do in a quicker time. As least quicker as compared to the piles higher than 3 story houses and as long and as wide as a city block that the commercial operations have built. They have to stir those up using end-loaders and bulldozers several times a year for at least two years.

As a bonus there is a 5 gallon bucket of just wood chips and sticks that were sifted through 1/2 inch hardware cloth. And, I have another 5 gallon bucket of larger sized chips and sticks just as I picked them up from a wood chip pile. Nothing has been added to those, no Blood Meal or compost, and I figure those wood chips will take years to break down. Interesting though is that they are already starting to get spongy and hold water. Some earthworms have moved in so the process has started, just slower that if some compost and Nitrogen had been added.

 

[Canachris]

Oh I see said the blind man. Smoke that's great info, I'm glad I left most if it in. I did get the big chunks out but I did save them too. The second bag of the Whitney stuff was all forest byproducts stuff. Now that I know it's not just filler I'll add some to every container I fill just not any on the top. I don't have a backyard to play in or i could make my own compost. It's tuff trying to do all this shite in a small 1 bedroom apt. As always smoke thank you for the info.

 

[Canachris]

The finely sifted stuff is good for starting seedling, or making dirt cupcakes

 

[SmokingWings]

The finely sifted stuff is good for starting seedling, or making dirt cupcakes

That it is.

Cupcakes, eh. I thought those were dirt brownies since brownies were the original preferred edible of all us hippies back 50 years ago.

 

[Canachris]

It works OK, not sure how the cupcake papers will hold up