In preparation for my next grow I did a little more digging (had to say it that way) on soils available locally (RTP, NC region). Here is what I've found available around the community leaving me with the notion folks should call verify pricing and availability of brands and private labeling in their neck of the woods. As it can be so different between competing retailers. Also remember to check out the smaller outlying towns for farm supply and feed stores as they might have much better pricing.
Make your own by mixing compost, peat moss, and vermiculite or perlite. Check with your local community solid waste department for compost as many cities now make compost in the solid waster department and sell it cheap as part of the recycling programs within the solid waste divisions. In Raleigh, NC you can pick up 2.5 cubic yards of compost for $25.00. That's a full size pickup truck bed load. For smaller amounts it's $3.00 for a 35 gallon trash can full (approx 2.5 cu ft). Most stores sell organic compost anywhere from $5.99 to $8.99 a cu ft! It's half the price for 3 times as much. City of Raleigh Compost is tested and certified (that's called being bon a fide in the south) by the US Composting Council's labs quarterly. Mixing my own I can get 12 cu ft of prime organic mix for less than $30.
City of Raleigh Compost 35 gallons (5.0 cu ft approx) at $3.00
Southern States (farm store) in the outlying smaller town has 4.0 cu ft Vermiculite $15.00 (grow store price $17.99). Then Home Depot has Peat Moss 3.0 cu ft $10.97 - (Southern States has 3.8 cu ft for $12.97).
RTP is a regional name for the combined cities represented by the three major universities (UNC, Duke, & NCSU). Why do I mention this is each city has it's own local organic nursery and grow store niche servicing the university communities. You all do realize colleges and universities never drug test employees? What's this mean. A market and competition. Throw in the mom/pop older upscale gardening and nursery folks. Again, in the south it's the ones who advertise regionally in Southern Living Magazines being distributed in the area. Bottom line it's more competition meaning lower prices available if you know where to look. Don't forget to check for the local gardening journal offered free at the libraries and niche nursery stores.
That 2.0 cu ft bag of Happy Frog I've found priced from $22.99 at the local grow store in Raleigh by NCSU campus but over in Durham at Duke it's $19.99 on the east side of campus but on the west side of campus it's $17.50. That is a $5.00 savings for the same bag of Happy Frog and you'd hop for that wouldn't you? The local inside the belt-line (Raleigh's old preppies location) Logan's Trading has the Happy Frog at $21.99 but they also carry Jolly Gardner's (southeast regional brand) Bumper Crop 2.0 cu ft at $13.99 which is almost identical to Happy Frog. I could throw in either a 2.0 cu ft bag of Happy Frog at $17.50 or Bumper Crop at $13.99 to my make my own and have a pretty good mix now providing 14 cu ft of great soil for $45 - $50. That's enough great soil for 20 5 gal planters.
On Organic Potting Mix front - Fafard is available in Durham again east side $8.49 a cu ft and west side it's $11.49 for the same package. But Logan's has Fafard packaged under their own private label and sells it for $15.99 for 2.5 cu ft. Southern States brand Statesman sells for $2.99 cu ft and guess who's making it. Think Santa or that Jolly fellow. Generic branding and regional brands can give lower pricing for the same thing.
Seed Starters range from Raleigh's grow store selling Black Gold's 8 qt for $8.99 to Durham's store selling Fafards
8 qt for $4.99. Checking both Black Gold's and Fafard web pages know what I figured out - they both are either owned by the same company or just using the same web service provider as both even have an identical $3.00 rebate coupon for any purchase over $20.00 this summer. And the product descriptions are identical for like soils under the different brand names. Think Chrysler/Plymouth Ford/Mercury or as a kid we had a boat motor plant nearby - painted blue they were called Evinrude - painted brown and white they were called Johnson otherwise it's the same thing but at different pricing. Well, folks the soil industry is doing the same thing by branding the same soil under different brand names. What's the difference between Pro-Mix and Sunshine's Advance Mix#4? The bag?
Ditto for fertilizers and enhancements. That 30 lb bag of chicken manure is $19.99 at the grow store while it's called Chick Doo Doo at Southern States and sells for $8.49. The seaweed/kelp fertilizer is more at the grow store but cheaper at the old school mom/pop nursery. Who do you think sells worm castings cheaper the grow store of Home Depot? Ditto that GE 2 plug timer it's $9.95 at HD while $14.95 at the grow store. Is bat Guano cheaper at the grow store or the local nursery?
Take some time and call around and ask questions. Especially about private labeling by your local folks. I got the grow store in Raleigh which also has 5 other stores in college towns between NC and Virginia about prepackaging a Super Soil mixture. They sell all the stuff individually but it's more than you need unless you're a large commercial grower and frankly it would allow them to sell more of it and at better margins! They are already breaking down the 40 lb lime ($5.99) bag to a 5 lb small bag ($3.99), ditto the chicken manure and mushroom compost and bat guano. Do I as a small grower really need a 10 lb bag of Blood Meal or 10 oz per cu ft of soil for my mix. Ditto do I need 10 lbs of Humic Acid and Rock Phosphate of each or just 10 tablespoons of each to enhance my soil. The guy liked the idea of prepackaging and admitted they already do it for some of the soil add ins and said he'd see if he could prepackage all the add in's together for a fixed cost.
Happy growing....
Make your own by mixing compost, peat moss, and vermiculite or perlite. Check with your local community solid waste department for compost as many cities now make compost in the solid waster department and sell it cheap as part of the recycling programs within the solid waste divisions. In Raleigh, NC you can pick up 2.5 cubic yards of compost for $25.00. That's a full size pickup truck bed load. For smaller amounts it's $3.00 for a 35 gallon trash can full (approx 2.5 cu ft). Most stores sell organic compost anywhere from $5.99 to $8.99 a cu ft! It's half the price for 3 times as much. City of Raleigh Compost is tested and certified (that's called being bon a fide in the south) by the US Composting Council's labs quarterly. Mixing my own I can get 12 cu ft of prime organic mix for less than $30.
City of Raleigh Compost 35 gallons (5.0 cu ft approx) at $3.00
Southern States (farm store) in the outlying smaller town has 4.0 cu ft Vermiculite $15.00 (grow store price $17.99). Then Home Depot has Peat Moss 3.0 cu ft $10.97 - (Southern States has 3.8 cu ft for $12.97).
RTP is a regional name for the combined cities represented by the three major universities (UNC, Duke, & NCSU). Why do I mention this is each city has it's own local organic nursery and grow store niche servicing the university communities. You all do realize colleges and universities never drug test employees? What's this mean. A market and competition. Throw in the mom/pop older upscale gardening and nursery folks. Again, in the south it's the ones who advertise regionally in Southern Living Magazines being distributed in the area. Bottom line it's more competition meaning lower prices available if you know where to look. Don't forget to check for the local gardening journal offered free at the libraries and niche nursery stores.
That 2.0 cu ft bag of Happy Frog I've found priced from $22.99 at the local grow store in Raleigh by NCSU campus but over in Durham at Duke it's $19.99 on the east side of campus but on the west side of campus it's $17.50. That is a $5.00 savings for the same bag of Happy Frog and you'd hop for that wouldn't you? The local inside the belt-line (Raleigh's old preppies location) Logan's Trading has the Happy Frog at $21.99 but they also carry Jolly Gardner's (southeast regional brand) Bumper Crop 2.0 cu ft at $13.99 which is almost identical to Happy Frog. I could throw in either a 2.0 cu ft bag of Happy Frog at $17.50 or Bumper Crop at $13.99 to my make my own and have a pretty good mix now providing 14 cu ft of great soil for $45 - $50. That's enough great soil for 20 5 gal planters.
On Organic Potting Mix front - Fafard is available in Durham again east side $8.49 a cu ft and west side it's $11.49 for the same package. But Logan's has Fafard packaged under their own private label and sells it for $15.99 for 2.5 cu ft. Southern States brand Statesman sells for $2.99 cu ft and guess who's making it. Think Santa or that Jolly fellow. Generic branding and regional brands can give lower pricing for the same thing.
Seed Starters range from Raleigh's grow store selling Black Gold's 8 qt for $8.99 to Durham's store selling Fafards
8 qt for $4.99. Checking both Black Gold's and Fafard web pages know what I figured out - they both are either owned by the same company or just using the same web service provider as both even have an identical $3.00 rebate coupon for any purchase over $20.00 this summer. And the product descriptions are identical for like soils under the different brand names. Think Chrysler/Plymouth Ford/Mercury or as a kid we had a boat motor plant nearby - painted blue they were called Evinrude - painted brown and white they were called Johnson otherwise it's the same thing but at different pricing. Well, folks the soil industry is doing the same thing by branding the same soil under different brand names. What's the difference between Pro-Mix and Sunshine's Advance Mix#4? The bag?
Ditto for fertilizers and enhancements. That 30 lb bag of chicken manure is $19.99 at the grow store while it's called Chick Doo Doo at Southern States and sells for $8.49. The seaweed/kelp fertilizer is more at the grow store but cheaper at the old school mom/pop nursery. Who do you think sells worm castings cheaper the grow store of Home Depot? Ditto that GE 2 plug timer it's $9.95 at HD while $14.95 at the grow store. Is bat Guano cheaper at the grow store or the local nursery?
Take some time and call around and ask questions. Especially about private labeling by your local folks. I got the grow store in Raleigh which also has 5 other stores in college towns between NC and Virginia about prepackaging a Super Soil mixture. They sell all the stuff individually but it's more than you need unless you're a large commercial grower and frankly it would allow them to sell more of it and at better margins! They are already breaking down the 40 lb lime ($5.99) bag to a 5 lb small bag ($3.99), ditto the chicken manure and mushroom compost and bat guano. Do I as a small grower really need a 10 lb bag of Blood Meal or 10 oz per cu ft of soil for my mix. Ditto do I need 10 lbs of Humic Acid and Rock Phosphate of each or just 10 tablespoons of each to enhance my soil. The guy liked the idea of prepackaging and admitted they already do it for some of the soil add ins and said he'd see if he could prepackage all the add in's together for a fixed cost.
Happy growing....
