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EthnoDan

Organic certified potting mix

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Hi all,
What are your views on commercial potting mixes that arent certified organic? 

Ive had success with the oscmocote premium plus mix, adding coir, perlite etc to suit the specific needs for the plant.

However i want to know if the chemical fertilisers and such added to these mixes will leech into or negatively effect the plant.

What are your thoughts on this?

Cheers

Dan

 

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I don't buy organic certified mix, I don't even know anywhere that sells such a thing.

I do buy the cheapest mix ever though, it's about $3 for a 25 litre bag, and I like it because it has no added slow release feet pellets like a lot of mixes do. Its also very fine in texture. I have almost never found big chunks of bark in this mix.

It might be useful to know what plant you are concerned about growing. I sincerely doubt that any added ferts would cause any harm though. The problem is more about the supply chain and manufacturing process. Chemical ferts use a lot of electricity to produce, and are generally not good for the environment. But plants still like em!

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No certified organic mixes AFAIK, there are certified to Australian Standards for potting mixes (regular and premium), which is shown by the standards ticks logo on the bag if up to standard. 

 

You'd want a pretty shit mix to be 

worried about accumulating anything. 

I got pissed once about a bag that had the base of a car aerial in it and windscreen glass... Was concerned about potential hydrocarbon contamination in a cheap one I purchased once. Tossed it. 

 

Chem ferts aren't much of a drama... A few minor exceptions IMO, but generally the hobby gardener isn't playing with them.

 

Other contamination such as metals however can be an issue . Have also found furnace slag in a few other cheapies. 

 

Osmocote is on the level. Although it's on the richer side so may not be good for all things. 

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I make a no till type organic soil mix. It would be too rich for cactis but never needs added fertilisers and actually gets better with age so you get multiple grows from it. 

 

1/3 Peat Moss (certified organic comes in aprox 30kg block for $30 from Agricultural supply stores)

1/3 perlite (available from same place, 100 litre bag for $30)

1/3 either quality organic compost or worm castings or combination of both

To make a  cubic foot add 1.5 cups of powdered organic fertilizer (available from bunnings)

1 cup of kelp meal (available from agricultural supply shops)

4 cups of rock dust ( available from bunnings but heaps cheaper at Agricultural supply stores or anyplace selling landscaping rocks and top soils)

 

Mix up, keep damp. In 3 to 4 weeks it has finished cooking and will supercharge growing your veges or other nutrient loving plants. If you google the effects of the kelp and rockdust their inclusion is obvious. This mix is far better than anything you can buy. When the plants are finished, rip out the root ball, if you can't shake the soil off it, dryfor a couple of days them chop it up. Add 1/3 total root ball size of perlite, 1/4 to 1/3 cup of powered organic fertilizer, 1/4 cup of kelp meal and 1 part quality organic compost or worm castings ( or combination of both) to 4 parts old soil/root ball. You can keep using this mix for years by repeating this process.

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organic, is just a word, the molecules, would look the same regardless of how they were manufactured.

 

very important is though, to use the right mix for the specific plant. some plant need high drainage, some low.

some need lots of fert, some not. some plant like acid soil, some like alkaline.

 

I use a lot of 100% worm castings, no lime added.

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some really good info in this thread. When i was saying organic i meant without the use of chemical fertilisers in mixes and such.

Thanks everyone for your inputs

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On 12/06/2020 at 2:50 PM, EthnoDan said:

some really good info in this thread. When i was saying organic i meant without the use of chemical fertilisers in mixes and such.

Thanks everyone for your inputs

i like the word organic as well, and for example rather use an "organic" approach, than "harsh chemicals".

but, my above written sentence makes me, a hypocrite, hehe.

 

to clear this up, from my viewpoint, I prefer urine, to nitrogen produced, by chemical means. but unfortunately a farmer, doesn't produce enough urine with his family, to nurture hie/her crops! saying this reminds me of many threads here @ sab that have, had a similar focus as the topic starter. 

 

please, lovly people, try to use the search engine, because there is a wealth of info regarding this topic already here @ sab!!

don't get me wrong and think we don't want people to start new thread about an old topic, we love new threads!:P

 

some people much smarter than us, have plans to save all our urine, via new pluming features, so maybe, at one time farmers can use "organic fertilizers".

I might add that, even the most expensive ferts, are not complete, but animal manures and urine, do the job.

for example phosporous, the first element discovered, by humans, and how? by extracting urine!!!!

than stupid, and greedy people discovered how to get it by mining,:slap: and this methode is not carbon friendly.

 

I support the view, that maybe there is a difference, say if you synthicize ephedrine, or get it from nature, but we haven't discovered yet, what it could be,

my guess is, it could be going towards string theory.

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On 12/06/2020 at 2:25 PM, withdrawl clinic said:

organic, is just a word, the molecules, would look the same regardless of how they were manufactured.

 

organic in the sense of carbon-based molecules means something different from organic farming though

 

e.g. glyphosate is an organic compound, but its use its not permitted on certified organic farms. 

 

edit:

On 02/06/2020 at 11:48 AM, EthnoDan said:

However i want to know if the chemical fertilisers and such added to these mixes will leech into or negatively effect the plant.

 

if used at too high a concentration, or wrong pH on certain plants it can damage or kill them. but the same is true for natural stuff e.g. some cacti can die even with nitrogen rich natural soils like manure.

 

I try to garden with as few external inputs as possible. for hungry plants like veggies etc I prefer using worm castings, mycorrhizae (actively aerated compost tea) and compost from food scraps etc but that's just my personal preference. 

 

tassiescott's soil mix sounds great

Edited by saguaro
answering original question

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