Soil conditioner, bagged mix after sifting

[CWTurner]

So in preparation for some fall potting, I've been sifting my ass off lately. Sifting the crushed stone and NAPA oil dry that I use, and this nice Soil Conditioner that I picked up a my local nursery.

It is very nice stuff, though it contains a good bit of fines. Anyway, since I spent all that time sifting, I figured that I would post the results for anyone who is looking for a good looking organic component.

Here's the product:


After sifting through a 1/2" screen I get:


After sifting the remainder through a 1/4" screen I get:


After sifting that remainder through a 1/8" screen I get:


And after sifting through a 1/16" screen I am left with this:
Useless for bonsai, but it looks nice for seed starting.

Looking at the pics, I see that it is hard to estimate these pile sizes, and I realize that I should have measured it out in quarts or something. But all the piles were poured out to keep the pile as tight as possible, so maybe you can judge the relative pile sizes that way.

BTW, the mind has plenty to chew on during this boring activity, and it dawned on me that there should be a right and wrong way to sift. For instance when I sift my crushed stone (its heavy) so it makes sense to sift out the heaviest component first so that I am not re-sifting that. I learned the hard way that its better to sift the large component out of this soil conditioner first so that the sifting process shakes a lot more of the sub 1/16" particles loose.

And whether or not you are sifting a dry or damp material seems to matter as well. A flow chart would be nice. Maybe I'll do that some cold winter night.

CW

 

[sorce]

Sifting sucks.

But.....

No matter what soil you use....
It's sifted soil that is the best.

I wholly appreciate your thoughts on proper sifting. I thought the same after a wasted hour.

I bought a similar bag of pine fines last year. I do like it, but Oil Dry alone has proven best for me.

The 1/8 oil dry and pine is nice for accent plants.

Sorce

 

[_#1_]

CW, I'm about to make a 3' x 7' x 12" high grow bed. What size conditioner do you recommend?

I was thinking potting soil, conditioner, perlite. In those order by volume.

Should I change or add to the mix? Like manure? Osmocote?

 

[DougB]

How about Black Kow in place of the potting soil and the conditioner? I also would use (maybe shifted or not) Granite Chicken Grit. Would only use a fert after plants are in and accumulated. Also if you are using 2X4's I would make the size 4' x 8'. At 4' you can still reach into the center of the bed. Just my view.

 

[_#1_]

Thanks for the input DougB, I will look into those. But since the local nursery has those conditioner I might give those a try.

4' high? Almost tall as me! Why so high?

 

[aml1014]

Thanks for the input DougB, I will look into those. But since the local nursery has those conditioner I might give those a try.

4' high? Almost tall as me! Why so high?

Pretty sure he means 4 feet across 8 feet wide, and however deep you choose.

Aaron

 

[_#1_]

Oh right lol. Reading/comprehension 101!

Still gotta look up granite chicken grits. Never heard of it. I thought I was doing a lot of reading regarding soil but I never came upon granite chichen grits...

 

[augustine]

My opinion only on growing bed soil - and there are plenty of other good recipes.

Organic component and as much perlite as you care to buy, soil conditioner or bark is fine also.. Do you make your own compost? Good compost would also work well.

I think you can use cheaper topsoil in the bags rather than potting sold which will be 3 to 4 times the cost. Save money on the soil and spend it on perlite.)

Personally I use home made compost, bark, perlite, used (undiseased) bonsai soil, grit or pea stone or whatever laying around that looks good. Just think organic component, a soil lightener and drainage.

Also, you can buy real big bags of perlite at an agricultural of farm supply store (I think it's 4 cu ft rather than 2 cu ft bag from Home Depot. You'll save 10 to 12 bucks by purchasing the big bag. No need to buy premium products for this substrate. Ground substrate is different than pot substrate therefore there is no need to spend money like you're making a bonsai mix. See the articles on Evergreengardenworks.com. There is a piece on why the ground is different than container.

Ground growing is so gratifying, the plants really develop well but there is a learning curve on proper training while your plant is in the ground.

 

[DougB]

 

[CWTurner]

Tractor Supply carries the poultry grit.
CW

 

[GrimLore]

Oh right lol. Reading/comprehension 101!

Still gotta look up granite chicken grits. Never heard of it. I thought I was doing a lot of reading regarding soil but I never came upon granite chichen grits...

Turkey Grit as well, they differ mostly in size and work great if you get a crushed granite variety of either from a feed store. There is also an oyster shell type but I don't recommend it as that usually also has limestone in it and the powder is excessive. You will have some powder with the granite but is easily rinsed away - I just toss it in a nursery pot and stream it with the hose and it disappears in the lawn.

Grimmy

 

[Soldano666]

I found stone dust at a local landscape nursury, it's very dusty however the employee let me sift some out and I filled a couple 5 gal buckets with the larger pieces that I was left with after sifting. It's about the same size as the chicken grit, but it's grey granite stone so the color is the really the only difference I can see so far. Oh and they gave it to me for free. The price is normally about $38 a cubic yard, but since I diddnt want the dust apparently they diddnt feel I needed to pay for a couple bucket fulls. Even if I did have to pay it would beat the price of the chicken grit by a long shot

 

[CWTurner]

I found stone dust

This is the primary non-organic ingredient for most of my trees because I had an extra 1/2 yard of the stuff left over from this garden path project.

Lots and lots of dust that will make the soil turn almost to concrete if it isn't washed out well. Make sure you sift it to like sizes or it will compact (that's what its designed to do).
The only benefits are its price and weight. The weight does keep my trees in place when its windy.
My next repot, everything's going into lava and pumice based soils. I'll save this stone dust for ground growing as an additive.
CW

 

[_#1_]

Just think organic component, a soil lightener and drainage.

I think that sums it up for ground growing.

Potting soil, Pine fines, perlite, grits/pea stones sounds good to me!

Nice garden pathway CW. Oddly enough there's no bonsai related things in the pic.

edit: On the pine bark. Is it better to use uniform size or it doesn't really matter since it's in the ground?

 

[Eric Group]

So in preparation for some fall potting, I've been sifting my ass off lately. Sifting the crushed stone and NAPA oil dry that I use, and this nice Soil Conditioner that I picked up a my local nursery.

It is very nice stuff, though it contains a good bit of fines. Anyway, since I spent all that time sifting, I figured that I would post the results for anyone who is looking for a good looking organic component.

Here's the product:
View attachment 80788

After sifting through a 1/2" screen I get:
View attachment 80789

After sifting the remainder through a 1/4" screen I get:
View attachment 80790

After sifting that remainder through a 1/8" screen I get:
View attachment 80791

And after sifting through a 1/16" screen I am left with this:
View attachment 80792 Useless for bonsai, but it looks nice for seed starting.

Looking at the pics, I see that it is hard to estimate these pile sizes, and I realize that I should have measured it out in quarts or something. But all the piles were poured out to keep the pile as tight as possible, so maybe you can judge the relative pile sizes that way.

BTW, the mind has plenty to chew on during this boring activity, and it dawned on me that there should be a right and wrong way to sift. For instance when I sift my crushed stone (its heavy) so it makes sense to sift out the heaviest component first so that I am not re-sifting that. I learned the hard way that its better to sift the large component out of this soil conditioner first so that the sifting process shakes a lot more of the sub 1/16" particles loose.

And whether or not you are sifting a dry or damp material seems to matter as well. A flow chart would be nice. Maybe I'll do that some cold winter night.

CW

Boy, some of you guys are pulling out the fancy stuff with these canned drinks lately!

Second can I have seen in two days that was something I have never had in my fridge! LOL

I use the soil conditioner... As SOIL conditioner! In my garden... Don't usually sift it. I tried to use it in Bonsai soil for a while but switched to inorganic a a couple years ago. I still use it for my "potting soil" mix, but just a little bit... Mized with Peat, Lerlite and some frets, it makes most my trees pretty happy! Unsifted.... Much easier that way!

 

[_#1_]

Unsifted.... Much easier that way!

That's what I was hoping to hear(read).

Thanks a bunch Eric Group for the advice! I will be adding some peat and ferts as well to the mix. By ferts, cow poop right?

edit again: can I get a mix percentage Eric? I only get one chance at this and don't want to fudge it up! Thanks in advance!