Purchasable CP soil mix??

Purchasable CP soil mix??#432156

By BxndiTSold -  Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:19 am
Posts:  197
Joined:  Thu Aug 25, 2022 12:20 am

- Sat Mar 18, 2023 12:19 am #432156

Hi all! Just a quick question, I recently seen on Amazon that they sell actual bags of CP potting medium, its a mix of perlite, peat moss, and i think silica sand, it is by perfect plants and has over 1,000 purchases in the last month, do you think it safe to use for my CPs? It claims to be 100% organic as well

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Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432157

By wcrosman -  Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:53 am
Location:  Front Range Colorado
Posts:  181
Joined:  Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:03 am

- Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:53 am #432157

Definitely avoid that brand like a plague. I have purchased two bags. One was fine. The other purchased within the last two months had well over 180 ppm tds when 0 tds water poured through it.

Tom

Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432158

By wcrosman -  Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:54 am
Location:  Front Range Colorado
Posts:  181
Joined:  Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:03 am

- Sat Mar 18, 2023 1:54 am #432158

Definitely avoid that brand like a plague. I have purchased two bags. One was fine. The other purchased within the last two months had well over 180 ppm tds when 0 tds water poured through it.

I didn’t notice until a brand new sundew started failing. Its still really struggling.

I contacted their customer service and they were clueless.
post431360.html#p431360

Tom

Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432159

By Intheswamp -  Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:10 am
Location:  Lower Alabama (LA), USA - N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  1960
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:10 am #432159

It's probably safe...but expensive.

Buy this...$16
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Perfect-Pla ... /315080622

And this...$6
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Vigoro-8-Qt ... /307678036

Mix equal amounts together and for $22 plus tax you end up with four times the amount of a 50/50 peat/perlite mix than you get with the premixed bag ($16) on Amazon. No sand, though, but sand's isn't a "must have". And, if you decide you want sand then there are some options for pool filter sand...it adds to the cost but it also increases the amount of grow mix you have.

Now, if you don't think you're going to be needing much mix and storage space is really tight then the smaller package will work.

It's probably fine, as long as it contains no fertilizer or lime...at from its description it doesn't look like it does.

Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432160

By Intheswamp -  Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:14 am
Location:  Lower Alabama (LA), USA - N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  1960
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:14 am #432160

Ok, wcrosman just posted a review of the grow mix. Looks like you might want to stay away from Perfect Plants stuff.

Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432162

By Intheswamp -  Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:33 am
Location:  Lower Alabama (LA), USA - N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  1960
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Sat Mar 18, 2023 2:33 am #432162

Swap out the Pefect Plants brand of peat moss for Hoffman. Amazon has Hoffman. Get the Vigoro perlite from Home Depot.
https://www.amazon.com/Hoffman-15503-Ca ... r=8-7&th=1

Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432415

By wcrosman -  Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:54 pm
Location:  Front Range Colorado
Posts:  181
Joined:  Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:03 am

- Thu Mar 23, 2023 4:54 pm #432415

So just to ensure my experience is correct I took about a quart of my new bag of perfect plants and a quart of my old bag hydrated each an then ran over a gallon of 0 tds water through each. I did about a quart at a time. The initial quart drainage from each was 138 ppm for new bag, 28 ppm for old bag. After entire gallon poured through each the new bag got down to 28 ppm and the old bag 2 ppm.

Tom

Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432421

By Intheswamp -  Thu Mar 23, 2023 6:04 pm
Location:  Lower Alabama (LA), USA - N31°43'59" USDA 8a/b
Posts:  1960
Joined:  Wed May 04, 2022 2:28 pm

- Thu Mar 23, 2023 6:04 pm #432421

Hmm, I'm not sure what you're wanting confirmation on that you're correct. ??? But, it appears that the new bag indeed has a higher TDS than the old bag did, from the data you posted.

Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432482

By Barlapipas 6 -  Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:11 pm
Location:  zone 9b Greece
Posts:  407
Joined:  Tue Aug 30, 2022 11:26 pm

- Fri Mar 24, 2023 8:11 pm #432482

One time I bought unknown soil from a nursery that was listed for CPs. It was made of some kind of sand and probably peat. But when I got it it had tiny bugs in it (probably springtails) and a lot of simmering pieces like glitter (it was probably mica). When I poured 0 ppm water to it it made a disgusting bubbly sludge and it measured over 300 ppm. I kept some of it for experiments in the future. When I will can produce more plants I will flush it and try to use it. I will also try and make nutrient poor other types of soil too and try to use them.

I am hungry

Re: Purchasable CP soil mix??#432484

By wcrosman -  Fri Mar 24, 2023 9:27 pm
Location:  Front Range Colorado
Posts:  181
Joined:  Thu Apr 14, 2022 2:03 am

- Fri Mar 24, 2023 9:27 pm #432484

I had it and my plant in a glazed ceramic pot that I had drilled some holes in. I was just double checking that the tds wasn’t coming from the pot. I didn’t think so as I had used it as an outer pot for my flytrap last year. The above test pretty well proved it but I now have had the pot soaking in water for two days with no increase in the tds.

Yes avoid that brand like a plague.

Tom

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