Reverse engineering commercial potting soils

[johnny108]

Found this website:

Plant Nutrients 101: How Soil Nutrition Effects Your Plants -AlboPepper.com

Nutrients are critical to the development of healthy, productive plants. Get ideas for fertilizing the soil in your urban garden.

albopepper.com

With this video:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNsm1YpXlbg


I'm researching what type of soil or soilless mix to use for container grown tobacco.
I've tried dozens of commercial soils in Germany- even the ones specific for tomatoes- they are all garbage.
I would kill for some decent Miracle Grow 6-month potting soil, or some Black Gold potting soil.
I figured I would make my own. After watching Knucklehead's grow blog, I figured a good commercial potting mix would be just the thing.
I can find most of the ingredients (peat moss seems to have been deemed "double-plus ungood" for some reason, but coconut coir should do.).
Couldn't figure out how to get a time release fertilizer into the mix, without a risk of over doing it, until I found the above site/video.
Anyone got the time to double check his numbers on his time release fertilizer addition for a Miracle Grow-like product?
It made sense to me, but my newborn and my 2 year old have me somewhat sleep deprived. Everything is kinda "fuzzy" ....
(Except for the Incan monkey god, who came to me on my 3rd no sleep night, and taught me many things, but I haven't had time to
decipher his simple, yet beautiful language.....)

 

[Knucklehead]

Not much fertilizer. 0.21-0.11-0.16. Note the decimal.



This is the front side. Feeds for six months. Pffftt. My leaves start yellowing after a couple weeks. Plan on supplemental feeding.

 

[Knucklehead]

For fertilizer, I use the Miracle Grow tomato food in the patch (or pool) but not for tiny seedlings.

 

[billy]

in my experience if you make your own compost and mix some in pretty much anything it will do great since it adds wide array of nutrients and biology and makes the texture nice, if for pots mix in some perlite also. fertilizer you could premix in organic fertilizer or many ways to go there

 

[billy]

but anyway a mixture of things is better, say you have just peat and some chemical fertilizer many minor nutrients and biology are probably at 0.
say you can get some peat and perlite mix like a basic potting mix, see if you can find some sort of actual compost to mix in. maybe a bag of worm castings mix in. some peletized organic fertillzier mix in. that variety will ensure all your bases are covered.

 

[johnny108]

but anyway a mixture of things is better, say you have just peat and some chemical fertilizer many minor nutrients and biology are probably at 0.
say you can get some peat and perlite mix like a basic potting mix, see if you can find some sort of actual compost to mix in. maybe a bag of worm castings mix in. some peletized organic fertillzier mix in. that variety will ensure all your bases are covered.

Pelletized composted cow manure is available (npk on bag is 2.5 - 2 - 2.5).
Was thinking of soaking it to break down the pellets, then mixing with coconut coir (so it isn’t so compacted) and perlite (for air), plus a time release fertilizer.

 

[johnny108]

For fertilizer, I use the Miracle Grow tomato food in the patch (or pool) but not for tiny seedlings.

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I wish I could get anything similar to that-
NPK numbers in Germany never go above 10. Concern about overuse and water contamination makes “triple-20” a distant dream.
I wonder if a soilless mix and soluble fertilizer would work?
I can’t get cypress mulch or Miracle gro, but a coconut coir, vermiculite and perlite blend with a hydroponic nutrient might work, hopefully without being particular about the nutrient liquid ph….

 

[Knucklehead]

That should work. You could also use mix in some black layer from underneath leaves in a forest and start a compost bin for next season. Work all that stuff in together. Even mix in a little light topsoil.