# Recipe for potting soil



## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

I know this is probably a dumb question, anyone got a recipe for potting soil? Did a search here and didnt find anything, I'm getting ready to start my seeds in the greenhouse and instead of buying potting soil (and if the day comes you cant) was thinking about makeing it up, I have a big pile of cow manure but used straight didn't know if it would be to hot to start seeds in.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

For seed startin I use.

3 quarts 1/4" screened compost
2 quarts 1/4" screened peat moss
1 quart oil dri
1-2 cups perlite.

I use basically the same thing for up potting mix only I use 1/2" screened material and one or two more parts compost.

I wouldn't use the manure in the starting mix put would include some in the up pot mix.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

This is actually a pretty complicated area if you really get into it. 
The vast majority of "potting soil" you can buy is considered a "soil-less mix", that is the technical term for no actual dirt. They are mostly made up of peat moss but composted bark or coconut coir are used as well. Then they add stuff like vermiculite or perlite to adjust the drainage etc. They are often ph adjusted with lime as well, peat moss is slightly acidic.
You can certainly buy all those ingredients and make it your self but that is not what you are looking for I am guessing.

In practice and especially if it is just for transplants most things will work well including what PackerBacker just explained.
You can use soil but the common practice is to sterilize it to avoid fungus and disease. Then you can add a whole host of things to make it lighter and more able to provide the moist but not damp environment most sprouts need. If you don't want to have to buy stuff sand and gravel can be added for drainage for example, and various materials like "leaf mold" can add to water retention.
WELL composted cow manure makes an excellent compost/fertilizer it is really not too hot to use in generous quantities for most plants.

Here is a link to a good site if you are interested in mixes
http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/potting-soil-recipes


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

Packerbacker, what is the oil dri for to keep it loose, isnt that what the perlite does? Cowboyhermit I can see how this could get complicated if ya get into the science of it, the cow manure I have is pretty well rotted down guess the biggest concern would be makeing it sterile something I hadent even thought about, going to town today to pickup whatever ingrediant I need be sure I'll get more than I just need, geez now another thing to stock up on.


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

talob said:


> Packerbacker, what is the oil dri for to keep it loose, isnt that what the perlite does? Cowboyhermit I can see how this could get complicated if ya get into the science of it, the cow manure I have is pretty well rotted down guess the biggest concern would be makeing it sterile something I hadent even thought about, going to town today to pickup whatever ingrediant I need be sure I'll get more than I just need, geez now another thing to stock up on.


Oil dri has similar qualities as the perlite but costs a fraction.

I wouldn't worry about sterilizing. IMO it's over hyped. I have not ever sterilized my mixes.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

To sterilize dirt, compost, whatever you basically just have to heat it up but it is actually more of a pasteurization process, somewhere around 170 farenheit I think, I am all in celcius these days. You can use an oven like my grandma did or the microwave, it doesn't smell like sunshine though 
I prefer a pot outside or a solar oven kind of setup. It is not that hard unless you have a large greenhouse and are running a commercial garden:nuts:

I believe that the oil dry is added for moisture retention like zeolite and other minerals.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

This is why sterilizing is pushed http://thisviewofearth.blogspot.ca/2010/02/why-sterilize-soil-before-sowing-seeds.html
The idea of sterilizing soil never really sat well with me and I never sterilized anything in the ground but when you take things out of their ecosystem bad stuff can happen. I have seen a lot of dead sprouts


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## PackerBacker (Dec 13, 2012)

cowboyhermit said:


> This is why sterilizing is pushed http://thisviewofearth.blogspot.ca/2010/02/why-sterilize-soil-before-sowing-seeds.html
> The idea of sterilizing soil never really sat well with me and I never sterilized anything in the ground but when you take things out of their ecosystem bad stuff can happen. I have seen a lot of dead sprouts


I haven't experienced anything like that. I think he's got more going on than anything that could cured by steilized soil.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

I have seen it on a massive scale PackerBacker, not in our operation but in very well run commercial greenhouses and a government facility. We had our share of damping off over the years but nothing catastrophic. 
Sterilization is not necessary but has benefits in pots.
Gardening is like that though, I read about so many things like blights and bugs eating this or that crop and it is completely foreign to me, we have grown the same things for over a hundred years and never seen a single case.:dunno:


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## talob (Sep 16, 2009)

Thanks for the replys guys, I'll get enough stuff to make a wheelbarow size batch I'll screen the manure and I'm gonna try without sterilizing it, can't see all that manure in the wifes oven worse case if it dosent work out extra will go on the garden.


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