I watched Gardening Australia last Saturday – the segment on premium potting mix & how it is made.
I buy ‘premium potting mix’ but am amazed that I find many other things in it ie., bits of fly screen, panti hose pieces, various bits of plastic, stones, wood, wire, & other unidentifable bits & pieces.
Is there any Dept that controls what goes into potting mix?
I am convinced that all commercial potting mix contain plant viruses, I recently made up some of my own using a recipe from an English book & am keen to see if my Tomatoes get a virus this year.
I have used new pots etc.,

Any thoughts guys?

BTW live in Sydney Inner West

no impurities here in sa.
i am interested in the british home grown sort tho’. do you put it in an oven to kill weeds?
i’m adding – coir, bentonite and a bit of mineral mix – to the potting mix i buy.

Hi Pepe

The mix has 2 recipes -one for ‘All purpose’ mix & one for ‘Fast growing perennial & vegetables.’

The all purpose contains:
2 Parts virgin garden soil (in other words from a place in the garden where nothing has been grown before ie from the grassed area) it is advised to heat it for a while.
1 Part manure (any)
1 Part sand or vermiculite.

For the Fast growing mix you use
1 Part soil & 2 Parts manure
& 1 Part sand etc.

I also added a handful of water saving granules.

Here’s hoping my Tomatoes get to maturity this year!

Why would anyone buy potting mix when they can easily make it from daily wastes.. in a compost heap?

roughbarked said:

Why would anyone buy potting mix when they can easily make it from daily wastes.. in a compost heap?

Because they don’t have a big garden or a place to put it so it can get hot & kill the weeds

possum70 said:

Hi Pepe The mix has 2 recipes -one for ‘All purpose’ mix & one for ‘Fast growing perennial & vegetables.’
The all purpose contains:
2 Parts virgin garden soil (in other words from a place in the garden where nothing has been grown before ie from the grassed area) it is advised to heat it for a while.
1 Part manure (any)
1 Part sand or vermiculite.
For the Fast growing mix you use
1 Part soil & 2 Parts manure
& 1 Part sand etc.
I also added a handful of water saving granules.
Here’s hoping my Tomatoes get to maturity this year!

thanks for the recipes possum.
i have lots of problems with tomatoes. i doubt that those mixes will be rich enough for toms.

pepe said:

no impurities here in sa.
i am interested in the british home grown sort tho’. do you put it in an oven to kill weeds?
i’m adding – coir, bentonite and a bit of mineral mix – to the potting mix i buy.

Pepe, can you tell me what the commercial name for Bentonite is please? I can remember Aquarium saying that it wasn’t marketed as Bentonite.

pepe said:

no impurities here in sa.
i am interested in the british home grown sort tho’. do you put it in an oven to kill weeds?
i’m adding – coir, bentonite and a bit of mineral mix – to the potting mix i buy.

Pepe, can you tell me what the commercial name for Bentonite is please? I can remember Aquarium saying that it wasn’t marketed as Bentonite.

pomolo said:

pepe said:

no impurities here in sa.
i am interested in the british home grown sort tho’. do you put it in an oven to kill weeds?
i’m adding – coir, bentonite and a bit of mineral mix – to the potting mix i buy.

Pepe, can you tell me what the commercial name for Bentonite is please? I can remember Aquarium saying that it wasn’t marketed as Bentonite.

There’s a product in WA called Sand Remedy which I think is largely composed of bentonite.. not sure if you can get it over east though.

thanks for the recipes possum.
i have lots of problems with tomatoes. i doubt that those mixes will be rich enough for toms.

I forgot I also added blood & bone

bon008 said:

pomolo said:

pepe said:

no impurities here in sa.
i am interested in the british home grown sort tho’. do you put it in an oven to kill weeds?
i’m adding – coir, bentonite and a bit of mineral mix – to the potting mix i buy.

Pepe, can you tell me what the commercial name for Bentonite is please? I can remember Aquarium saying that it wasn’t marketed as Bentonite.

There’s a product in WA called Sand Remedy which I think is largely composed of bentonite.. not sure if you can get it over east though.

I’ve never seen anything with that name over here but I will keep it in mind next time I’m getting stuff for the garden. thanks bon.

pomolo said:

pepe said:

no impurities here in sa.
i am interested in the british home grown sort tho’. do you put it in an oven to kill weeds?
i’m adding – coir, bentonite and a bit of mineral mix – to the potting mix i buy.

Pepe, can you tell me what the commercial name for Bentonite is please? I can remember Aquarium saying that it wasn’t marketed as Bentonite.

Munns ‘Wetta Lawn & Garden’

pepe said:

pomolo said:

pepe said:

no impurities here in sa.
i am interested in the british home grown sort tho’. do you put it in an oven to kill weeds?
i’m adding – coir, bentonite and a bit of mineral mix – to the potting mix i buy.

Pepe, can you tell me what the commercial name for Bentonite is please? I can remember Aquarium saying that it wasn’t marketed as Bentonite.

Munns ‘Wetta Lawn & Garden’

Well that’s definately not what Aquarium called it. There must be a few products available with it in.

Thank you people. I’m signing off now. G’night.

pomolo said:

pepe said:

pomolo said:

Pepe, can you tell me what the commercial name for Bentonite is please? I can remember Aquarium saying that it wasn’t marketed as Bentonite.

Munns ‘Wetta Lawn & Garden’

Well that’s definately not what Aquarium called it. There must be a few products available with it in.

yes it is – same one aquarium put me onto – interestingly we all keep forgetting its very forgettable name.

possum70 said:

thanks for the recipes possum.
i have lots of problems with tomatoes. i doubt that those mixes will be rich enough for toms.

I forgot I also added blood & bone

oh – i lost my host – firefox earlier.
yes b&b is good – probably a splash of potash, a tad of molasses, sprinkling of epsom salts and just about everything else also. I once asked how to grow toms on this forum and by the time the advice stopped flowing every known element had been recommended. LOL.
cya

I recall having advised that bentonite is used as a drilling fluid additive. It thickens the fluid preventing fluid loss in porous layers. Anyway, if i wanted bentonite, i’d get in touch with a drilling supply company, (of which there are squillions, including waterborers. Look in the yellow pages under boring) and i’d ask them where to get a bag of bentonite. I’ll bet you’d get it for a fraction of the retail horticulture price.

Like gypsum .. the mind boggles as to what bentonite is of use for in the garden.

Sorry

it doesn’t compute

roughbarked said:

Like gypsum .. the mind boggles as to what bentonite is of use for in the garden.

Sorry

it doesn’t compute

The Great Gardening team over in WA reckon that a combination of bentonite and spongelite is beneficial for our gutless sand…

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

Like gypsum .. the mind boggles as to what bentonite is of use for in the garden.

Sorry

it doesn’t compute

The Great Gardening team over in WA reckon that a combination of bentonite and spongelite is beneficial for our gutless sand…

and they are so fantastically wrong it just isn’t funny to contemplate.

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

Like gypsum .. the mind boggles as to what bentonite is of use for in the garden.

Sorry

it doesn’t compute

The Great Gardening team over in WA reckon that a combination of bentonite and spongelite is beneficial for our gutless sand…

and they are so fantastically wrong it just isn’t funny to contemplate.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall if I could get them and you in the same room… :)

Here is some of their advice if you’re interested: http://www.greatgardens.info/docs/GG005.html

Oops, I was wrong before – Sand Remedy is bentonite and zeolite, not spongelite.

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

The Great Gardening team over in WA reckon that a combination of bentonite and spongelite is beneficial for our gutless sand…

and they are so fantastically wrong it just isn’t funny to contemplate.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall if I could get them and you in the same room… :)

Here is some of their advice if you’re interested: http://www.greatgardens.info/docs/GG005.html

Oops, I was wrong before – Sand Remedy is bentonite and zeolite, not spongelite.

Did they actually tell you where they were going to get enough bentonite and zeolite?

I do get peeved with the BS on television .. I often turn it off and walk away. Especially programs like the QandA of late.

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

and they are so fantastically wrong it just isn’t funny to contemplate.

I’d love to be a fly on the wall if I could get them and you in the same room… :)

Here is some of their advice if you’re interested: http://www.greatgardens.info/docs/GG005.html

Oops, I was wrong before – Sand Remedy is bentonite and zeolite, not spongelite.

Did they actually tell you where they were going to get enough bentonite and zeolite?

I do get peeved with the BS on television .. I often turn it off and walk away. Especially programs like the QandA of late.

Um .. can you do me the figures on the amount of sand needed to be treated thus in WA gardens.. and farms?

I’m willing to lay a bet that it will suck this place dry and long be wanting more.. http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Products/Bentonite

roughbarked said:

Did they actually tell you where they were going to get enough bentonite and zeolite?

I do get peeved with the BS on television .. I often turn it off and walk away. Especially programs like the QandA of late.

This isn’t stuff that’s on TV – it’s a group of people who run 3 hour workshops on gardening. Although it does include a local TV/radio gardening personality. Generally though they are very critical of most of the gardening stuff on TV – because it’s impossible to give good advice if you’re targeting the whole country. Their approach is that they’re talking about things that they personally have tried and tested in Perth.

I remember they did tell us where the bentonite in Sand Remedy comes from.. can’t remember where though :) A rural area in WA…

roughbarked said:

Um .. can you do me the figures on the amount of sand needed to be treated thus in WA gardens.. and farms?

I’m willing to lay a bet that it will suck this place dry and long be wanting more.. http://www.hotfrog.com.au/Products/Bentonite

Nope, way too lazy to do that grin

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

Did they actually tell you where they were going to get enough bentonite and zeolite?

I do get peeved with the BS on television .. I often turn it off and walk away. Especially programs like the QandA of late.

This isn’t stuff that’s on TV – it’s a group of people who run 3 hour workshops on gardening. Although it does include a local TV/radio gardening personality. Generally though they are very critical of most of the gardening stuff on TV – because it’s impossible to give good advice if you’re targeting the whole country. Their approach is that they’re talking about things that they personally have tried and tested in Perth.

I remember they did tell us where the bentonite in Sand Remedy comes from.. can’t remember where though :) A rural area in WA…

What I comprehend but don’t grok about Australians is.. that they see that digging up their backyard as a magic ingredient for someone else’s backyard is a viable end result for their descendants to inherit.

You can make sand work without bentonite.. .. nature does.

you can make bentonite work without sand.. nature does.

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

Did they actually tell you where they were going to get enough bentonite and zeolite?

I do get peeved with the BS on television .. I often turn it off and walk away. Especially programs like the QandA of late.

This isn’t stuff that’s on TV – it’s a group of people who run 3 hour workshops on gardening. Although it does include a local TV/radio gardening personality. Generally though they are very critical of most of the gardening stuff on TV – because it’s impossible to give good advice if you’re targeting the whole country. Their approach is that they’re talking about things that they personally have tried and tested in Perth.

I remember they did tell us where the bentonite in Sand Remedy comes from.. can’t remember where though :) A rural area in WA…

What I comprehend but don’t grok about Australians is.. that they see that digging up their backyard as a magic ingredient for someone else’s backyard is a viable end result for their descendants to inherit.

You can make sand work without bentonite.. .. nature does.

you can make bentonite work without sand.. nature does.

True – but your average suburban garden is a long way away from nature. It’s been dug up and put back and filled in with building sand, compressed, left bare for years, etc…. surely sometimes external inputs can help to make up for these past abuses? Particularly if you don’t have a lifetime available to get your soil healthy again..

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

This isn’t stuff that’s on TV – it’s a group of people who run 3 hour workshops on gardening. Although it does include a local TV/radio gardening personality. Generally though they are very critical of most of the gardening stuff on TV – because it’s impossible to give good advice if you’re targeting the whole country. Their approach is that they’re talking about things that they personally have tried and tested in Perth.

I remember they did tell us where the bentonite in Sand Remedy comes from.. can’t remember where though :) A rural area in WA…

What I comprehend but don’t grok about Australians is.. that they see that digging up their backyard as a magic ingredient for someone else’s backyard is a viable end result for their descendants to inherit.

You can make sand work without bentonite.. .. nature does.

you can make bentonite work without sand.. nature does.

True – but your average suburban garden is a long way away from nature. It’s been dug up and put back and filled in with building sand, compressed, left bare for years, etc…. surely sometimes external inputs can help to make up for these past abuses? Particularly if you don’t have a lifetime available to get your soil healthy again..

I suggest you duck over to scribbly gum and start reading the recent mulch thread unless you want me to start repeating myself..

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

This isn’t stuff that’s on TV – it’s a group of people who run 3 hour workshops on gardening. Although it does include a local TV/radio gardening personality. Generally though they are very critical of most of the gardening stuff on TV – because it’s impossible to give good advice if you’re targeting the whole country. Their approach is that they’re talking about things that they personally have tried and tested in Perth.

I remember they did tell us where the bentonite in Sand Remedy comes from.. can’t remember where though :) A rural area in WA…

What I comprehend but don’t grok about Australians is.. that they see that digging up their backyard as a magic ingredient for someone else’s backyard is a viable end result for their descendants to inherit.

You can make sand work without bentonite.. .. nature does.

you can make bentonite work without sand.. nature does.

True – but your average suburban garden is a long way away from nature. It’s been dug up and put back and filled in with building sand, compressed, left bare for years, etc…. surely sometimes external inputs can help to make up for these past abuses? Particularly if you don’t have a lifetime available to get your soil healthy again..

I suggest you duck over to scribbly gum and start reading the recent mulch thread unless you want me to start repeating myself..

roughbarked said:

I suggest you duck over to scribbly gum and start reading the recent mulch thread unless you want me to start repeating myself..

No time :) I should really be going to bed by now.. just finishing off some emails I need to send and then I’m off.

(sorry for hijacking the thread, everyone who was interested in potting mix! I just can’t help picking RB’s brain when he’s here the same time I am:))

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

I suggest you duck over to scribbly gum and start reading the recent mulch thread unless you want me to start repeating myself..

No time :) I should really be going to bed by now.. just finishing off some emails I need to send and then I’m off.

(sorry for hijacking the thread, everyone who was interested in potting mix! I just can’t help picking RB’s brain when he’s here the same time I am:))

;) http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/newposts/429/topic429701.shtm

the first sentence says it all.

roughbarked said:

bon008 said:

roughbarked said:

I suggest you duck over to scribbly gum and start reading the recent mulch thread unless you want me to start repeating myself..

No time :) I should really be going to bed by now.. just finishing off some emails I need to send and then I’m off.

(sorry for hijacking the thread, everyone who was interested in potting mix! I just can’t help picking RB’s brain when he’s here the same time I am:))

;) http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/scribblygum/newposts/429/topic429701.shtm

the first sentence says it all.

OK you got me.. had a quick peek on my way to brush my teeth :D

OK the OP was about potting mix and I took it to all the hundred feet deep sand in WA.. which by the way nature got along with quite well before we came along with our science..

In potting mixes you may well be benifited by adding clays that hold water but this is not a necessity.. it is more of a sales gimmick to bare another patch of our land for mining.

Longy’s a good one for adding some coir as water-holder in potting mix…

Dinetta said:

Longy’s a good one for adding some coir as water-holder in potting mix…

coir , peatmoss yes these have long been used.

pepe said:

pomolo said:

pepe said:

Munns ‘Wetta Lawn & Garden’

Well that’s definately not what Aquarium called it. There must be a few products available with it in.

yes it is – same one aquarium put me onto – interestingly we all keep forgetting its very forgettable name.

Sorry Pepe. Blame it on episcia.

Longy said:

I recall having advised that bentonite is used as a drilling fluid additive. It thickens the fluid preventing fluid loss in porous layers. Anyway, if i wanted bentonite, i’d get in touch with a drilling supply company, (of which there are squillions, including waterborers. Look in the yellow pages under boring) and i’d ask them where to get a bag of bentonite. I’ll bet you’d get it for a fraction of the retail horticulture price.

So you did. Say that I mean. There is a drilling company just up the road too. Good info there LF.

pomolo said:

pepe said:

pomolo said:

Well that’s definately not what Aquarium called it. There must be a few products available with it in.

yes it is – same one aquarium put me onto – interestingly we all keep forgetting its very forgettable name.

Sorry Pepe. Blame it on episcia.

“Episcia” is the wrong word. I’ll think about that one and get back to you.

pomolo said:

pomolo said:

pepe said:

yes it is – same one aquarium put me onto – interestingly we all keep forgetting its very forgettable name.

Sorry Pepe. Blame it on episcia.

“Episcia” is the wrong word. I’ll think about that one and get back to you.

It’s eschemia. Now I can rest my brian.

who started this topic and where did it go?? LOL

i use coir and a bit of bentonite in my potting mixes because i have difficulty producing seedling trays of the same quality as i can buy in the shops. HP has recently demonstrated (with onions) that a lack of heat pad or thermal light thingy is probably my main problem.

calcium bentonite ( not the cheaper sodium bentonite) is preferable to those other wetting agents and certainly improves the water holding capacity of the potting mix.

It’s eschemia. Now I can rest my brian.
-
chuckle – its a stupid name ‘wetta lawn and garden’ and i had to look it up. my brian seems to be losing its recall as well – and i can’t remember why.