A Simple and Cheap Soil-less Mix Pictorial Using Peat Moss, Perlite, and Vermiculite

[freeskierpj]

So I was asking about soil and soil-less mixes because I didn't really understand what went into a very simple and cheap mix that would work well. I went through grow log after grow log to see what different people used for the foundations of their soil/soil-less mixes and found that peat moss, perlite and vermiculite are solid and cheap mediums that many growers use as a base for more complex soil mixes. I checked around to see what you could do with only peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite and I came up with a nice, simple, airy soil-less mix that retains moisture very well so I hope that this will be helpful for people that need a quality mix to put their plants in on a budget.

Before we begin please note that when possible do not use Miracle Grow (MG) products, they will work and it is what I used in the mix that I made however that was simply because it was the cheapest option I had and I could get all of the products at a Walmart which is right near my apartment. If you have a choice between MG Peat Moss and a different brand and don't mind paying a few extra bucks then you really should stay away from the MG stuff but again if you can't find anything else or are in a pinch it WILL still work!

One of the best parts about this mix is that you can feel free to throw in soil additives such as; blood meal, bone meal, kelp meal, worm castings, powdered dolomite lime, home-made compost/mushroom compost, bat guano, humic/fulvic acids, powdered dolomite lime, and the list goes on (PLEASE NOTE: I just wanted to give a bunch of additive examples as to what I have seen other growers use and what I came across while researching to make this thread so please before you add in anything from this list, research the product and make sure that it will be compatible with any other products you may be adding and also make sure to research the ratios that you would add each additive at).

ON TO THE PICTORIAL!!!

First off you're gonna want to grab your materials which can all be found at Walmart, Lowes, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, ect (or online if you'd rather buy them there). This will only end up costing you maybe $15 at the most (depending on if you buy MG products or spend the extra money to stay away from them) for 1 bag each of peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite which was enough for me to fill 3 10" round pots that were about 10" tall and it left me with plenty of vermiculite for later use seeing as the ratio is 3-3-1, peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite respectively.

Peat Moss:

Perlite:

Vermiculite (I don't think MG even makes vermiculite btw):

PERLITE WARNING: When using perlite be careful not to pour it straight out of the bag and kick up a bunch of dust because that dust is very bad to breath in, also use gloves when mixing up your soil because it isn't good to have a lot of skin contact with perlite. Another way to get rid of the dust (from rckymtnthuglife) is to pour the water directly into the bag and then pour the wet perlite out.

Now I take the contents and mix them together at the ratio of 3 parts peat moss, 3 parts perlite and 3 parts vermiculite. Mix this up well so that when it's dry it should look something like this:

Now take it over to the sink and get some water into it...Do this slowly and mix the water in evenly so that your mix only drips out a few drops of water when you pick up a handful of it and squeeze it tightly. Your mix should now look something like this:

 

[freeskierpj]

Then comes the easy part...either you spread this mix into different containers and pop your seeds in (about a half inch down if you start from seeds) or just move the mix around so you can transplant your plant into it from its old container which is what I did and ta-da, you just made your soil-less mix!

Here's one of my plants that was in MG Seed Starter Mix which had become so compact that the roots were becoming root bound with 1/3 of the pot of the MG mix still untouched at the bottom due to how compacted it was. As you can see the leaves are getting droopy and the plant even looks sad:

Here is that plant a day or two later already very happy with its new medium

I hope this was helpful for some people and if there is anything you think I should add or change then please feel free to comment in the thread.

 

[PIZZA GUY]

PRO MIX BX .
Works great comes in 60 pound bailes

 

[freeskierpj]

True however this mix is a lot cheaper especially using MG products you can basically make your own pro mix for $10-$15 rather than $30+.

 

[rckymtnthuglife]

Hey man, I'm not trying to harsh on you...but you should do a little more reading. I enjoy your enthusiasm.
But you are simply giving bad advice. You can't just add any soil amendment that you would like. You also should NEVER use hydrated lime.

To stop the perlite dust simply pour water into your bag of perlite. Miracle-gro is just a bad choice. Pouring tap water on your plants kills any microlife...as if MG wasn't bad enough. Oh, and finally, a 10gal bag of roots is 12 bucks or I could get a decent bag of local potting soil for 5-6 bucks. Keep up the good work...just maybe save the advice until you get some more experience.

 

[freeskierpj]

Hey man, I'm not trying to harsh on you...but you should do a little more reading. I enjoy your enthusiasm.
But you are simply giving bad advice. You can't just add any soil amendment that you would like. You also should NEVER use hydrated lime.

I guess I didn't write it as well as I should have...those were just amendments that I have seen growers uses and I did say that:

I'm not sure with the additives as to what ratios you would want to use them with this mix so if you wish to use additives then please research and figure out what would be the best ratios to add them in at."

Oh and I did make a mistake with the hydrated lime (I used to use it when growing shrooms) I meant to say powdered dolomite lime so thank you for letting me know.

To stop the perlite dust simply pour water into your bag of perlite. Miracle-gro is just a bad choice. Pouring tap water on your plants kills any microlife...as if MG wasn't bad enough. Oh, and finally, a 10gal bag of roots is 12 bucks or I could get a decent bag of local potting soil for 5-6 bucks. Keep up the good work...just maybe save the advice until you get some more experience.

Maybe I shouldn't have made the thread but I can tell you that using MG and tap water my plants are doing quite well (sure it isn't the best possible mix and I know it's far from it BUT it's served my plants well so far and is very cheap and simple so I just figured I would post the thread to help people out...Thanks for the info about the perlite dust though I didn't know you could do that to stop the dust, I was just throwing the warning in there because I didn't want anybody just pouring out their bag of perlite into a bucket and inhaling the resulting dust so I will add that info to the warning.

 

[OrganicOzarks]

You have a good start here, but you need to continue by providing microbial life. I would add some compost, and also inoculate with a compost tea, or 10.

You will also need to add some actual NPK to the situation. You can get these from various products.

You also want to balance out the PH with something as well. You had said you are using hydrated lime. I suppose that will work. You just want to make sure that you do not over do it, or under do it, as Peat Moss has a low PH, and needs to be raised by a buffer.

You are headed in the right direction, and your mix is already better than using MG mixes.

 

[redneck shogun]

If we are talking simple and cheap here (judging from the thread title), then I don't see any point in putting in vermiculite at all. Just use 20% perlite and call it a day because it won't make any difference using that vermiculite and who wants to spend that kind of money for it.