Easy Growing Mix

[Needmorebrush82]

I was looking for an excellent mix that anyone could make and adjust based on their needs. I found an American Chestnut growing site that gave a mix of perlite, vermiculite, and peat moss is equal parts. It is by far the best mix I have ever tried. It easily dries out in two days and does not feel wet like one would expect with peat. If one was to use the mix outside you would need to add more peat to allow for enough moisture retention for a day of sun and wind. The reason I am listing this is many of us struggle to find great mixes locally. All of this can be sourced at lowes and mixed at home. One of the first things I noticed was the mix does not have the ability to compact. Compaction greatly limits how much oxygen a mix can hold limiting root growth and development. The mix has consistantly dried out in two days which tells me that it is well drained. A well drained, light mix will grow any tree we want to grow. Currently I have chestnuts, chinkapins, regal prince, bur x english, and huge November dropping burs in rm18's. I do about 500 trees a year and my faster growing trees like sawtooth will be started a few weeks later due to their rapid growth rate. I hope some of you guys try this mix. It doesn't get much easier to adjust a mix than adding or subtracting peat!

 

[TreeDaddy]

Are you growing indoors?

Would you describe your set up?

I always enjoy learning from others experience

thanks,

bill

 

[wbpdeer]

Good post Needmore...

Compaction also eliminates the actual space for roots to establish.

Drainage is impacted by the growing media and by the actual growing container. Since you are growing in rootmaker 18s, you have an excellent container that promotes drainage and air root pruning all while preventing root circling.

 

[Needmorebrush82]

Are you growing indoors?

Would you describe your set up?

I always enjoy learning from others experience

thanks,

bill

You bet! I have a few set ups, but we will discuss my largest.
My largest set up is geared for 14 rm18 trays. My shop was built with a rather large restroom/work area that is well insulated and had a work bench built into it. I used this work bench as part of my structural support. The growing set up itself is 8ft x 4ft contructed from 2x4's with an open chicken wire floor for optimal airflow. I have two pieces of 1/2" metal conduit to work as glides and support for teach row of two trays. Above this I have another 4x8ft built out of 2x4's that is around 3.5ft higher than the floor of the growing floor. I have T8 fluorescent lights suspended above every row that are fully adjustable from the front of the set up. I can make the back lower and the front higher or however I need. When I am germinating I keep the room at about 80 degrees because I have found the rate of germination for my purpose is greatly sped up and I have had far less issues than when I tried the slower approach at 70 degrees. At 80 the room stays very humid and the trays are drying much faster so moisture is not an issue like it can be at a lower temperature even with a well drained mix. Once I have them germinated and top growth I will adjust the temperature back down to around 70 to slow evaporation and help the little trees maintain moisture. My other two set ups are the same scenario just a smaller scale operation. I can handle 25 trays of rm18's when all of my setups are running. I do have timers for my lights if I choose to use them. I have a fan on timer to run 30min twice a day to combat the legginess that is unavoidable without wind. I hope that kind of gives you an idea of my set up.

 

[wbpdeer]

Needmore,

What a great setup and excellent explanation. That is 450 seedlings with 25 trays, Yep, you are a tree guy. Interesting to hear about the advantage of 80 degrees until germination.

Thanks for sharing.
Wayne