Curious which of the two following potting mixes most would choose. Take note, I'd be adding large perlite to either.

Same brand, different blends:

Option One: Gardner & Bloome Potting Soil

INGREDIENTS: Recycled forest products, rice hulls, perlite, peat moss, composted chicken manure, bark fines, hydrolyzed feather meal, dehydrated chicken manure, worm castings, bat guano, kelp meal, alfalfa meal, oyster shell & dolomite limes (as pH adjusters)

Option Two: Gardner & Bloome Blue Ribbon Blend

INGREDIENTS: Peat moss, recycled forest products, coir, pumice, rice hulls, composted chicken manure, bark fines, hydrolyzed feather meal, dried poultry manure, bat guano, kelp meal, worm castings, alfalfa meal, dolomite & oyster shell limes (as pH adjusters)

IMO, anything labelled 'soil' is not for certain intended for container use. I am assuming you are using it for a container? Peat moss is the tried and true main ingredient for most potting MIXES so I would go with the second. Without knowing if forest products is leaf mold or not its hard to say whether it will work as well.

I can't answer your question as there are no percentages.

I use fafard #52 and after a few months start adding azomite for micronutrients. I feed with bunny poop and anything organic I find on sale -- ground up fish, seaweed, kelp, etc.
There is no "dirt" in my mix. It's mainly pine bark and peat moss with some perlite (can never have too much) and a bit of vermiculite.
I really like this mix and buy in bulk so I can sell to folks who buy fig trees from me so it costs them much less.

I'm always a bit put off by companies that feel the need to add so much exotic stuff as how do they know if the bat caves are contaminated - and how far did their ingredients travel - and what the he.. are forest products? Poison mushrooms are products of my local forests as are lots of fungus, etc. I don't want my figs exposed to. How are these forest products treated? If they are - that is? They list composted chicken manure but then also add dehydrated manure as well --why? Why is one dehydrated chicken manure and the other dried poultry manure?

Whenever I have a question I call farad as they worked out the mix and obviously did what they did for reasons they believe in. I'd call G and B.

But personally I'd try and source as much as I can from local folks. For example I know the rabbit breeders I get poo from - best fertilizer there is (well worms are great as well) and I can look at the source of the poo if I want. My set up is not perfect by any means as I'm just a hobby farmer and would do many things differently if I was working on a scale different then my current one.

Also -- exactly what defines organic when it comes to chicken manure (just one example)? Big brother has created legal definitions for organic that may surprise you.

Anyway - my advise is either use fafard #52 or search through the topics as there are a lot of smart dirt thinkers who have posted great advise. OR call the maker and ask them.

I follow Michael's advice as a general matter, but just so I can clarify, he wrote "Farad" a few times, the product is Fafard 52. Awesome stuff. I am currently using a base of Fafard 52 30% Promix HP 45% good compost 20% and the rest a mix of rabbit poop, espoma iron tone, glacial rock dust, worm castings and pelletized dolomitic limestone for micronutrients.

OOOOPS! I did edit, so thx Rafael - and look up - if you already haven't Azomite clay. If I could only do 3 things they would be farad #52, bunny poop and Azomite clay.



Yep it's Fafard #52.

I just bought 10lb of Azomite.