I searched the forum for people's suggestions for best soil in containers. There does seem to be some consensus that Fertilome Ultimate Potting Mix is good and so is Promix BX. Those are 93% and 85% sphagnum peat moss respectively so is amended peat moss the best mix?

I grow citrus and have found that Fafard 52, which is as close to 5-1-1 mix as I could find commercially, works great for my lemon. You are not able to get that mix in SoCal so now I am looking for alternatives. I am rather surprised given what little I know about soils that such heavy peat moss mixtures seem to work well for figs.

Can someone living in SoCal please help me find the right soil mix? I am located in the Santa Clarita Valley, so it gets pretty hot and dry in the summers. As a note I do not have the space to be able to mix my own so it would need to be something commercially available.

Many people here on F4F use Pro-Mix HP or BX straight from the bag.  Just careful not to over-water.  

Regarding 5-1-1 type mixes, I'm down in San Diego County and found that such a mix needed too frequent a watering.  The ants also loved it too.  If you don't mind the watering and can keep ants away, fig trees do well in it.

IMHO - don't waste your money... Go with the pre mixed if you have a tree or two...but if you have more than a few trees, mix it yourself. You don't need any more space than you have pots. I use blend a 5-2-1-1 mix for pots. (Pine bark fines, perlite, peat moss, manure compost)

Your figs will find it quite delicious...

I actually just have 2 trees, a violette de bordeaux and a panache tiger. To the first response, whats the advantage of the promix bx versus promix brk for example? To the second one what do you suggest for bags available at stores?

If I had to buy it and planned to eat the figs I'd go with Roots or something very similar.

https://www.hydrofarm.com/p/ROD

I like promix HP mixed with pine bark fines. But it gets quite expensive if you need to do a lot of pots. Home Depot used to sell Promix HP by me, but has not in a while. Pine bark fines are sold as "Soil Conditioner".

I was at the Home Depot the other day. They have a new product called "Raised Garden Soil". It's peat moss and pine bark fines. I'd be curious to see how it would work mixed with perlite and some composted manure. If you needed to buy everything at a box store, and did not have much space to mix, that would be one way to go. You can mix a few handfuls at a time in your largest pot.

Promix HP is just name of reliable, It is not same ingredient all the time, last year, it was peat moss based mix,  I open a new Promix HP recently, it is coco coir based.

Since, you do not want to mix your own soil.

Do you think that it work?,
You can put 40% Promix or Fafard 52 soil at base of pot for high air capacity and extra drainage for roots.
60% cheap potting soil above it
Then, some slow release fertilizer on top

Since "High air capacity and extra drainage" meaning drying fast, and you has a dry summer.
you may add 10% to 20% pre-soak peat moss at middle layer to increase its water hosting ability.

Here are video of Peat moss based vs Coco coir based growing

Ricky I've never heard that before about the Promix. I start cuttings in coir and then transfer to 24oz cups with the HP. I have to buy more next week. I hope it's peat based. I think coir would hold more water. Mmmm interesting.

I would not use the 5-1-1 type soil mixed for figs (IMHO). I do use a modified version for my potted citrus. But figs want a more moist soil. After starting with citrus, I was amazed at how wet the soil can be to make small figs thrive once they are in 1 gal or above pots. Too much water and moister is death to cuttings and and newly rooted plants!

I use a local mix that I can buy in bulk. But it is about 75% - 80% composed pine bark/fines; with peat, compost, and green-sand making up most of the remaining amount. I doctor this with course perlite, lime, and organic fertilizers. Not that I focus on the organic side of thing, but I don't want to take a chance on burning roots on newly transplanted trees. I do dress the pots with chemical CRF and use water soluble chem fertilizers in SIPs.

You might check for expert local bulk soil sources. Just look for the ones that mix their own soil blends. IMO.


Cliff H

Pretty sure HP means High Pourosity

Based on the fact that a lot of people love ProMix HP and BX with added bark fines, I'm surprised ProMix BRK hasn't come up. It seems to be the perfect mix without having to have a bag of ProMix HP and pine bark taking up space. Anyone ever try this mix? Or also have you ever been able to find this for sale anywhere?

I use farad #52 for all my plants (except my vanilla orchids) and have done so for years.

I have to have it shipped from Richmond VA -- a couple hours away.
I have 600+ figs in pots.
The only thing I don't use #52 for is rooting cuttings.
For those I use topsoil and perlite in a 1 to 4 ratio (or 25% soil to 75% perlite).
But if I don't have soil on hand I'll use #52 to root as well but I'll increase the perlite to 85 or 90%.

As I buy the soil by the pallet load a bag is fairly reasonable and I pass the savings on to those who buy trees from me.

I'd call farad and ask them if they can help you get their soil. They were very helpful to me.

Mike --

Off this topic, I've been discussing the relative cold hardiness of RdB vs Mt Etnas on another thread, trying to help a newbie.  Given your experience, you are way better situated to give guidance.  If you had to grow only one variety in-ground in Z6, which would you choose?  I'm assuming some decent protection.  Thx. 

So I was able to find fir bark fines and ProMix HP CC. I am thinking if I mix them half and half that would provide me a good soil-less mix. Per what I read the coir added to the ProMix HP is supposed to be good, but I am getting such conflicting data I am unsure. It seems like chunk coir fixes the problems in peat mixes. Problems like shrinkage of soil media away from lining of pot and the difficulty in re-wetting dry peat based mixes.