I need a little help from you guys again,, I will be needing a good growing media to plant my rooted cuttings in. I have looked at some of the older threads, all of which had some very good info.. here is my deal, I live is a small town and the only have a couple places to get supplies. We have a walmart, kmart and lowes, that's about it, outside of walmart we have two grocery stores. I am wondering if there is a good planting media I can get or make from stuff I can get from these stores. I was thinking straight perlite, but the olny kind I see is the miracle grow brand and its pretty fine. I have 3x8 bags I plan to use after I get the roots going good enough. I will be needing a good bit of potting media ( I hope) since I have quite a few cuttings to start. I thought about perlite and pea gravel but I will have to many cuttings go that route, and I will run into probs when I need to go to a larger pot. Bark will stay to wet..rockwool?? Bean bag stuffing (kidding).... I am open to any input.. thanks

From everything I have read and understand, drainage is at the top. You can mix the miracle grow with the perlite. I would try to strain off the finer, smaller particles of Perlite. I have even heard some say that Miracle grow is fine. But I re-potted them this fall in Miracle grow by itself, but I noticed that it compacted.  I received new ones in late fall and I potted them up in a mix of miracle grow, sand, and perlite. The soil seemed much more airy and light, making the roots much more likely to grow and penetrate. But water will leave much easier, and make watering more frequent.  If you have fallen tree leaves under oaks or other trees, that is the best compost out there, and its free. I have not tried that yet, since my ground is frozen. Go with what you have and if need be, add as you go. Same swear by Ultimate Potting Mix, Pro-mix, and their own personal mixes.  Experiment. Its the only way to truly find out what does and does not work
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Dominick
Zone 6a-MA

Just remember, more drainage means you're watering more frequently. Here in GA, too much drainage means dried up dead fig tree. Nothing suggested so far would drain that much, but I just think it is good to share this tidbit of info just in case it does.

Grant, if you're in Georgia, check the following places Pike's nursery, Hi-Tech Garden Supply, your local Seed and Feed hardware store.  I lived in West Cobb for 7 years so I know what you're talking about.  Now, I'm in a big city North and was surprised to find these places.  They are probably not far from you.  Hi-Tech had everything I needed including an education on growing plants and trees lots of wierd fertilizers I never heard of.  You're right though, HD, Lowes, KMart, these guys have perlite but it is way too fine.  Hi-Tech has the right size perlite you need and it comes in a 4 foot tall sack.  Expect to pay around 30 buck or more but it is worth it.  They also have Pro-Mix which is what I use including Happy Frog which has bat guano and micronutrients.  Also another trick I learn to keep soil from being compacted is mix a half a bag of Nature's Helper Water Saver to your Miracle Grow.  Water saver is just big pieces of compost that is smaller than mulch but works very well.  Water saver is used a lot down South to break up our clay soil.  Once you find the right size perlite, you can play around with the other mixes recommended by Dominick.  My opinion, UPM and Pro-Mix is the best stuff out there for rooted cuttings.  cheers,

I live out in the sticks, but there is a lowes and walmart about 13 miles away. I don't get to svannah often, which would be the biggest city around here. There is one very small nursery close to lowes but they only sell plants. Any type of potting mix or supplies to make a mix from I would need to get at lowes, walmart or kmart. I didn't see ultimate or the pro mix at Lowes online.

I hear you Jason about having to water often if I use something like straight perlite.. I know it rough up there durring the summer in Hotlanta, its even more burtal down here in south ga.

Grant if you are in the sticks there should be a farmers co-op or some wholesale nurseries in the area maybe someone who grows greenhouse  tomatoes etc you just have to look around. I am in the sticks of North Fl. about 18 miles from Walmart and I had to get a little creative with some of the things I needed when we moved here I have gotten free pine bark fines,perlite,horse manure,cow manure and many other things just by talking to people they were all happy to get rid of the stuff.And other things like pro mix if you can find a big grower in the area they should let you buy some at a pretty good price.
Good luck
Jim

Not even straight perlite.  The "chunky mix" and "Al's mix" that some people use (no offense, folks) is a draining machine.  I've bought a couple figs that were potted with this stuff, and some of them I need to water twice a day in the shade, whereas a 50/50 mix of perlite and 3B needs once a day in full sun.

you probably won't find Pro Mix BX or Ultimate Potting Mix here in GA.  The equivalent here is made by Fafard, either the Professional Mix or the "3B" product will work just fine.  Look for a nearby retailer at their site, here:

http://www.fafard.com/?p=7

ALWAYS call in advance to ask what products they sell.  Fafard has a huge line of products, and retailers listed at that lookup tool sometimes carry 1-2 things like their cactus/succulent mix or fertilizers, but don't have the potting mixes.  Save yourself the gas, it's gonna get expensive again real soon.

For extra drainage, Turface MVP is good and won't float/run off in heavy rain like perlite will, and you can find it at landscape supply places (ones that sell rock, etc.), I found it locally at a sports field supply store in Atlanta, it's really popular for improving drainage on baseball fields.  A huge bag (giant) costs less than $10.

My personal preference is using chunky rock.  I forget what the dark grey stuff is that I buy, but if you took a marble and quartered it into four pieces, that's about the size I go for.  I mix that 50/50 with Fafard 3B or Professional mix (whichever is handy, both have the same general stuff) and it provides great balance of drainage and moisture retention.  Turface is about 1/6th the size of the rock I like to use.

I don't know if it means anything, but the Atlanta Botanical Gardens has an amazing world-reknowned staff and they propogate plants like crazy from nothing ... they only use Fafard 3B to start cuttings and for their immense collection of orchids, where potting mix is applicable.  That was enough to sell me on it ... and when I started looking into the ingredients, I noticed that it has 99% of the same critical and inert components as the UPM (Ultimate Potting Mix) and Pro Mix BX products.  I wasn't willing to pay 3x as much to ship those two in when I could find 3B here locally....

I did find one fafard retailer close to where I live, I know the place its a feed and seed store. Its the place where I got my watermelon and pea seeds from last year. I'm not sue what fafard products they would sale there. The next place is 50+ miles away..

Las vegas has been the smallest city I lived in before I moved to the sticks, Atl,las vegas,san diego,portland,,,,,sticks,,,,, I'm still trying to get use to not being able to get what you need/want whenever you need/want it

Once transplanted -Over the years I have used various products all with good results except regular yard dirt but strayed away quickly from that in containers as it got much too hard when it came time to root prune my plants, scotts seeding soil, miracle grow, scotts premium potting soil,Al'sMix ,jungle growth, etc etc with decent results.

Come late winter when weather permits me i will be useing purchased from
 home depot  some bales of Canadien premium peat and will mix with some moo manure store bought , and mother earth number 3 perlite with dolomitic lime mixed in it and thats it to save a few dollars .
Im sure it will be just fine for my figs as i have seen pictures of figs growing out sides of cement walls and in arid places etc.

Im sure whatever you find they will do decent given sun, water and a little fertilizer.

For me and me only i figure from things i have tried once plant is growing well and out of young stage they will grow well in most potting soils or homemade stuff one makes. Thinking they even sprout in the wild in unfavorable conditions .

But its what one would like to spend and what makes them comfortable in growing these plants in things they purchase i figure.

I have shown many pictures of my plants in containers growing and doing well in various store bought stuff and they do well for me long as i take care of them in there needs of sun , water and fertilizer and occasional lime.

In short i have no magic mix, no green thumb and im no expert , fig plants just grow easily with a little bit of attention growing them in containers.

No luck with the fafard potting mix at the feed and seed store. The fafard products they have or chemicals for farmers.

No turface arorund here

There is a napa auto parts in town.. ***** HAS ANYONE USED _ NAPA FLOOR DRY ???? diatomaceous earth - as part of there mix.

I will call the masonary place later to see if they have course perlite,, I'm not going to hold my breath..

Yes Gene the sticks are nice once you get use to it.. big diffrence from living in the city.. you can not see a house from my house.. its safe out here, I think one reason is that everyone knows that if you live out here you have guns in the house..

Martin I was thinking that in my second step, first being rooting the cutting, I would use a airy mix to get a nice root system , then my third step I would use a "reg" potting mix. Keep in mind this will be my first year doing this, and I have been known to over think things.

..... a BIG THANKS to everyone that has helped with all my questions, made me feel welcome and gave a hand in getting me started in figs. I will be starting my first cuttings in the next couple weeks, that wil include the IH logs I got from Al. I am going to try and findsome more cuttings to start . I know encanto farms will have some I can get soon (I hope) and I will keep my eyes open to see what others cuttings I can get. I'm scared to buy off ebay unless its one of you guys.... I'm starting to ramble.........

Ah nothing wrong with rambling on as you mention, i remember other folks first starting out and wanting the best info for starting out.

Sometimes folks read thngs and spend a lot of money thinking hey its got to be the thing to do.
Its not always the case. What may work for one may not work for another depending on some factors such as climate for instance or house temps for other purposes.

I dont like giving advice and just like to show things i do for others to get idea's , i like to experiment with things here and there and they usually go bad for me but sometimes good things happen.
But its fun in the process of it all and thats what i enjoy - the fun .
Sooner or later by reading and getting idea's you will find what works well for you.

If i was to give advice it would be this
Have fun and dont dispare when things dont always work out it happens to us all.

Grant do a search on greenhouse suppliers , horticulture supplier see if there are any in your area.
I found this one that will ship to your house http://www.greenhousemegastore.com
Even with the shipping on a 4 cu ft bag of perlite it would be cheaper than buying the same cubic ft from home depot in those smaller bags.
I found  griffin greenhouse suppliers by me and I make the trip about once a month buying everything  from pots to perlite and shade cloth. just take your time and search the web you will find something. My potting mix is 60% perlite, lime, osmocote,and 40% pig poo compost from the pig farm in the next county.  My trees love it and believe it or not it does not smell at all as it is properly composted.

Forgot to mention you want the coarsest you can find the bigger the chunks the better.

Martin touched on my mistake. I bought into the hype on products and spent an arm and a leg, only to find Fafard has all the same ingredients and is widely accepted as "as good" or "better" than those other products. I think the better way is to tell people what to avoid - like avoid slow-release fertilizer beads or granules, and avoid things labeled with "soil" when dealing with cuttings (i.e. Get "potting mix" instead of "potting soil", there is a difference).

Spending more money doesn't guarantee better results - it rarely does. I can't wait to see what happens with the sticks I stuck in pots with dirt this fall. They've been outside all winter. If they do well, that cost me a plastic pot, nothing more. They still have green terminal buds... After 2months! So... I have good feelings about it. Beats using all the cups and perlite and mixes and root stimulator and plastic bins and sphagnum and turface and. .... ;)

grant_n_georgia,

I did purchased the NAPA floor dry last season for my mix (Al's mix). But that mix did not work for me so I changed to something different. I think, each bag was $7.25.

Navid

I'm not looking to spend a lot on potting mix, matter of fact I would like to keep it a low price thing.. its looking like I will have to make my own if I can find something I like at lowes and right now I'm sure they don't have much in the way of potting mix..

Navid ,,what did you not like about the floor dry??

Once. Things get going I have access to TONS of aged horse manure with wood shaving.. I have chickens and goats if I what to mess with that..

I did get sphagnum moss at lowes so I'm good to go there..



I plan on growing in ground with most of the fig trees.. I live below the fall line (the fall line is where the ocean stopped, have of georgia use to be under water) in georgia and lot real far from the coast so the soil is loamy with a lot of sand.
What about NEMATODES and figs?????... or this may be a topic for another thread..

Why should we avoid slow release fertilizer, Jason?  I though that was a good thing.

noss

Here are some pictures of what i will be experimenting with when i root prune , Canadien peat 3 -compressed 3 cubic bale, large perlite, not pictured dolomitic lime - pellets , also not pictured some moo manure.
I bought all stuff except the perlite at Home Depot.
Cost saving as opposed to 18.00 a bag i pay for the UPM im not sure actually i forget what i payed exactly for some of the things last season except the perlite.

Here are some pictures and ingredients listed on bag of Fertilome UPM.

Please dont ask how much of this and that to mix if your curious, its like me making spaghetti sauce and meatballs on Sundays i dont measure.

For the curious and to get idea's only its not something thats magic mix.

Actually i would use just plain dirt from my yard but im tried that years ago in a few large containers and although plants grew fine in it when i went to root prune i had very hard time as dirt was too hard.

Grant,

I didn't have any problems with the floor dry, the whole Al's mix just didn't work for me. If you are going to plant them in the ground you don't have to use floor. Just use some good quality soil (like top soil), if your soil is mostly clay, some compost and slow release fertilizer. It will be sufficient for the fig trees. That's how my grandfather used to plant his fig trees in ground and they all did fine.
This summer I am going to plant few of my tree in ground and I will do the same. But, if you want to grow them in pots you could make your own mix and add the floor dry to it.

Navid

I plan on planting all the fig trees I get going in the ground when there are ready,, I am in a part of Ga. That is zone 8-9.. I know there will be times I have to protect them....

Martin, your mix will work great!  I used a mix almost like that 2 years ago.  At that time I did not have the pea size perilite.  Now I do.  I'll post what I put in my mix tonight.  For cuttings I just use Pro-Mix BX and Perilite and the roots jump out of the container just like they do with UPM.   Also, I got smart and when I started my cuttings, I used a moisture meter and fluffed the soil with water just till the meter hit "MOIST".  Then I started my cuttings.  That was 28 days ago and I have not had to water them since.

And re: whether UPM is "actually that great", here's a thread about that which compares ingredients of Fertilome UPM, Pro-Mix BX and Fafard 3B, I believe:

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=4285513

satellitehead is correct that you should NOT use fertilizer for cuttings, it will kill the cuttings. I use slow release fertilizer ONLY for my trees that have a significant root mass.

Like Martin said using those 3 you get just about the same results.....very GOOD results!  Pro-Mix BX comes in large white compressed cube.  When you open the cube the mix expands a little and when you add more perilite it works great on cuttings.