Two of my wholesale nurseries have been potting up bushes in a mix of peanut shells and pine bark fines. As you can imagine it is very light. The deutzia and roses that I planted with it seem to be very healthy. Does anyone have any experience with this potting soil? It does not seem to have any peat moss in it. It has no perlite or fertilizer. The reason I'm asking is because it's cheap. $35.00/yd. should I use it? If I do should I use it straight or mix it with something?

i have a problem with my figs needing water. Especially in ground. As far as up potting 35 dollers is a good price to play around with it. I think straight peanut and worm cadtings would be a good mix. Good luck

I would do a trial of it on a few extra fig plants first before committing to using it for all. It sounds interesting. Maybe adding a little lime and fertilizer would be useful.

Hi ADelmanto,
Now that's what I call being creative.
Do you have pics of the medium ?
Here, some use cocoa shells as mulch ... It is not like cocoa does grow in Zone7 and that is a local waste to recycle intelligently.

I would say that peanuts shells are wood and decaying wood consumes nitrogen ... Are they fertilizing crazy on Nitrogen to start with ?
After a while, the medium will release the Nitrogen back to the plant - be careful with that back-draft . As the plant would have too much nitrogen at that time if you don't stop giving more nitrogen.
How much time will it take for the peanuts shells to turn into dirt ? ... is a good question .

Keep us posted on the results of your trials !
Try it on a guinea pig fig tree first of course.

I used peanut hulls one time in a mix. I bought 35 yards of it and it was a huge mistake. When the wetting agent is gone you cannot wet it again. I can buy really good soil for $18 dollers per yard but it is bulk only. The delivery is the killer.

It seems like the peanut shells are a substitute for peat moss. The mix I'm thinking of using has partly decomposed pine bark fines mixed in. I'm thinking of mixing it with something else but I'm not sure what. Mushroom soil?

You can always add other stuff to it like perlite and compost.  I think compost is always a good addition, in the right amount.  For $35 I say go for it!

Get some pure shells and wet them. They will not stay wet.

Well, I stopped by another nursery and they had bulk potting soil. It looks like what I would make with 50% pine bark fines and 50% pro mix HP. That's what I think I'll do. Of course $100 per yard. Still much cheaper than mixing it myself. (No peanut shells)