Toxic Organic Sungro Potting Mix

14 years ago

Greetings all!

I have had a heck of a time this year with Sunshine's Sungro Organic potting mix . Some bags I had leftover from last year were fine, but all the new bags we ordered this year (about 100) basically killed my plants. The damage was most obvious with tomatoes, when I started seeds. Seeds planted in "old" soil germinated and grew fine, while seeds planted in new soil germinated, wilted, and just sat and sat and then died. I had 2 flats side by side of Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomato - 1 that grew fine, and another that never had a chance.

When we contacted the company, they were friendly, and told us that the batch of soil we just picked up would be fine. Note - the bags of soil have no lot numbers or anything like that, and we go thru so many, there was really no way of knowing which bags were old, and which were new. So - we potted up our few remaining healthy plants that were started in the old soil. DUH! While the damage was not evident right away, 2-4 weeks later, the plants were trashed. Yellow, "burnt" looking, and just plain unhappy. (pictures in the below link) We also noticed other plants were exhibiting the same symptoms. And - the symptoms were not spreading to other flats - as diseases would.

Many other plants were affected -parsley, cilantro, peppers, cucumbers, squash, petunias, tomatillos, ground cherries, zinnias, statice, etc, etc. When you pull these plants out of their pots, you can see that the poor little roots just don't want to grow into the new soil!

I have posted a link to our blog, and the top 2 posts have pictures of the plant damage. We picked up all of our mix at a wholesaler in Milwaukee, and they said that while we are by far their biggest customer with this particular soil, they did hear from a tomato grower that lost his whole crop this year. I guess I am trying to find out just how many organic growers this affected, how widespread the problem is, and / or find someone that had the same problems we did. We have used this sol for 3 years, with no problems until now. If anyone had a similar problem, I would love to hear from you.

I am going to post this under a few different topics - so those of you that view a lot of forums, you will see repeats!

Thanks a lot - It is just SO heartbreaking to watch all your babies die!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sad plant pictures

Comments (5)

gardendawgie
14 years ago
, and found very high ammonia levels, as well as chlorine and sodium.

well chlorine and sodium is table salt. Salt kills plants.

This was not Organic soil. I will guess that they added chemical fertilizer to try to get the soil to compost faster. But the addition of chemical ferts makes it non organic. someone is being crooked at the company. This is FRAUD. Fraud allows you to sue for big money. Although I would settle for some money and not push through the courts. It is impossible for Organic soil to be high in salt. Sodium chloride. Maybe someone dumped Road Salt on the pile of soil in the winter. I would report them to the Organic Certification Organization to make sure they stop the FRAUD. Or use it to get a settlement. You have taken big losses. They are responsible and should be made to pay for your losses.
soulreaver
14 years ago
Ekgrows is it hard for you to get organic ingredients to make your own soil? If not I would advise making it over buying it. It's cheaper and the soil you make is much better.

The soil I make for all my organic vegetables is made up of blood meal, bone meal, kelp meal, corn meal, and alfalfa meal. Total cost for those materials is nothing compared to organic soil costs. Sorry about your plants, good luck.
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anoid1
14 years ago
Soulreaver, by weight, what do you use for your mix?
soulreaver
14 years ago
Hi anoid1. What I use for my mix changes based on plant type but this is my all purpose mix.

20 quarts peat moss
20 quarts perlite
20 quarts vermiculite
1 cup blood meal
1 cup bonemeal
1 cup kelp meal
2 cups corn meal
2 cups alfalfa meal

The cornmeal is more to feed the beneficial fungus that feed on other fungus that can cause things like blight.

Alfalfa meal (or pellets) is just a good quick source of NPK which helps hold the plants over until bonemeal and kelp meal can kick in. It's not so much a problem for the blood meal since it is a fast acting nitrogen source.

I also find that if you have the time, planting all your plants into a mix like this for the first month of their growth makes a much stronger and healthier plant when you transplant it into the ground. Since most vegetable plants can double their size every 14-15 days or so once they have become established it is a good idea to try and get them to that point as quickly as possible for highest production rates of vegetables.

I see you live in New England like me so it should be very easy for you find all of these things if you want them.

Incase you want info on where to get this stuff I can show you all the websites I buy from which are the cheapest I have yet to find. Just email me at beausorganics@yahoo.com Happy gardening.
anoid1
14 years ago
Thanks so much soulreaver for getting back on my question. I was most interested in the amounts of bone, blood, and kelp meals to the other organic material. Adding alfalfa meal is a great idea. Have you heard about "bio-char" or Terra Preta ? Thanks again, happy gardening.