Espoma is great - got some at going-out of business sale last year, found it a little heavy (retaining too much moisture) for seed starting but was terrific for potting up. You could mix a little peat and/or perlite in with it if you have any.

You don't want to use anything that says "soil" on the bag in containers.

Thx for the reply... I see your are in NW CT - I'm in Boston. Is this ridiculous winter ever going to end?

I am using my own "bark based" mix for potting up.

For first potting up to 4-5" pots I use screened pine mulch (NO sapwood !) + some perlite + plus some peat moss (4-2-1). For final potting I will be using 5-1-1 (NO screening).

I happened to re-pot my peppers today. I went from a peat-free mix of bark, perlite, and lava rock (with some turface), to a 5-1-1 (bark, perlite, and Ocean Forest potting mix for the peat substitute). 5-1-1 is always screened over 1/2 inch hardware cloth. Here's a shot of the mix I made; great texture, great drainage, great moisture retention.

Josh

No turface in the 5-1-1 anymore Josh?

Kevin

Btw, peps22, I use a modified 5-1-1 mix.. using turface instead of peat moss.

Good mixture , Josh. Looks great.
I like the idea of substituting potting mix to peat.

Kevine, There is no turface or oil dri in original Al's 5-1-1. But I am thinking of adding some UltraSorb (DE, from O'reilly's).

Seysonn: I'm well aware. Hence, the word "modified."

Kevin

peps22 - since everyone is answering your ? implied in your title, I'll just tell you I use Fafard no. 2 or ProMix when I can get it, but if you're only growing a few peppers and have the Espoma that's fine too.

Yes, it's been a really cold March, though not a lot of snow (or rain - we're quite a bit under for precip). Let's get through this last week of March and maybe spring will arrive in April (Sat afternoon was nice - too bad the warmth only lasted a few hours).

Kevin, this mix is just for the 4-inch containers. I don't want the extra moisture retention yet. When the plants are ready for the 5-gallon containers, I'm going to add the Turface to the big batch of mix. I'll reduce the Ocean Forest potting mix slightly, then substitute the missing fraction with Turface.

Josh

Just a caution I got from Al: DE may cut your earthworms...

OK, Kevin. My mistake.
Today I also made some MODIFIED 5-1-1. I added some DE for better moisture retention.

If I go with the leftover epsoma for solo-cup potting up, should I also get some fertilizer? Most youtube videos I see on potting up recommend potting soil and not seed starting soil.

Assuming this is just for potting up and not long-term container growing, I'd say the Espoma is fine, you can mix in a little peat and perlite if you need to stretch it, and use a liquid fertilizer (cut to half or less the strength recommended for in-ground crops). I use Neptune's Harvest, the microrhyzzae (sp?) in the Espoma allow you to use the organic fert in the container, most potting mixes don't have the micro-organisms to convert the ferts to usable form.

And please don't use anything that says "soil" on the label in containers - just causes drainage problems.

Yeah! All our snow (except for a few piles and ridges) is gone! DH got surprised by some at work (near the airport) on Monday, but here in the NW hills it was all sleet. How is it in your neck of the woods?

Backyard is completely bare. If history is an indicator, we should be done with any more lingering snow in the backyard.

Southern New England is a funny place, I feel like we have two seasons, summer and winter, and very little in between.

Mud (at least going from winter into summer). I guess fallen leaves (sometimes mixed with mud) in between summer and winter.

Of course, it's not a straight from one season into the next progression either - like 2 years ago when it was in the 80's in March and then in April it was freezing and rainy (at least I don't remember snow). I don't know if the blueberries I planted then (from 2-gal pots, so good-sized) are ever going to recover. We'll see if they produce anything this year.