I strongly disagree with this assessment of container soils.

Some people don't want nutrient holding medium in their containers so they can precisely control their nutrient dosage according to plant growth stage, watering, and temperature...especially in a greenhouse setting.

Coco fibre/coir is awesome stuff, imo...I prefer it to peat. Like peat, it can contain high sodium if not rinsed/washed well before sale, though...so it's important to have a good source for it.

I strongly prefer soil-less medium for seed starting and small transplants. If it's a plant I'm going to move outside, I do change the container mix to soil + soil-less (including perlite/vermiculite) so I don't have to monitor the nutrient/water dosing as closely...still, I go 1/2-3/4 soil-less in my containers depending on how much the plant likes drainage or how often I'm going to be moving the plant (because of the weight of soil vs soil-less medium).

"Growers mixing potting soil with considerable amounts of coco coir can end up with a large percentage of male plants."

I have no idea where the author got this idea. Coir doesn't contain hormones or any hormone disrupting/adding agents. Some people who sell it claim it "promotes" hormone activity, but that's mostly manufacturer claims rather than what's actually in the coir. Some manufacturers do sell coir with hormones (especially rooting hormones) added to their coir, though.

Also, the fact that it mentions male plants leads me to believe this might be some "marijuana growing" armchair horticulture 'woo.'

This post was edited by nc-crn on Sun, Sep 1, 13 at 18:40

Oh my! nc-crn, you're good!

Used "Do not use sand, coco fibre, or hydro correls in your potting mix." as a search phrase and the article w/ the quoted info is the top result. Yep, it's info for growing a special cultivar of certain special seeds.

Soil, potting mix, etc is just a medium.
Medium can start wit BIG ZERO nutrients. But then you add the nutrients to it, as you do to poor soil. The fact that most soil less podding mediums have some added nutrients, is because of ease and convenience that the manufacturers have done it for you.
Medium also plays a role in retaining moisture and along with that the nutrients. That is why a medium with right absorption is preferred. Because you don't want the water and nutrient flush out right away.

The reason for making SOIL LESS MEDIUM, is not that natural soil is bad. Quite to the contrary, it has a lot of micro nutrients. The reason for not using them in container gardening is for being too heavy and getting compacted as a result of more frequent drying up and watering.

Thank you Nc-crn and Jean001 for the posts.

Many container gardeners have many different experiences for their growing medium. They think the one they use is the best or better than the others. In our forum also so many people have so many different opinions of the growing medium. I cannot say which one is the best.

For my growing medium DE cat litter is better than the perlite. So I stopped using perlite. DE cat litter is one of the best for the roots for me. I use it for mulch and all my containers plants have these similar roots growth.

{{gwi:1208370}}

Coco Coir for seed starting and seedling for a short period of time from germination to a pair of true leaves are so good for me in very small containers. It gives very healthy roots for the young seedlings.

The pots size (not plastic pots) are about a medium size egg the medium is coco coir. I got very good result.

{{gwi:1223163}}

"Growers mixing potting soil with considerable amounts of coco coir can end up with a large percentage of male plants." One of my plants have no flowers, how much coco coir I used I cannot recollect. Because I had a lot of coco coir and I did not like to throw it away so just I used it.

From the quoted text about perlite, quality horticultural grade soil and the no.4, I agreed. In EU many of us enjoy store bought horticultural grade soil for our container plants (chili plants). I requested for their opinions about container medium, I got the opinion as I mentioned. Some of them mix a bit perlite and cat litter.

No. 3, male plant or not, I do not like to use considerable amounts of coco coir in my growing medium because it is water retentive.

The text is from "Marijuana growing" tips you are right Nc-crn. I do not have any negative comment on "Marijuana Growers" I hope they are also give a lot of attention to achieve their goal just like we do.

About sand in container medium, I never tried. Jean001 the tips is from marijuana growers site. Some of the points are useful for my chili plants too.

Thank you again for both of your time and posts :-).

Caelian

Thank you for the input, Seysonn.

Caelian

Yes, seriously whacky article with strange and faulty logic.

Caelian, I would assume that your Orange Ghosts - being a new hybrid - are simply unstable. Thus the variation in pods. If your seeds were exactly true to type, the cultural care (potting mix, watering, fertilizing, light exposure) would not affect the pod-shape very much - it would affect the vitality of the plant first (dark green, or yellow, lush, or sickly) then the production, and the size of the pods most notably.

*Coir is often very high in Potassium, so indeed it must be rinsed well. This can also present some difficulty with fertilization, given that the extra K must be accounted for.

Josh

For me the text has some valid points. That is useful for me.

I collect good tips and use for my plants. That's what I do. As an enthusiast I keep looking what is the best for my plants :-) The plants tell the story what they like and what they don't like :-)

Caelian