[Aroid-l] commercial mixes- get real, learn how to grow!

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With all due respect to the companies and researchers who have done such valuable work, all that matters is that you learn how to water. If you get that wrong, you can blame the mixes, blame the weather, blame the size pot, but it is you who are to blame if things go wrong. A good commercial grower knows that it is his/her most experienced person who should be holding the hose.

 

That said, the value of the research work has been in developing mixes that allow us to slack off in our observation of what is going on with the plants, and give us a little slack.

 

Read your plants, learn how to water and if you only have time to grow six plants properly, don’t try to outdo your neighbour by growing two hundred.

 

I know, I killed off a bunch of my beloved gingers after switching to a coir-based mix, and not realising what a bear it was to water properly.

 

Derek

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of hermine
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 1:29 PM
To: Discussion of aroids; Aroid list
Subject: Re: [Aroid-l] Let's talk commercial mixes, eh?

 

Thank you for your indulgence!

-Ken Mosher

(deep curtsey)
 Ok Ken, it is I who thank you and ask in advance for permission to post your findings here and there on various lists where folks kvetch about their soil mixes, as an ongoing issue!
We also wonder if we need to crank up the concrete mixer to make soils. i believe that all the locally available soil mixes are some form of pulverized garbage, TV sets, dead lumber and detritus, and dyed different colours to indicate what "natural" substances they might contain, based on my requirements. (ie, dark brown dye for leafmold, and so forth).

hermine