Pot culture yet again
- Subject: [iris] Pot culture yet again
- From: George Schubert g*@earthlink.net
- Date: Sun, 04 Sep 2005 20:54:44 -0400
- List-archive: <http://www.hort.net/lists/iris/> (Web Archive)
The recent thread by Linda regarding dirty perlite caught my attention, especially the 90% perlite part. Sure enough when I initiated a pot culture thread several months ago, when Baccto was mentioned, Betty's response mentioned the 85-90% perlite, which didn't catch my eye that pass. The Miracle-Gro and Sta-Green stuff that Lowe's carry does indeed have perlite, but more like 5% if that. That unfortunately is the stuff I have recently used to pot up about 90 containers, with another 200 yet to go. SO, time to do some damage control, as I can just see these rhizomes rotting over the next several months in this high peat content. In that all my potting has been done within the last several weeks, with some fans getting a bit longer but no increases showing yet, do you all think it would be prudent to repot everything, mixing the current mix with 85-90% regular horticultural perlite, which should be more readily available than Baccto, I think and hope. The plants might not appreciate the repotting, but better now than die of rot. Has anyone mixed their own Baccto, of sorts, with let us say Sta-Green and perlite, in 1:9 ratio?
Let me review what I think are the pros and cons of pot culture, as opposed to garden dirt, hopefully with amendments.
Pros: (1) more effective weed control (my personal perceived main benefit); (2) more resistant to seasonal precipitation swings; (3) more resistant to rot (with proper soil); (4) more likely to stimulate rebloom if genetically predisposed; (5) more increases; (6) with the weed control, maybe better borer resistance, with or without Merit.
Cons: (1) initial investment in pots (but should be reusable for several cycles?); (2) cost of potting soil ( but maybe recyclable with care to nutrients); (3) more attention needed to nutrients; (4) more frequent division required.
Comments please.
Thanks,
George
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