Author Topic: Laguna hills potting mix  (Read 4023 times)

spaugh

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Laguna hills potting mix
« on: July 30, 2019, 08:34:41 PM »
Anyone ever used this stuff?  I watch the videos but he doesn't tell what's in it.  Anyone who has some can you comment or take a pic of some?
Brad Spaugh

Bananaizme

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #1 on: July 30, 2019, 08:52:44 PM »
    Brad

I use it and it is very good. I just repotted 6 trees from Maddock ranch nursery into 15 gallon tall pots using Gary’s mix and it definitely works like he says. I did dump 1 bag into my mixer and add a scoop shovel of sand and mix before potting them . The peat holds moisture well. I  check the moisture level with a soil probe and have to water every 7-9 days.

William

spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #2 on: July 30, 2019, 08:53:50 PM »
"TOP POT is specially formulated for permanent applications. The performance of other potting soils declines severely beyond 6 months of use due to breakdown of organic components. The ingredients of this potting soil permanently allow maximum air flow to plant roots. Without adequate oxygen, root growth is stunted and root rot diseases are prevalent. Top Pot also contains charcoal for superior retention of nutrients. "


http://www.lagunahillsnursery.com/
« Last Edit: July 30, 2019, 08:56:05 PM by spaugh »
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #3 on: July 30, 2019, 08:55:31 PM »
    Brad

I use it and it is very good. I just repotted 6 trees from Maddock ranch nursery into 15 gallon tall pots using Gary’s mix and it definitely works like he says. I did dump 1 bag into my mixer and add a scoop shovel of sand and mix before potting them . The peat holds moisture well. I  check the moisture level with a soil probe and have to water every 7-9 days.

William

Can you tell what's in it?

I would just buy some but it's not available in san diego.  I want to try and make my own of something similar. 
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #4 on: July 30, 2019, 11:42:56 PM »
If I remember correctly he does go into it for a few minutes during one of the videos. I know that’s not helpful, cause each one is over an hour. There is one with a bunch or jars with dirts on the table in the back. Check that one out.

I’m also curious to hear other people’s experience with nursery bought avocados vs others methods of growing like seedling and grafting. Ive had several store bought ones go into decline after a few months of purchasing them. Is it bad soil like Gary says?

Bananaizme

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #5 on: July 31, 2019, 12:23:12 AM »
Yes there’s a % listing of each ingredient on the back of the bag if I remember correctly. I’m not home at this time but I will post what is on the back of the bag when I get back from vacation.  He does have a acid formula that he says is great for blueberries . I want to find out if it’s good for my miracle fruit it’s ph 5.5’

William

12Zodiac

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2019, 01:43:58 AM »
I watched a few of Gary's Youtube videos to get the exactly ingredients of Gary's Top Pot mix as following: 30% peat moss, 45% pumice, 10% sand, 10% perlite and 5% biochar charcoal. He modified it from his original acid mix which consist of 50% peat moss and 50 pumice. My local nursery sells 1 cubic ft of pumice for $13 and 3 cubic ft of perlite for $28. Bought the washed sand and organic peat moss from Home Depot. The biochar is quite expensive but a big bag goes a long way. I repotted a few citrus, avocado, and mango trees bare rooted.  It has been a little over a month and they all seem to be growing nicely. I repotted an Atemoya tonight in a 20 gallon container with the mix. The mix drains very well but still holds water due to the peat moss.

Seanny

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #7 on: July 31, 2019, 03:38:07 AM »
I bought from him before.
His mix used to be peat, sand, and a lot of pumice.

I made my own mix from his instruction.
I made a fatal mistake by not adding calcium to the mixture.

The mixture is very heavy.

12Zodiac

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #8 on: July 31, 2019, 09:49:53 AM »
I bought from him before.
His mix used to be peat, sand, and a lot of pumice.

I made my own mix from his instruction.
I made a fatal mistake by not adding calcium to the mixture.

The mixture is very heavy.

Why is a fatal mistake by not adding calcium? Which type of calcium do you use or can recommend?
« Last Edit: July 31, 2019, 10:09:03 AM by 12Zodiac »

spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #9 on: July 31, 2019, 11:07:01 AM »
Im playing with some other ingredients like sweet PDZ horse stall freshener.  Its a natural matrix at the microscopic level.  Its a naturally occuring volcanic rock similar to pumice.  But it also clings onto water and fertilizers.  It should be a good replacement for biochar. 

Its chemical name is zeolite

"Zeolite improves soil structure by pairing cation exchange capacity with an affinity for ammonia and potassium. These properties allow zeolite to buffer soil and prevent the toxicity that is often caused by a buildup of ammonia."



« Last Edit: July 31, 2019, 11:09:35 AM by spaugh »
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #10 on: July 31, 2019, 11:11:06 AM »
Yes there’s a % listing of each ingredient on the back of the bag if I remember correctly. I’m not home at this time but I will post what is on the back of the bag when I get back from vacation.  He does have a acid formula that he says is great for blueberries . I want to find out if it’s good for my miracle fruit it’s ph 5.5’

William

Thanks William that would be great if you can take a pic of the bag.
Brad Spaugh

spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #11 on: July 31, 2019, 11:11:28 AM »
I watched a few of Gary's Youtube videos to get the exactly ingredients of Gary's Top Pot mix as following: 30% peat moss, 45% pumice, 10% sand, 10% perlite and 5% biochar charcoal. He modified it from his original acid mix which consist of 50% peat moss and 50 pumice. My local nursery sells 1 cubic ft of pumice for $13 and 3 cubic ft of perlite for $28. Bought the washed sand and organic peat moss from Home Depot. The biochar is quite expensive but a big bag goes a long way. I repotted a few citrus, avocado, and mango trees bare rooted.  It has been a little over a month and they all seem to be growing nicely. I repotted an Atemoya tonight in a 20 gallon container with the mix. The mix drains very well but still holds water due to the peat moss.

Thanks
Brad Spaugh

spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #12 on: July 31, 2019, 11:15:04 AM »
I bought from him before.
His mix used to be peat, sand, and a lot of pumice.

I made my own mix from his instruction.
I made a fatal mistake by not adding calcium to the mixture.

The mixture is very heavy.

Why is a fatal mistake by not adding calcium? Which type of calcium do you use or can recommend?

I would like to know about the calcium also.  Pellet gypsum should work.  It doesn't affect PH and you can't really use too much. It's just calcium and sulfer.
Brad Spaugh

Seanny

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #13 on: July 31, 2019, 07:20:54 PM »
There is hardly any nutrients in a mixture of peat, sand, and pumice.
There is no calcium in Osmocote Plus.

My plants didn’t grow well with only calcium from water.
I didn’t realize my slow release fertilizer lacked calcium until the end of a growth season.
I used to use fast release fertilizer that had calcium.

This season I’m adding gypsum and chicken manure, and replaced some slow release with fast release.

If you do  custom mix, add gypsum or other mixture of calcium.

spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #14 on: July 31, 2019, 08:14:03 PM »
Good point about lack of nutrient.  I think that's the big gotcha with using these soils.  Keeping the nutrition level right becomes more difficult.  I might try using this in larger than normal pots and put an inch of compost on top and a few inches of mulch on top of that. 
Brad Spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #15 on: July 31, 2019, 09:23:23 PM »
 Yes one thing about growing in pots is that you have to stick to a strict feeding program and keep track of when you feed them. If you have a time release type like osmocote plus, it feeds for 6 months so it makes it pretty easy to fertilize this way so all you’d need to do is foliar feed once or twice a month.

 William

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #16 on: July 31, 2019, 11:06:43 PM »
Where do you buy biochar? 
I watched a few of Gary's Youtube videos to get the exactly ingredients of Gary's Top Pot mix as following: 30% peat moss, 45% pumice, 10% sand, 10% perlite and 5% biochar charcoal. He modified it from his original acid mix which consist of 50% peat moss and 50 pumice. My local nursery sells 1 cubic ft of pumice for $13 and 3 cubic ft of perlite for $28. Bought the washed sand and organic peat moss from Home Depot. The biochar is quite expensive but a big bag goes a long way. I repotted a few citrus, avocado, and mango trees bare rooted.  It has been a little over a month and they all seem to be growing nicely. I repotted an Atemoya tonight in a 20 gallon container with the mix. The mix drains very well but still holds water due to the peat moss.

12Zodiac

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #17 on: July 31, 2019, 11:52:27 PM »
Where do you buy biochar? 
I watched a few of Gary's Youtube videos to get the exactly ingredients of Gary's Top Pot mix as following: 30% peat moss, 45% pumice, 10% sand, 10% perlite and 5% biochar charcoal. He modified it from his original acid mix which consist of 50% peat moss and 50 pumice. My local nursery sells 1 cubic ft of pumice for $13 and 3 cubic ft of perlite for $28. Bought the washed sand and organic peat moss from Home Depot. The biochar is quite expensive but a big bag goes a long way. I repotted a few citrus, avocado, and mango trees bare rooted.  It has been a little over a month and they all seem to be growing nicely. I repotted an Atemoya tonight in a 20 gallon container with the mix. The mix drains very well but still holds water due to the peat moss.
Amazon. Search for Wakefield Biochar.

Seanny

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #18 on: August 01, 2019, 02:03:14 AM »
I got caught up in a biochar hype.
I bought a 20 lb bag of hardwood lump charcoal for $12.
I smashed the lumps with a 3lb hammer.
Those lumps were much harder than I expected.

I now adding crushed charcoal for drainage.
I still have not seen any successful field trial of biochar.

12Zodiac

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #19 on: August 01, 2019, 01:26:33 PM »
I got caught up in a biochar hype.
I bought a 20 lb bag of hardwood lump charcoal for $12.
I smashed the lumps with a 3lb hammer.
Those lumps were much harder than I expected.

I now adding crushed charcoal for drainage.
I still have not seen any successful field trial of biochar.

Yes, all the evidences suggested biochar won't help much if your soil is already rich. However, the top pot mix doesn't contain any nutrient. You may want to put some organic matters on top the the soil and I believe the biochar will help retain some of the nutrients or fertilizers applied. In one the his video, Gary said 2% of biochar will suffice. If you followed Gary's recipe, you may else well follow it 100%. Even if you mix it yourself this is not an inexpensive mix. Yes, the mix is quit heavy. So far my citruses are loving it but I do fertilized them with fish emulsion and kelp extract bi weekly. These are the same citruses that had been in 511 mix for the last 2 years without much growth. Time will tell if it's worth it or not.

Spaugh, if you read this the yellow dragon fruits you sent me don't like this mix. They much preferred compost/manure with perlite.

Avoman

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #20 on: August 03, 2019, 10:12:03 AM »
Gary is a master with formula the key to this is the Pumice i sell high quality pumice 29 dollars per 25 pounds that includes shipping anywere in usa, pumice can be used 25 to 50 percent of mix but never below 25 percent in a pot, if  mulch products used ONLY on very top layer, sand will make pots heavy and for some i wonder if a higher percent of perlite would be better,the pumice i sell has some sand size pumice mixed in i think this performs better than the screened pumice but both types are excellent, dont forget peat also can break down and degrade over time so i wonder if repotting or getting trees in ground is idea for long term, never use processed forest products down low in pot once again if used at all only on very top surface.Garys trees look far better than most nurserys but then many are still potting in a mix that will rot the roots.Avocado roots love to be able to drain and breath.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2019, 10:55:13 AM by Avoman »

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #21 on: August 04, 2019, 05:53:34 AM »
Hey brad

Top pot gets an A in my book.

His store is nearby and I've bought from him before. I like it for potted plants because it drains quickly and allows me to water regularly without worrying too much about root rot. This is especially helpful for rooting cuttings.

I believe there is charcoal of some sort in the soil mix. It's lighter than dg but it doesn't hold onto water very well (will definitely dry out in a day on a hot day). It's hard to overwater it . I'm not sure it's as rich as promix but promix definitely retains too much water and can't be watered as regularly. Worst mistake I ever made was taking cuttings started in promix and transferring to top pot. The top pot drained water directly to the promix which held onto the water and wouldn't let go. More than 100 rotted cuttings.


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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #22 on: August 04, 2019, 05:54:47 AM »
Some other nurseries are starting to carry top pot. You might be able to convince that large nursery chain in San Diego to carry it. They can order directly from one of the big nursery vendors that Gary contracts with.

spaugh

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Re: Laguna hills potting mix
« Reply #23 on: August 04, 2019, 10:43:17 AM »
Some other nurseries are starting to carry top pot. You might be able to convince that large nursery chain in San Diego to carry it. They can order directly from one of the big nursery vendors that Gary contracts with.

I will talk to walter andersens about carrying it.  It sounds like the ingredients are not that special so I could just make some up.  They have 1.5cu ft bags of pumice for 11$
Brad Spaugh