Sea soil for planter?

Discussion in 'Soils, Fertilizers and Composting' started by Chuck Bates, Apr 1, 2008.

  1. Chuck Bates

    Chuck Bates Member

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    A garden centre I rely on told me sea soil would make the best soil for my large planters that I'll be growing Jasminum Stephanense and Persian vine. Would a 1/3 each of sea soil, manure and sand be the ticket? How about compost?

    Any other ideas?

    p.s. $10 a bag at this garden centre seems a lot. Anyone out there know of where I could find a supplier in the Lower Mainland of bulk sea soil? I need approx. 29 cu. ft.

    Thanks!
     
  2. JCardina

    JCardina Active Member

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    My personal experience with Sea Soil is that it will quickly turn rock hard on it's own in an indoor pot. I purchased Sea Soil "potting soil" recommended at the garden center last summer and now I have to repot some plants with a *lot* of amendment because they turned into blocks of concrete.

    I'm no expert but what you describe sounds like a wise idea with this stuff. Aside from being ultra black and *looking* really nice, I'm not sure how much it's actually better than other alternatives.
     
  3. growest

    growest Active Member 10 Years

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    Hi Chuck--an experienced nurseryman on Saltspring mentioned that they used seasoil and perlite for almost all their container plants, with excellent results.

    Personally I'd be leery of manure and sand, hard to say what the results would be. My understanding is the seasoil is pretty balanced, only needs some extra porosity as mentioned, to avoid that concrete texture after awhile! You can get big bags of perlite from Evergro for about $12, just keep adding till it looks "right"...

    I've noticed bulk seasoil at Art's Nursery in Port Kells, yes that would be cheaper than in bags if you can transport it.
     
  4. KarinL

    KarinL Well-Known Member 10 Years

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    I don't know the needs of the plants you have in mind so can't comment on what you're planning to add (in particular I am not sure about the manure), but I do know sea soil, and I agree that it has some drawbacks that require adding SOMETHING. I'm pretty much with JCardina on this. Having had similar experiences with it, I actually drive across town for different soil (the one I like best is David Hunter's Outdoor soil, for the record) when I need the stuff in bags.

    I don't know why Sea Soil forms blocks, but it does, and when dry it does shed water and it dries quickly, due to its large air cavities/large chunks I presume. I'll disagree with Growest in saying that I think it has too much porosity, not too little. The blocks it forms are porous, but the material itself sheds water once dry, much like peat. A nursery might manage with it due to constant and perhaps automated watering. Me, I don't do that. The perlite would break up its clumping, but wouldn't increase water absorption.

    Finding good potting soil is problematic - I bought some of that at Hunter's recently and found it awful - too peaty for my preferences. So I often mix my own too, depending on what I have on hand.

    So I'd say, more power to you.
     
  5. growest

    growest Active Member 10 Years

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    Karin--thank you for those thoughts.

    For sure, commercial nurseries have different conditions than the average homeowner...especially the regular, often daily, sprinkling which allows, indeed demands, very coarse media. And which permits ingredients with those somewhat hydrophobic qualities as sometimes found in bark based products, as well as peat.
     
  6. chickito

    chickito Member

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    I am in the Port Coquitlam area and trying to find some Certified Organic Soil for Tomato and Hops Container gardening on my rooftop deck (or Soil tested to OMRI standards).
    I am contemplating using Sea Soil "Original" as my local Home Depot carries it.
    Should I mix anything else (peat etc) in with the Sea Soil Original?
    I will have an automated watering system set up within a couple weeks too (I mention this because I see a few of you have mentioned it does better when it is not allowed to dry out too much).

    Any help, thoughts or comments appreciated as I am a rather newbie gardener.

    Thanks
    chickito
     
  7. JCardina

    JCardina Active Member

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    We've been planting a lot of cold hardy tropical plants here lately and we've gone back to sea soil mixed with ProMix HP and added Perlite we're mixing it about a third pro mix to sea soil but not super accurately, basically by eye with a good amount of extra perlite.

    This results in a nice well draining soil.

    ProMix is what they use at nurseries for super fast draining and high porosity.

    I definitely wouldn't use sea soil original straight, it turns to concrete, but mixing in some very high draining mulchy type stuff and some more perlite for insurance makes it quite nice.
     
  8. Yardworks

    Yardworks Member

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    Yardworks Pro-Soils - 1/3 the price, Similar results, and Greener!

    Yardworks has tested our sustainable Compost-based Pro-Soils against this other product and the propagation and growth results were near identical, plus Yardworks Pro-Soils do not turn into 'concrete' as some of the previous posts have complained about this other product. As well, Yardworks ships locally (not from northern Vancouver Island) in bulk with both large and small delivery available, which has several advantages. 1. The cost of the product is 1/3 that of this other product. 2. Yardworks Pro-Soil is a far more sustainable environmentally responsible product because far less fossil fuel is burned transporting it. 3. Pro-Soil is made from recycled greenwaste and compost manures from organic farms, much of which is diverted from local landfills thus lowering the regions carbon-footprint for us all. 4. This other product is made from fish-farm waste that contains levels of unnatural growth hormones and chemicals that are fed to the fish, so their claims about being contaminant free and organic should be questioned.

    Checkout where and how to purchase bulk Pro-Soils and mulches at www.yardworkssupply.ca
     
  9. JCardina

    JCardina Active Member

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    Re: Yardworks Pro-Soils - 1/3 the price, Similar results, and Greener!

    Hmm...well all those points sound good but to call the lower mainland more local than Northern Vancouver Island when I *live* in northern Vancouver Island isn't entirely accurate, but thanks for the advertisement nonetheless.

    That fish hormone stuff sounds like voodoo science to me, anything to back that up?
     
  10. Yardworks

    Yardworks Member

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    Well, UBC is located on the lowermainland. Not an advertisement... Just letting the forum readers here on the mainland know where they can get a similar product for much cheaper than importing it from so far away.
    Regarding your voodoo science comment, you might want to do a bit of research into fish farming and see what they are actually raising those fish on and using to keep them healthy and free of sea lice in those pens... and I guarantee you it is not organic and natural.
    Using those fish remains and waste in a soil product is in fact putting those same chemicals into the soil, which is then taken up in small amounts by plants, vegetables, and fruit in your garden.
    The reason I brought that up in the first place was to dispell some of the false marketing going on in the soil industry around so-called organic soils.
     
  11. JCardina

    JCardina Active Member

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    I understand, and it's a fine line between advertising and informing, there are many here in this particular thread that live on the lower mainland but in general it's a pretty global audience on this site.

    I'm just a little dubious about how many hormones or other unusual substances are left in the fish waste after it's been processed into compost and even if there are whether plants actually "take up" things like antibiotics etc and even if they do how much is present in the edible portions of fruit and veggies grown in it and even then what possible effect it would have that is worse that having eaten the fish itself that the compost is made from in the first place.

    After all the reason for the farmed fish is to feed it to humans. :)

    Not saying you're wrong and I'm not a fan of farmed fish for taste reasons, I've just seen fuzzy claims like this before and it's usually not presented in any convincing way (i.e. scientific).

    Perhaps rather than hinting at these "contaminants" in Sea Soil with those kinds of claims you might want to buy a bag and send it to a lab and have them analyze exactly what unusual substances are in it so you can outright say it in your advertising?

    I'm not particularly defending Sea Soil here, just more a fan of truth and according to the Sea Soil site it is approved by two separate organic certification programs.
     
  12. Yardworks

    Yardworks Member

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    Fast food, antibotics, hormones, trace metal elements, and countless other chemicals are also made everyday for human consumption too, but that doesn't mean they are healthy for us or should be in our food sources.
    Look, I am not taking sides either, just offering an equal alternative that is in fact more environmentally friendly, far less costly, easier to locate, and letting people know they should not always believe the marketing they read as it is designed strategically competitively and is certainly not often based on your 'truth'.
    You know, I find it bizarre that people always compain about corporate irresponsibility, but even when a company does go out of the way to do the right thing and promote it, there are people who will criticize that as well.
     
  13. JCardina

    JCardina Active Member

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    I know you are enthusiastic about your product and it sounds like a good product and may be useful to people here.

    All I'm saying is for your own protection you need to be careful of your facts before you publicly make statements about a competitors product. Don't let your enthusiasm get the better of you.

    Their product is certified for organic use, sounds pretty safe to me unless the organic certification is B.S.
     
  14. Yardworks

    Yardworks Member

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    I agree with you completely. I very much respect that other company as they do a great job, and also make a very good product.
    I just wanted to let people know not to buy into all the marketing and certification fluff so faithfully... What happens in theory and on a piece of paper, and what actually happens day in and day out in reality are often two very different things in this world.
     

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