I like this channel because he tells you like it is, he gives you facts 💯👌

Thank you for practical breakdowns with rationale! Very nice ❤️

Thank you so much for these great infos. God bless…🌻

Great tips and very good explanation! Had been struggling to learn how to water properly since forever! Thanks so much :)

You make some very good points!

Thanks 🙏🏼 for the great info keep up the good work my friend

Great explanation!

Great information, thank you so much! What are your thoughts on making potting mix from old used potting mix that drains well? I’ve heard never to reuse potting mix and to replace potting mixes every 2 years due to loss on nutrients

What percentage of each do you mix? I learned good information from your presentation. Thank you!

Where do you get your bulk pine bark from? I’m in mesa and I have been unable to find a local supplier

Good information, thankyou! Question, here in BC Canada, cant seem to find pine bark...at least not affordable...one place sells a 2 quart bag for 19.98. Too muchy :) So, is there any other kind of bark you would recommend? Cedar is easy to come by but we dont want to use that.... Thankyou for any info you can give.

I grow all kinds of fruit trees in containers, zone 5, and tried everything. It was always too wet! One even seemed like pulverized paper as the base! Now I use bark, shredded wood or chips and I haven't had root rot since. And the trees are behaving well.

Will the same soil work for Date Palms?

Where should i buy pine bark?

In what proportions do I use this mix?Thanks

pine bark tends to go sour at bottom of pot, attracting gnat flies. i use coir but, i understand that nurseries need a cheap product. for smaller indoor plants i use a pro mix of peat moss and perlite. dont forget to add calcium regularly, as it's the most required nutrient, and absent in potting media. thanks for the video. it's the same conclusion i ended up reaching. drainage. potting mix should drain, no matter how much you water, and retain only some. pebbles on bottom of media do not help with drainage.

I use cactus citruis soil poting mix with worm casting and checken minure for my well draining poting mix with dr earth and so mirorizah and then water with fish emullsion for all my plants

Can you add a link to the soil you recommended?

MiracleGro makes great potting mix. You do need to re-fertilize it half way thru summer though. I like steer manure for that.

Great channel! I’m currently using Proven Winners Potting Soil which I find to be amazing BUT it’s $11 for 1.5cft bags. Do you have a potting mix recipe for home use? Let’s say around 4cuft?? We can always double or triple it from there. Thank!

I just subscribed and have a lot of questions. I live in South Florida soil here is Alkaline but also have discovered that in my garden there are Asian worms😮, so I started gardening in containers. If I add worms to containers, will I make my problem worse? That's my main concern. I'd appreciate any feed back and thank you so much in advance ❤

Thank u sir before I have misconceptions that cocopeat holds a lot water so it could hold lots water and rpt the root

hi Alan. New subscriber here. watching all your videos one by one. Really rich content! thanks! Pls excuse my ignorance but I noticed that you don't add any (compost)? Does the bark also count as biodegradable compost? Thanks again!

Thanks, I appreciate the video. Anything wrong with using just plain sawdust as a potting mix? I know it varies a lot. The stuff I have is fine but not a superfine powdery dust. It drains quickly when I do a drainage test (in a few seconds) and holds moisture. Of all the videos on youtube about potting mix, nobody seems to use sawdust. I wonder why? It's cheap and readily available. Am I missing something?

Can I usebthis mix to root fig cuttings?

Hello. Thanks for the video. Wanted to ask what is the ratio of pine bark to perilite to peat moss in your potting mix?

Sir can use cocopeat instead of put moss....pit moss is not available here what can be easy substitute

Allen, what fertilizer do you use? Seems you will have to fertilize very often with such a free draining soil mix.....I searched your site but only saw info for fertilizing citrus. What do you use for your favorite all around go-to fertilizer? Thanks! :)

I have a place nearby that sells 1/4 minus mulch but it is made of wood chips not bark, will that work? or will it rob the plant of nutrients?

Hey Alan! where do you buy the crushed pine bark? I've seen small, med and large pine barks but not the fine one you are using... thanks!

Hi Alan can you specify how many parts of each that you are using even if it is estimated. I have tried various different potting mixes including the happy frog but they seem to hold on to too much moisture for too long. We usually only get into the 90s for highs here in the north east. I would like to try out your mix thanks for the information you share

What are your thoughts on a mineral based soil mix? Such as Gary's best top pot. Doesn't pine bark break down into a finer material where the drainage eventually slows down.

Well draining soil has been making me crazy. I tried soil and combos one after another and everything resulted in wet feet. I lost trees, flowers, shrubs, bananas, grapes, citrus, berries because the freakin soil wouldn't dry out no matter what mix I used or how little I watered. I eventually went around the house tipping containers on their sides whenever it was going to rain just to keep the problem from getting worse. This is zone 5 and we have a rich black loam up here, but it was just too damp ALL THE TIME in containers. I'll mix again using your combo but all I can find in stores is chunk pine bark, not mulch. I'm a renter so getting big equipment isn't an option ... there's just nowhere to put it when it's not in use that isn't an eyesore to my neighbors. I'll have to pull up all those plants and start again because all of them are in some degree of distress. Overwatering/wet feet first shows up as nutrient deficiencies since swollen 'skin' on roots is useless for uptake. Not only do roots suffocate underwater, they are so boggy they can't function due to changes in osmotic pressure. In the case of over fertilizing, osmotic pressures make water flow OUT of roots, creating 'burning' of leaves as if the plant is underwatered even tho water is fine. In wet feet, the opposite is true. Water flow keeps going into the root until it gets boggy and separates from the under layers of transfer tubules. It's like getting a blister. Your skin on top of a blister is never going to reattach. Skin has to regrow from underneath. Roots don't have that option once the active layer is separated from the woody center of roots. And because new roots come from that loose 'skin' layer, there will be no new roots to replace anything either. If wet feet isn't dealt with quickly, that boggy root 'skin' turns black and the root dies, which makes people think root rot is 'bacterial' or 'fungal' infection. No, it's just rotting nonviable plant material by bacteria and fungus, just as nature intended. But once it starts, it's hard to stop the natural course of things, so wet roots has to be fixed fast. Ask me how I know. The best rescue for wet feet is quick dry in hot sun or repotting in moist soil that isn't wet. No disinfection necessary. Anyway, while every nursery SAYS "repot in 'well draining soil'", they never give any FORMULA for making well draining soil ... so thank you.

thank you man i dont know if you gn see me comment but what is the PH of the bark you use ?

Finding pine bark that fine/shredded is hard. Do you have any recommendations? There are local landscaping companies near me, but their bark is much chunkier than what I see you using.

What ratio should I use? Peat moss vs pine bak vs perlite? Equal parts? Thank you.

Will rice husk work like pine bark ? There's no bark potting mix available here.

I can't find pine bark. Can I use pine bark mulch?

Can l use pine bark mulch? Thankyou

Also what is your soil mixing ratio? 5-1-1?

great explanation! thanks! but when you say that your potting mix dries out several times a day in a 4 gallon container, doesnt that mean that you need to water a lot more than you would if it dried out in 3-4 days? isnt it also fine to have your potting mix dry out in 4 days in such a container? lets say on a 105° day with 5 hours of direct sun and then shade.

what could i use instead of bark since i can't get it locally?

How do you get your bark so fine?

Thank you for making this video! But I don't understand how peat moss helps with the drainage because it's meant to hold moisture and if you let the container dry out 50% and then the water the peat moss will absorb the water unless it's hydrophobic then the water is just going to drain through and then your soil is not going to be wet and your plant not going to get watered. So how does it help with the drainage if it either absorbs water because the Peat Moss is wet or a repelles water cuz the peat moss is dry and then your plants don't get watered, which you don't want. I hope I make sense, thank you!

Ratio?

What is your thoughts on using coco coir instead of peat moss?

Why can’t you not use garden soil for containers

Can you make a video on how you amended you native ground soil for it to be suitable to plant the mango tree/tropicals, because I know your native clay soil would'nt work

I still don’t get why you add any organic matter i.e. bark to your soil. Doesn’t that eventually break down and become poisonous to the roots which caused root rot?

Do you sell your potting mix?

u too honest bro stop giving these fooools alll these info 😂 you gonna thank me later😂😂

What is the ratio of pine bark:perlite:peat moss?

🎉Hi, found you today and subscribed 😁Desert dwelling "neighbor" 300 miles SE of you in Luna County, NM, 88029. Thank you 🧓