Potting Soil (with turkey poop?)

Troll in Bottle?

CHAPTER 6 Revisited

African Violets: A Gift from Nature 
by Melvin Robey. (1988) 

Understanding your Potting Mixture
Excerpt from previous blog entry on the topic of soil mix recipes:

"Why does someone suddenly switch from one potting mix to another? There are 5 basic reasons I can think of for this odd behavior in African Violet enthusiasts." 
~Melvin Robey:

1. Change for change's sake. (Possibly worriers, looking for solutions?)
2. Trying a friend's mixture. (It worked for them, so why not try it too?)
3. Trying out new ideas. (The experimenters!)
4. New products introduced. (A new marketing fad?)
5. New Cultural Practices. (Change to wick or matting, for examples.)


I will add:

6. Usual products unavailable because of seasonal retail marketing decisions.

There's no freaking peat moss or potting soil to be found this time of year NOT LACED WITH MIRACLE-GRO. I thought I found a couple of organic potting mix alternatives to peat moss:
Scott's Brand Earthgro Potting Mix was basically clay and sand. Read some really bad reviews after I got it home of course! I think it might make a good ingredient in a final recipe once it's been sifted. And pasteurized. I'm making this a habit now, no matter what source it comes from. 

Mickey Mouse Jar with 1st bloom!

 
Vigoro 8 qt. Organic Potting Mix has a much more organic texture. Says there's perlite added but damn little. I can deal with that. Of course, I didn't notice the bottom sentence on the bag says "no need to feed for 3 months"...WHEN will I learn to read ALL of the label? Went on an internet search to try and find out just what this product was "amended with". Found a Home Depot video. 

It's Turkey Litter?

Both had lots of rocks and bark... because if they use the word "organic" that must make it okay?

 

African Violet Plant Food

Schultz 8-14-9 African Violet Plus Micro-nutrients

www.schultz.com

I filled out the contact form at www.schultz.com with questions about the percentage of Nitrogen in their product made up from urea. It seems to be widely believed urea is bad for African Violets. An entire new industry seems to have grown up promoting the fact that they DON'T use it in their products and nearly everything written will scream not to use it.

 

I did find one article written by Joyce Stork in an old AVSA magazine from Nov/Dec 2009 titled, "Urea-Based Fertilizers" on page 51. She suggests many articles written have condemned urea based fertilizers because "it is the safest course of action." She seemed to feel some of the cases being blamed on this ingredient had other issues associated with the problems.

 

Of course, I bought some :) 

It was the AV plant food with the least percentage of Urea I could find locally out of 4 stores I checked with.

 

So I wondered why a well established company would continue to include it?

When you wonder something, you should go looking for answers! 

This was their very swift company reply:

Thank you for contacting United Industries.

Nitrogen can come in many different forms, each of which has different qualities. Some, like nitrate nitrogen, are immediately available to the plant and others, like ammoniacal nitrogen and urea nitrogen, become available over time. That is why, as you see, our Nitrogen consists of three different types, which ensures that the plants will get some nitrogen immediately, and some later.
If you have any further questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at 1-800-332-5553.

Product Specialist
United Industries
A subsidiary of Spectrum Brands

I will add the usual cautions:

"If what you're using works, don't change what you're doing!"

Time will tell how my plants do. 

Perhaps an excellent experiment once I have an over abundance of offspring to play with. Which of their directions should you follow? Half strength every watering? Once a month at the full dose?
For now I'm leaning towards a happy medium - half strength middle and end of month.
(Will entertain any and all advice!)