I have been using Scott's AV soil for years. But now my Home Depot does not carry it anymore, they only carry Miracle Gro. It says that the Miracle Gro AV soil is enriched with plant food. I usually only use VF-11 on my AVs. Can I still use it or not? And will the MG plant food hurt my AVs? I will still mix it like I usually do with one-third AV soil and two-thirds Perlite. But still unsure about the MG plant food mixing with the VF-11. What should I do?
Jesse
Miracle Gro AV soil
Jesse if you use it look to see if it has Urea in it not good for Av's.
Plus if you use mix with food in it you can not use any other food or you will over fertilize.
See if you can find a potting mix or Pro-mix any kind and ad Perlite but with no food in it.
I have something else to share with you all too. As you know, I have been buying the 16 oz plastic containers to use with my AVs that are wicked. I have been repotting a lot lately. Anyway, the first two times I bought them, I got them from Reed's Greenhouse because I thought that they had the lowest price. Well that is not the case. Compared to all the others he has the cheapest price but when you buy bulk from this new company that I found, this company wins by almost half the cost. So I want to share this place with you that has much better containers at almost half the cost. I was paying 25 cents a piece with Reed's. Then I found this place that has them for 13 cents a piece and the containers are much heavier and much nicer. The only catch is that you have to order 250. But that is not a problem if you 1) have as many AVs as I have and 2) if you want to split up the order between a couple of you. And this company's shipping was cheaper and they had them to me in 2 days.
Here is a breakdown of the cost for both places.
Reed's Greenhouses 250 16 oz containers with lids at .25 each = $62.50 + $10.90 = $73.40
Reliable Paper 250 16 oz containers with lids for $33.45 + $8.92 = $42.37
I have already gone through at least 125 so far and still have 4 trays of AVs to do. When I say 4 trays, that does not mean a few AVs. That means four trays with each pot having at least 3 in each pot. Remember back in June when I put down 108 leaves, well they all made babies and lots of them. So this spring I will have tons of AVs to trade. And mine will already be potted up with the wick already in them. So as soon as the weather turns warm, I will have a lot of AVs to get rid of. I will keep all of the parents of course but the babies just have to go because I am running out of room. I just spent some time today putting up more shelves in my greenhouse to put all of these babies on. I will take some photos when I am all finished. But right now I need to go build some more shelves.
Here is the URL for the 16 0z containers. For some unknown reason, I cannot get the URL to come up when I preview it so the only thing I know how to do is to copy and paste the address into your browser.
http://www.reliablepaper.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=16+oz+plastic++container+with+lid&Search.x=18&Search.y=14
That is the only way I can get it to work. I hope that you do not have any problem with it. If you do, let me know and maybe I can help you figure it out.
Jesse
Allison, this MG brand says that the plant food only works for 30 days and then it says to start using you own plant food after that. I read the ingredients and it does not have any Urea in it. So I guess that I can use this soil and then after 30 days, start using my VF-11. What do you think?
Jesse
Only 30 days. Wow most are three or four months. Yes if only 30 days after can use Vf !