I would like to try some Pro-Mix HP with Mycorrhizae, but I'm going to have to pay a lot for shipping or drive quite a ways in order to buy some. Is it special? I did find a picture of it, and it looks like the chunks of peat and perlite are larger than normal. Is that about it, or is there more to the story?

If you've used it, I would appreciate your thoughts about it.

Are you using this for seed starting? If so, I would not spend the extra money.

I have never used this product but seed starting does not require anything terribly special in my opinion. I start mine successfully in store bought seed starting mix every year. I do not feel that special additives are needed at this point and I add diluted fertilizer after they get a couple of true leaves.

Maybe you are using it for container gardening and I know very little about that.

I use it for seed starting. Luckily, I can pick it up at my local Canadian Tire store.

It does have a lot of perlite, and it really guards against damping off!

I wonder if Amazon.com carries it?

Linda

Thanks. Yes, Amazon carries it, but still about $48 per compressed bale. I can get a 0.5 ft3 bag for $26 through Walmart, or I can drive about 100 miles total and get a bale for $38. So Amazon has the best deal I've found thus far.

This is my second year using it. I used it last year, and used it "straight" un-cut for container stock,7 & 15 gallon containers. Once the plants got mature and was filling the container / media with an abundance of roots-- i had to water almost every day, if it got dried out , it was hard to re moisten.

I am using it so far this year to bump up my seedlings into 4" pots-- and I wont ever use it again for that

Rusty,

I only use it for tiny seedlings because it doesn't have any nutrients and, as you say, it's very dry (that's the point!) . When my seedlings are a month old, I pot them up into Promix (for herbs and veggies).

Linda

I used it for the first Time for all my indoor veggies. I like it cause I had no gnats but I know nothing about soil other than is was nice not having bugs

Greatgardens wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:29 am Thanks. Yes, Amazon carries it, but still about $48 per compressed bale. I can get a 0.5 ft3 bag for $26 through Walmart, or I can drive about 100 miles total and get a bale for $38. So Amazon has the best deal I've found thus far.

$65 for a bale here & the owner of the store says he only makes $4-$5 per on it

If you can find vermiculite insulation, or horticultural vermiculite, both work fine as a seed starting mix.

I have both Promix BX and Promix HP. I have used BX for years for both seed starting and potting up with no issues. HP stands for high porosity and holds less water than BX. BX has both vermiculite and perlite. HP has no vermiculite included but does have extra perlite added. It seems that the HP perlite is more coarse than what is in BX. I did try HP for seed starting and it worked ok. But I also screened out some of the larger perlite chunks.
All in all I did not see any improvement that would want me to worry about stocking 2 different components instead of just the BX.

I like ProMix HP and use something similar (SunGro Sunshine Mix#4), but it is nothing special. I would not go out of my way to buy it. It's just peat moss and perlite with some limestone to raise the pH. If you can source a local alternative, I would go with that.

I have used ProMix BX for seed starting and potting up for a number of years. One bale is enough for the starts plus 400 4” containers. Not bad value for $40.

ProMix Herb&Veg Mix or Sunshine Container Mix used interchangeably for container plants. No mad scientist mixing of materials needed. Just ready to go.

Greatgardens wrote: ↑Wed Feb 22, 2023 10:29 am Thanks. Yes, Amazon carries it, but still about $48 per compressed bale. I can get a 0.5 ft3 bag for $26 through Walmart, or I can drive about 100 miles total and get a bale for $38. So Amazon has the best deal I've found thus far.

I don't understand the volume measurement you're using for the WalMart bag. Also, is it loose or compressed? A volume of compressed will be much more than a volume of loose, when you start uncompressing it.

I'm not familiar With Pro-Mix HP, just Pro-Mix BX. Even the BX is not fine enough for my liking. The perlite is fairly large chunks, and there's a lot of it in the mix. For very delicate seedlings, like tomatoes, I rub the Pro-Mix peat through a screen (the perlite wont pass through), to make it finer. I toss about 1/3 of the perlite back into the bale. When re-potting tomatoes, I use un-screened BX.

It sounds like the HP is even courser than the BX.

I've used a mix of Baccto and Pro-Mix HP in my large containers for years at 60/40 ratio and have had great success.
Any type of Pro-Mix is getting difficult to find now around here and I refuse to pay the costs of shipping to have it delivered.

@Tormato...
Does not specify the type of the Walmart bag, but from the description and type of bag in their picture, it's surely loose fill. So it's not a good value, but useful if one only wants a small amount for trial, etc.

Edit: I also just noticed that the Amazon offering is for 2.8ft3 loose fill.

Reading the details on the various Pro-Mix types, a compressed 3.8 cu ft bale uncompresses to about 5 cu ft. The HP (high porosity) appears to be well suited for low light (indoor?) starts. I see some online prices at about $39. That's about what I paid, local pick-up, 3 seasons ago. I now need to restock.

Since I will be attempting indoor starts under grow light for the first time in about 20 years, I'll look at both HP and BX. Maybe buy both, and blend the two for some starts? The local gardening center hasn't had their shipment arrive yet.

I use the 3.8 cu bale; it was $63 the last time I bought it a month ago. It makes about 7 cu ft. (3.5 Earthboxes).

I also use Sunshine Mix #4 - 3 cu bale - $49 before tax, it makes 6 cu ft.

I like them both equal, but give a slight edge to Sunshine Mix #4.

Walmart in my area, sells a 1 CU compressed pack for $13ish but it doesn't have the same amount of perlite. It is very different, but is clean. However, by the time I would add perlite to mimic the hydro store product, the cost would be similar. The last time I bought perlite, it was about $37 for a 3 cu bag.

I don't think Amazon is selling the 3.8 cu bale for $48. Any place that sells it fairly cheap, has HUGE shipping expense added.

Lowe's carried the Promix HP for a couple of years then stopped. I'm now using the Sunshine mix but I don't like it as much, mind you I'm talking about using these in Earthboxes only. I tried those small $13 bags of Promix from Walmart, & they are not the same at all. I would use those in regular pots or in-ground, I believe there are 2 types sold, 1 is a black bag with yellow, the other black with red.

As for seed starting I only use Ultrasorb, the oil absorbent sold in AutoZone or such auto supply stores. No damping off & so easy to separate the seedlings when you do a mass sowing in one container. I would not start teeny tiny seeds like flower seeds(lobelia, poppy, etc) in it though. They'll fall thru the grains I would think.

I tried the Ultrasorb from Autozone a few years ago, but the particles glued themselves together after a few days, so it was unacceptable for my use.

I use UltraSorb Floor Dry from AutoZone and haven't had a problem with particles sticking together.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
UltraSorb premium oil absorbent is an all-purpose absorbent designed for the quick clean up of water, oil and grease. Made from diatomic earth, a naturally occurring material with superior absorptive ability, this high quality product delivers 50% more absorbency per pound that clay alternatives. Ultra Sorb premium oil absorbent is available in a leak-resistant and moisture-resistant poly bag.
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