Growing in Pittmoss (The alternative to Peat)

CaptainSnap

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Hello all fellow organic soil growers! I'm not new by any means to this site or growing but have been off this site for a few years now and in the midst of the winter blues need to do some posting!

I hope everyone is experiencing positive results in their gardens this year! I recently trashed all right before the holidaze:eyesmoke: due to a long lost battle to RA's!:fire:

Upon restarting my garden I have finally invested in 4 bags of Pittmoss. I don't know if many of you have seen it but it was a large hit on shark tank and I have wanted to try it since seeing it that day a few years ago.

Its a peat moss replacement in potting soil that carries a pH neutral substrate. It is made of recycled paper and some other amendements that are proprietary. If one wasn't any smarter one would think this stuff is a mix of mice/worm bedding! It looks crazy fluffy. My mix will be 1/3 pittmoss, 1/3 Leaf/Grass Compost, 1/3 Perlite. To this I plan to add what I do with my coco mixture which is 1 Tbs/Gallon of Neem, Crab, Gypsum, and FF Happy Frog 3-4-3 fertilizer. Then before the flip I plan to add rabbit doo as a top dress! I plan to transplant 3 or 4 into this mix today. Will post pictures soon.

Anyone have experience growing in this that can help chime in please do so! My search didn't turn up many results and so I'm hoping to spark a conversation to help in this endeavor! Smoke on brethren bongsmiliebongsmilie

Csnap
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
CaptainSnap said:
Hello all fellow organic soil growers! I'm not new by any means to this site or growing but have been off this site for a few years now and in the midst of the winter blues need to do some posting!

I hope everyone is experiencing positive results in their gardens this year! I recently trashed all right before the holidaze:eyesmoke: due to a long lost battle to RA's!:fire:

Upon restarting my garden I have finally invested in 4 bags of Pittmoss. I don't know if many of you have seen it but it was a large hit on shark tank and I have wanted to try it since seeing it that day a few years ago.

Its a peat moss replacement in potting soil that carries a pH neutral substrate. It is made of recycled paper and some other amendements that are proprietary. If one wasn't any smarter one would think this stuff is a mix of mice/worm bedding! It looks crazy fluffy. My mix will be 1/3 pittmoss, 1/3 Leaf/Grass Compost, 1/3 Perlite. To this I plan to add what I do with my coco mixture which is 1 Tbs/Gallon of Neem, Crab, Gypsum, and FF Happy Frog 3-4-3 fertilizer. Then before the flip I plan to add rabbit doo as a top dress! I plan to transplant 3 or 4 into this mix today. Will post pictures soon.

Anyone have experience growing in this that can help chime in please do so! My search didn't turn up many results and so I'm hoping to spark a conversation to help in this endeavor! Smoke on brethren bongsmiliebongsmilie

Csnap
Click to expand...
whats up man

i'd be concerned with too much water retention.
i'd go WAY over on the 33% aeration.
like closer to half. you are going to have 66% of your media with VERY high water retention abilities
let us know how it works for you
 
CaptainSnap

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Thanks greasemonkey for the excellent tip! It could be the reason why i'm having moisture issues in a few of my 3 gallons with the same mix but coco instead of the pittmoss. I will bump up my perlite to 2/3 the mix. I don't mind having to water more often in the midst of winter!!

I used to use FF ocean forest mixed with happy frog but I quit that, I now mix my own and add dry amendments and its been a small learning curve with the coco based soil.
 
greasemonkeymann

greasemonkeymann

Well-Known Member
CaptainSnap said:
Thanks greasemonkey for the excellent tip! It could be the reason why i'm having moisture issues in a few of my 3 gallons with the same mix but coco instead of the pittmoss. I will bump up my perlite to 2/3 the mix. I don't mind having to water more often in the midst of winter!!

I used to use FF ocean forest mixed with happy frog but I quit that, I now mix my own and add dry amendments and its been a small learning curve with the coco based soil.
Click to expand...
if you have a good compost pile man, you'll probably abandon the pittmoss eventually, compost is superior in probably every aspect, but keep in mind that the pittmoss IS compost, just more of a bare type
another concern i'd have is if the paper is fully composted, if not that'd undoubtedly sequester nitrogen from the soil, as paper is essentially pure carbon
I also am a BIG fan of mixing aeration types, for your mix you'd want more hydrophobic aeration, like perlite, volcanic rock, and even calcined clay
wouldn't be a bad idea to add small one inch strips (one inch by 2 inch) of coco wool, will always help in drainage
also having coco-wool at the bottom of the containers is a good idea as well considering the possible compaction issues that humus heavy mixes get
 
ShLUbY

ShLUbY

Well-Known Member
2/3 seems like a lot of perlite... i'd say 1/2 would be a bit better. you may not have enough humus/medium with only 1/3 of the mix being that. Sounds like it's going to work out nice for you though. I've seen a lot of shark tanks and I never saw that one I guess. I'll have to check that stuff out just to see
 
CaptainSnap

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Well I was able to transplant 3 lemon kush crosses into the pittmoss mix last night. Thanks shluby for stopping in and giving advice. I noticed I misread greasemonkeys advice and decided to take both of your advice and went with 50 percent perlite, 25 percent pittmoss, 25 percent compost. And right now I source my compost from the local municipality. It unfortunately has clippings and leaf collecting from around the city and would have trace amounts of chemicals. I do have my own compost going and should have some by spring.

Here's the photos I promised I would get up!
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That's a pic of the label on the bag!

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That's the pittmoss fresh out the bag! and the next photo is the pittmoss all mixed up and ready for planting.
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And a lemon kush transplanted into her new home. this was originally in a 1 gallon coco, perlite, compost mix for 4 weeks. A bit nute starved and magnesium deficient i do believe. Anyone else agree or disagree please chime in! thanks
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CaptainSnap

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Well after wasting 4 hours, missing pt, and getting upset several times I think I may have figured it out. Would help if we had an upto date full functioning computer. I've also emailed pittmoss to ask the question greasemonkey addressed earlier. I'll post the response.
 
iHearAll

iHearAll

Well-Known Member
CaptainSnap said:
Thanks greasemonkey for the excellent tip! It could be the reason why i'm having moisture issues in a few of my 3 gallons with the same mix but coco instead of the pittmoss. I will bump up my perlite to 2/3 the mix. I don't mind having to water more often in the midst of winter!!

I used to use FF ocean forest mixed with happy frog but I quit that, I now mix my own and add dry amendments and its been a small learning curve with the coco based soil.
Click to expand...
play sand or loam would suffice for drainage

nice healthy looking kushs, cant wait to see how they grow
 
CaptainSnap

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Well I was hoping to get this posted sooner but the website was down for awhile. Still can't post pics but here is the email messages I've been having with the company directly. I'm waiting for a response back from their soil scientist!

Hello,
I recently purchased a few bags of your performance potting soil. I was
curious if I have to worry about pH swings and if the medium will lock up
any nutrients that I should be aware of. I just recently planted into it
for the 1st time this week.

Thanks


Response
The pH of the product is near neutral. It does absorb nutrients quite well. The biggest thing we find is folks over-watering because it does have strong water management/ holding qualities (which applies to nutrients as well).



Here is our FAQ section if you want to browse more topics: https://pittmoss.com/apps/help-center
 
CaptainSnap

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
I felt like that didn't answer enough for what I was looking for so I sent them this early last week and is what I'm waiting for the soil scientist to respond too. I'll keep you all informed and when the web is up post some pics. So far I like the water absorption of this stuff and I started onion seeds with a dome and had fungal growth within the 1st 5 days!!

Im asking if it curtails the nitrogen. Does it lock up nitrogen as it breaks down? Should i use a bit more nitrogen during the growing phase? Hope those questions help! I have a forum with me using your product and id like inform people of this environmentally safe product. So far things are looking great over here and I appreciate the help!

Thanks
 
CaptainSnap

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
Well I've had the email response from pitmoss for awhile but we all know rollitup has had better days! Here is the response I got to the email I sent above.

Hi Brandon-



Sorry it took so long to follow up. Here is what I received from Dr. Bethke.



Yes! PittMoss does "absorb" the nitrogen more readily than sphagnum moss based mixes. This is because of the increased carbon supply and microbial activity. However as the crops develop the nitrogen absorbed into the microbiological complex cycles to become slowly available to plants. It is best to use a little more nitrogen in the beginning of the crop and then back off and apply almost none at the end. PittMoss tends to retain the nitrogen in the growing media complex for later use by the plant. Therefore less nutrient run-off (pollution).


I hope this helps,





PittMoss, LLC
2603 Duss Ave | Ambridge, PA 15003
888-842-3553
 
CaptainSnap

CaptainSnap

Well-Known Member
I also would like to point out that while rollitup was down, I got upset with the companies vision. They did there launch a few weeks back and sent me a 25 percent off coupon for being signed up to their blog. Well I hopped on over to make a purchaser order to find out that the bags had doubled in price!! I was shocked and sent an email about how terrible of business that was. I had just purchased 4 bags at 19 bucks a piece. They are now asking 38 dollars for the same bag. They returned my email with a we had to raise our price to stay competitive. Sorry you feel like you got duped. So i am no longer posting anything about pittmoss. I have 3 more bags to use up. I will probably start a new thread for just my garden!

CSnap
 
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