Hi everyone,
I am going to use this recipe supplied by Millet:
Here is what I do. After properly pre-soaking and then pre-treating the CHC's with CaNO3 and MgSo4 during the last rinse I then blend my growing medium mixture usually one cubic foot at a time. I start with the basic mix of 4 parts CHC (1/4 or 1/2 inch chips or a mix of the two sizes) to one part peat moss and to this basic mixture I add the following ingredients per 1-cubic foot:
.57-lbs. (258-gms) 23-4-8 one year slow release fertilizer.
.48-lbs. (218-gms) Dolomite
.08-lbs. ( 36-gms) Regular water soluble fertilizer w/o trace minerals.
.08-lbs. ( 36-gms) STEM (Soluble Trace Element Mix)
Blend entire mixture well. I then begin my regular fertilizer applications one month after transplanting the tree into the above medium.
1 cubic foot = 7.481 liquid gallons or 6.429 dry gallons
I made my rounds today, and couldn't find the following:
CaNO3 - Where do you find Calcium Nitrate?
Dolomite - Where do you find Dolomite?
STEM - Where do you find this? Is it available in small portions anywhere?
These three ingredients have been tricky. I bought my CHC's, soaked them, rinsed them, soaked them, rinsed, and now I am going to rinse two more times, with the last with Epson salt and Calcium Nitrate - BUT, I can't find CANO3
As far as fertilizer, I found Osmocote Indoor / Outdoor (slow release - 4 month though), in a 19-6-12 ratio. This ratio is also done with the same percentages (19% Nitrogen, etc). Best I have been able to do in terms of the 5-1-3 ratio.
Picked up the Peat Moss as well. Purchased 18 inch pots for my #7 containers, and a 15 inch pot for my 1 ft tall Clementine (will upgrade soon I am sure - just didn't want to shock it by going bigger).
Last, I picked up a citrus blend fertilizer that was also fairly close to the 5-1-3 ratio, and it had the micro nutrients as well, so I will use this every 6-8 weeks (as perscribed, it can go to 4 months, but it says during the summer, it is much shorter lasted).
Does this look good for so far experts? Any help in locating my remaining ingredients would be appreciated.
Thanks everyone for your patience. I am a new grower and really don't want to screw anything up
