We Tested 5 Different Potting Soils - Here's What We Learned

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In this video, we test 5 different potting soils for growing peppers in containers. If you want to keep things simple and grow your peppers in pots, which potting soil is the best choice?

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POTTING SOILS (affiliate links):

Fox Farm Happy Frog:

Fox Farm Ocean Forest:

Miracle Gro Performance Organics:

Miracle Gro Potting Mix:

Pro Mix Organic:

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Timestamps:
0:00 About the soils
1:48 Transplanting the peppers
2:32 Up-potting the seedlings
4:01 July update
5:00 Harvesting
8:06 Final results (price, yield)

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Thanks for watching Pepper Geek!
#peppers #gardening #containergardening

[voodoorecon]

We need more content like this. Number based, performance driven statistics!

[johnowen]

This year i planted my first inground garden and my soil was absolutely horrible like dried concrete powder. I decided to juice it all up so i purchased a pallet of Miracle Gro Performance Organic, a pallet of Black Kow Manure and 6 bags of 2 cubic yard bags of peat moss. I spread it allover my 23ft by 33ft garden and deeply tilled it all in. Everything went absolutely bananas including 9 banana pepper plants that ended up being almost 5ft tall and producing around 5 bushels of very beautiful pods. I also used MGPO in my 30ft by 4ft raised pepper bed and it absolutely was mind blowing as well. I live in the southern piedmont of NC. Absolutely love your videos and i appreciate the knowledge i have learned from watching!

[ButItsVegan]

Just started my first garden & everything has been a little bit overwhelming when it comes to knowing the best items to purchase for a good healthy garden. Thank you so much for this video!! ❤

[astrozach]

I’ve been using a roughly 50/50 mix of Happy Frog and Ocean Forest over the last 5-6 years for most of my potted plants. Both peppers and tomatoes seem to love that. I do add MicroLife 8-4-6 about once a month to keep the soil going strong. Hasn’t let me down yet.

[kim]

So this year I grew peppers in 4 Greenstalks..30 plants each. I had 2 filled with Espoma potting soil and 2 filled with Coast of Maine tomato and vegetable soil (red bag). Coast of Maine was the clear winner. Not only did the peppers themselves look healthier and were large for their kind, the plants themselves looked way better...more greener. Next year perhaps I will do Coast of Maine vs Happy Frog. Thanks for doing this comparison video. I like this type of video...very useful.

[larrymixer]

You should chose your 'soils' to match the job. Pro Mix is not intended to make up pot grown plants since it contains starter fertilizers that favor vegetative growth that usually will run out in a couple of months it isn't an organic. There are big differences between starter soils that are used to germinate seed and sometimes to maintain the seedlings in packs. Then there are potting soils for a light, well drained soil mix in pots, there are several container growing soils starting to show up on the market. It is great to see your results and the choices of the most easily found products available in most markets.

[Ellienollie]

Pro mix stuff is usually more marketed as a substrate or component in a potting mix intended to be fertigated professionally. Its performance will shine in these conditions

[orkids]

I just bought happy frog soil & can’t wait to plant my peppers. Watched a lot of videos even using it on citrus containers. It’s very pricey from nursery. Thanks for sharing

[HoRRiiBLe]

My experience. Ocean forest is a hot soil. I do a 50/50 blend happy frog(it’s very light on nutrients and mostly good myco) and ocean forest. This gets me a month after transplant. Seedlings always go in straight happy frog. I grow cannabis and they get burnt easily by the ocean forest alone. Learned the hard way. But I love these tests. Great info with real results.

[amyschmelzer]

I grow in-ground with plants that I start from seed in potting mix. The last couple years I have used Pro Mix because that’s what was available locally. I haven’t been impressed by the texture of it. Before that I used a brand that sounds French that I would recognize if I saw it. It was better than Pro Mix. After seeing your results, I feel validated in my meh feelings about Pro Mix even though so many people rave about it. I will seek out Happy Frog next time I need to buy more potting mix.

[StephenFrank]

I always recommend mixing Ocean Forest and Happy Frog in a one bag to one bag mix.

[Stinky]

Perhaps a mix of Fox Farms’ Ocean and Happy Frog will yield a large number of larger fruits? I also heard good stuff from Gaia Green.

[rozsmith]

This summer I used the MG Performance Organic plant food. I yielded more peppers overall than I have ever grown before, just using a pelleted organic plant food.

[MsSwitchblade]

I just bought my first bag of Happy Frog yesterday. Here's hoping my plants love it

[carolina_girl]

This was very interesting! FoxFarm does sell smaller bags of Happy Frog and Ocean Forest. It’s $9.99 /bag for a 12 quart bag at the nursery where I work. We really like their soil conditioner too

[fishstix]

Happy frog and promix have always been my goto.

[franceshoward]

yes lots more experiments like this one, they are illuminating

[lindacook]

I have used Pro Mix, Miracle Grow and some generic brands. I sometimes mix them all together when refreshing my containers for the spring, add more perlite, trace minerals, diotamaceous earth

[tiffanyi]

Wow Fox Farm Ocean Forest has been my go-to! sometimes I supplement with orchid mix and perlite to make it suitable for more fussy/sensitive plants…maybe I’ll try Happy Frog next

[sherrilackey-rnrg]

Love the comparison. Helps new gardeners for sure