What container mixes do you recommend?

For propagation: Use a mix of about 50% perlite to 50% peat or aged pine bark, peat and perlite approximately 2:1:1 by volume. To this add 6 pounds of 18-6-12 Osmocote (NO substitutes), plus one pound of Micromax, plus a small amount of dolomite ONLY if you have very little calcium in your water supply (no more than 4 lbs per cu. yd. max.). Leave the seedlings in the containers for 6 to 12 weeks, depending on the species and weather conditions. Topdress with Osmocote 19-6-12 at a rate of about 4 pounds per cu yd when the seedlings are about 2 to 3 inches tall. How do I determine the amount to apply? Consider that the original RootMaker® container holds approximately 14 cubic inches volume (the RootMaker® II 32-cell tray hold about 11 cu. in. and the 18-cell tray holds 25 cu. in.). There are 46656 cu in per cubic yard, so divide by 14, which equals about 3,300 containers to equal one cubic yard. Therefore _ pound of Osmocote should be spread over about 400 containers for the 14 cu. in. original RootMaker®, or over about 530 cavities of the 32-cell tray (16 trays) or over about 233 cavities of the 18-cell tray (13 trays). Standard mix: A mix of 3 parts ground pine (or other conifer bark), plus 1 part good Canadian peat, plus, 1 part concrete sand makes a good growth medium for most species of plants in containers. To this mix add the fertilizers noted above. Keep in mind that if you mix three cubic yards of ground pine bark plus one cubic yard of peat and one cubic yard of sand, you DO NOT end up with five cubic yards of mix, but rather with about four cubic yards. The reason is that the various shaped particles fit together and the volume shrinks by roughly 15% to 20%. Because plants grow in the reduced or final volume, always add any nutrient additives based on the final volume and not the initial volume. Also, a compressed 3.6 cu. ft. bale of peat expands to make about 6 cu. ft. The growth medium is the mix of materials used to fill the container. It is NOT soil, and should not contain any soil. Soil is a mix of aggregates and very fine particles. If a small amount of soil is added to a container growth medium the fine particles will erode to the bottom of the containers and complicate drainage.