ProMix vs Sunshine

[@BWSRbushcraft]

Thank you for this review.

[@ti-brindesbois5408]

I use the Pro-Mix Premium Organic Vegetable & Herb Mix in 28.3 liter bags. It contains : Sphagnum peat moss Humus Compost Perlite Gypsum Limestone for pH Organic fertilizer Mycorrhizae

[@gapey]

Sounds pretty similar. I think I tried that one once a few years ago. I don't remember where I got it from though.

[@jeremybyington]

I had great success overwintering some young seedlings in my basement using about 75% wood chips from my oak trees and 25% of peat moss and coconut coir. The last 3 years I have been hanging traps for the gnats but I didn’t have to do that at all this past winter. I doubt it would make a good seed starter, though, but my hardy kiwi, blackberries, passionfruit, toon tree, and others did well and are now in the ground looking good.

[@gapey]

That is awesome! It's nice you can source some of your own material to make soil.

[@crazyjeremy]

Good to know! We switched to ProMix a while ago, partially due to your suggestion. We keep buying it ever since! Keep up the awesome work! Love your channel!

[@gapey]

Thanks it is good stuff! Just went and picked up 4 more bags to get through the rest of the season and for starting next season. Price went up almost $10 though!

[@shara503]

I ended up using the same sunshine mix and never again. All my peppers didn’t fair well. All of them had issues. This year I am buying strictly pro-mix. Usually I pot stuff up in happy frog and couldn’t find that either so I tried to amend the sunshine mix since I bought so much of it and this was the worst grow year to date. I’m buying when and where I can find my soils and starting mix now at the end of the season for next season.

[@gapey]

Yeah it is just terrible stuff. Gonna take forever to use it all up as I only mix a small amount in with my Pro Mix. What did you try amending the Sunshine Mix with? It seemed to do ok for me just adding a small amount to the ProMix. Maybe around 90% Promix and 10% Sunshine.

[@patsella2460]

I use the pro-mix bale like your yellow bag but I get the red bag at home depot. Walmart had it for less $ but they no longer carry it. Thanks for the video regarding Sunshine, it's not one I have tried. Also, for seed starting mix I always wet it then bake it to 180F (82C) to kill off any possible gnat eggs. HTH

[@gapey]

Yeah I think I know which one you are talking about. That's the non organic one right? I saw it at Walmart the other day and have used that before with good results. I'll only use it if they don't have the organic one though. I'm sure it's a lot cheaper too and comes in bigger bags. The price tag on it must have blown off because I couldn't find the price and I didn't bother to ask but the Organic price went up about $8 since I bought it a couple months ago.

[@patsella2460]

@@gapey One is potting mix the other garden mix. I didn't notice the red bag is not organic. Sorry 'bout that. It used to be about 12-14 a bale now it's $20 down here in the desert southwest. At home depot both the garden and potting mix are the same price locally. I will avoid the sunshine mix, sorry your results weren't as expected. I've used the promix for 5plus years and have had tood luck with it.

[@gapey]

@@patsella2460 Yeah it says "garden mix" but on the package but says it's ideal for seed starting and containers and pots which is what a potting mix is. Not sure why they don't just call it potting mix instead of garden mix on the package. Maybe because it has multiple uses.

[@ccpirogue]

We bought about 15 bags of the pro mix from Walmart for $5 each. Great deal!!

[@gapey]

Oh wow! That's a steal! Was that recently? I wonder if they have any left here. I almost went through the ones I just got. Could always use more.

[@aoncemoomooinsomniac2161]

I’m using the Pro-Mix HP and love it. I mixed it 50:50 with coco-coir and have had great results.

[@gapey]

I think that's the one I used last year that I got at a hydroponics store before WalMart started carrying theirs.

[@Levelc]

I like plain old pro-mix. It’s not great for the environment, but it works. Truthfully, I like whatever hasn’t been sitting in the elements and doesn’t come pre-amended with gnats. Those compressed bales are meant to rehydrated. If you don’t hydrate them, they’ll remain hydrophobic.

[@gapey]

Yeah I would prefer a potting mix with coco coir but instead of peat just haven't found one that works as well as ProMix.

[@Levelc]

@@gapey I was going to give COCO-LOCO a try, but the bags I bought came with gnats. I immediately put them in the garage and cleaned my grow area.

[@gapey]

@@Levelc oh geez that's not good. I haven't had gnat issues in my grow room in years. I just don't use anything with compost in it and always get soil in compressed bags with no air holes.

[@MrTinkerStrain]

I had the same slow growth out of the Sunshine #4 blue bag as well. Anywhere it touched my tomatoes they got blight.

[@gapey]

Oh geez that's not good. I'm glad I stopped using it before I started my tomatoes. I'm still mixing a small amount of it in with the ProMix though. So far that is going fine.

[@elysekelly7705]

I'm choosing my soil mix right now. From what I've read on the website, #4 is meant for indoor growing and not recommended for vegetable's. The sunshine #1 is probably a more similar comparison.

[@markc3197]

So i bought pro-mix organic and popped some expensive seeds and went to put them in and put water to it and it absolutely refused to absorb water so after an hour i freaked out an fished them out and regrouped with some miracle grow organic (which I knew at least took water) luckily they survived the ordeal but they must have left out the wetting agent on that batch , after everything I was complaining about it and my better half reminded me I bought it at Walmart. Since then i mix it with something i know will absorb water

[@gapey]

oh yeah most dry potting soils will struggle to soak up initial watering. I always pre moisten the dry mix before using and as long as you don't let it get bone dry it should have no problem with absorbing water.

[@markc3197]

@@gapey yeah haven’t had that problem with any other soil . Like it didn’t have the wetting agent applied…… Bitch

[@markc3197]

@@gapey I said I got the shitt from Walmart and your gonna assume I’m dumb

[@gapey]

@@markc3197Walmart is where I got my ProMix from too. Not saying you are dumb. Just saying it works better if you pre moisten it before you put seeds in it.

[@POlesiuk]

I've used ProMix Organic Herb and Vegetable Mix for potting-up and growing in pots for years. I was surprised to see on the Promix web site that the formulation was different for large 2 cubic foot compressed block. Both the bags and compressed blocks contain 60-65% sphagnum peat moss, but the rest of the filler in bags is peat humus and compost whereas in the compressed block the rest of the filler is coir/coconut fibre. I guess the coir is what allows the block to be compressed. I would think compost would provide more nutrition, so not sure the large compressed blocks are such a bargain. Anyone have experience with the bags versus compressed blocks?

[@gapey]

yeah that's weird that they would be different. I didn't think any of their soils had compost in it. The ones that do must not be sterile mixes and could have fungus gnat issues unless they heat it to a really high temp to kill everything. I did find I still have a partial bag leftover of the organic herb and vegetable mix too though I haven't used it in a long time. Mine is several years old and didn't see compost in the ingredients but they could have changed the recipe since then.

[@POlesiuk]

@@gapey I was on the ProMix web site and noticed their Garden Mix contains peat humus and compost. In fact, the web site indicates the Garden Mix is formulated with a higher proportion of those two components for plants that require long-term nutrition. My assumption was only Seed Starting mix was supposed to be sterile, and potting mixes intended for containers and gardens was not. I apply boiling water to whatever I use (seed starting mix for starting, and potting soil for potting up) and still have chronic problems with fungus gnats in most years. Next year I'm going to try using just sterilized seed starting mix until they go out, and fertilize with ProMix 5-15-5 Root Booster when I water.

[@gapey]

@@POlesiuk weird I don't see any compost listed in the ingredients of my bag of ProMix.

[@POlesiuk]

@@gapey Sorry, I now see there are two Pro-Mix web sites - an international site (I'm in Canada) and another for the US . The contents of the same Pro-Mix mixes often differ between US/Canada and whether compressed or not. So best to go by labels.

[@ellenconforti5693]

@@POlesiuk for everyone getting fungus gnats try sprinkling the tops of the seedling mix after planting with a slight coating of vermiculite. Keeps the top part dry while holding in the moisture. The gnats like the wettness.

[@bryannakvinda8411]

I don't care what it says on the plastic bag my organic soil has those ingredients and more no mater how easy it is the rewards are better from mixing your own and knowing exactly what you put in it the only thing I buy is perlite coco and michorizal

[@gapey]

what else do you use? Homemade compost?

[@ellenconforti5693]

I have been using Pro Mix for years and it has just gone up in price to $17.99 per bag from the 11.99 that it has been. I will see if they go on sale at the end of the summer.

[@babbalonian2]

In Canada a bag of Pro Mix HP went from $15.99 to $29.99 within 3 years. A brick is 49.99.

[@ellenconforti5693]

@babbalonian2 ProMix is now down to 13.48. I guess that is the best deal we will get for now so I bought enough to last the rest of the year.

[@babbalonian2]

@@ellenconforti5693 Pro mix HP? Where?

[@ellenconforti5693]

@@babbalonian2 walmart has the best prices.

[@ellenconforti5693]

@@babbalonian2 Wal-Mart

[@Jamesthomas12187]

Over watering under watering?

[@jeremybyington]

$77.59?? Yikes! Thank goodness that is not required because that is a barrier to entry for many gardeners.

[@gapey]

Yeah super expense. I. think some ProMix's are that much too. Walmart has the best prices on ProMix.

[@abbiehoffman135]

@@gapey Pro Mix HP $ 45 Canadian for the 3.8 cu.ft bag at a hydroponics store .

[@gapey]

@@abbiehoffman135 that's a decent price.

[@ghst-vr7bk]

​@gapey kinda sucks people wanna push Walmart there's tons of small town stores that have it to when most Walmarts dont..

[@cherrytreepermaculture756]

Which Pro-Mix are you using?

[@gapey]

Organic "garden mix".

[@abbiehoffman135]

Pro-Mix High Porosity Mycorrhizae has always given me the best results. Lost of perlight

[@gapey]

Yeah I used that one last year that I got from a hydroponics store but they went out of business and couldn't find anyone else that had it. :(

[@babbalonian2]

Its great, but here in Canada its 29.99 a bag or 49.99 a brick.

[@DallasKlassen-ih6ni]

I use promix premium potting soil makes your plants 20% bigger and feeds your plants for 9 months

[@rock5138]

Promix looks so much better. I’ve also had some great results with Foxfarm Ocean Forest.

[@gapey]

No issue with fungus gnats on that one? I have heard it is a pretty "hot" mix and not good for seedlings unless mixed with other low nutrient mix. But hear it's great for repotting larger plants into it.

[@rock5138]

@@gapey yes, it’s better as a permanent potting mix instead of a seed starter. The organics are really awesome. The Promix is probably better for seedlings with the high Peat concentration. 👍🏻

[@Dahnatello]

Went looking for reviews of this sunshine #4 after i opened up my first bag ive ever bought of it and it had what looks like powdery mildew all over it. Stuff is garbage

[@gapey]

Oh geez. That is sad. It is really terrible and expensive. I couldn't really find much reviews on it before I got it.

[@Dahnatello]

@gapey I might have jumped to a conclusion a bit because I may have just been seeing mycorrhizae. But the way it was clumped up in certain areas was too sketchy for me to take a chance on so I'm not using it.

[@gapey]

@@Dahnatello I don't want to waste it so am just using small amounts of it mixed in my promix.

[@Kevin.K-CTH]

😎🤙❤️‍🔥