How much mels mix to fill a 4x8 box

Hi,

I have 2 4ft x 8ft x 12in boxes and am wondering how much vermiculite, compost and sphagnum moss to get.

to work out what you need do 4 x 8 x 1 / 2 this will give you the total amount needed to fill your box 6 inches high , if you wish to fill it 12 iches high dont divide by 2 .Once you have the total amount (in this case 16 ) divide by 3 to give you the individual amounts needed so 16/3= 5.33 .

Then for the compost divide 5.33 by 5 for 5 different composts . It may be easier though to round to 18 at the start so all figures are rounded .Hope this explains it ok for you ,

ps these figures are to fill one box so repeat to fill two

Coinmn wrote:Hi,

I have 2 4ft x 8ft x 12in boxes and am wondering how much vermiculite, compost and sphagnum moss to get.

each box will take about 32cf of total mels mix (i'd actually do more like 36cf because of settling). So, for both boxes you will need 72 cf of mels mix, when broken down into thirds it will be 24cf of each component.

At that rate you could be better off getting compost by the yard (which I believe is 27cf) from a local landscaping place. Even though it isn't 5 "different" components, this may be the best way to go, or get 1/2 yard from the landscaping place and then suppliment with other compost. There is another link somewhere that breaks down an estimate of how much given area a normal compost bag from a big box store would give you in cf.

Also remember when you are getting the peat in compressed bales, it will roughly be double that size when uncompressed. Your greatest expense will easily be the vermiculite.

Is there a reason you would like to go 12 high? I would honestly only do 6-8 inches with mels and then the rest with some other material (sand, other soil, rocks) then cover with landscape fabric, and top with the mels.