What did I do wrong?

SewingMom 5/11/2011, 7:44 am

I made my mix yesterday and followed the recipe in the book on page 101 exactly. It was supposed to make 6 4x4 boxes and I wanted to fill 3 4x4 boxes so I cut the recipe in half and used:

2 large bags of vermiculite (I believe the bag said 3.3 cf each)
1 bag (cube?) of peat moss
8 cf of compost (6 40 lb.bags of compost and 2 heaping 5-gallon buckets of composted manure)

I mixed it all up and shoveled it into the boxes but it only filled 2! And that is without wetting it down at all. What in the world did I do wrong?

**walshevak** 5/11/2011, 7:50 am

measure the depth of the mix in your boxes. I suspect it is more than 6 in.

Kay

SewingMom 5/11/2011, 9:46 am

Thanks for your reply:)

Well the boxes are definitely 6 inches but the ground under is not quite level so maybe that is the problem. I'll have to measure when I go out to the farm later.

So what would you do if you were me - make a bunch more mix or start putting plywood bottoms on the boxes?

Blackrose 5/11/2011, 10:42 am

I did the math based on what you posted:
* 2 x 3.3 = 6.6
* I'm not sure what size of "compressed" bag of peat moss (doubles when fluffed) you had, so I'm guessing a small one (2.4CF?) since you could only fill 2 boxes with the mix you made = 4.8
* each 40 lb. bag of compost equals approximately 1CF = 6
* 2 heaping 5 gallon buckets: estimate = 1CF

This would only make about 18 CF of MM or about 6 CF per box. Not enough. You should have at least 8 CF of MM for each box. 10CF per box works better after it settles a bit.

Check out our Mel's Mix Calculator for some help on how much of each ingredient you need:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/f85-mel-s-mix-calculator

I hope this helps! Very Happy

**camprn** 5/11/2011, 4:00 pm

Blackrose wrote:

Check out our Mel's Mix Calculator for some help on how much of each ingredient you need:

https://squarefoot.forumotion.com/f85-mel-s-mix-calculator

I hope this helps!

In case the calculator is not working today take a look at this
FABULOUS CHART! that Middlemamma put together!! thanks MM!

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