Potting soil w/plant food...

[Royal_T's]

I am putting together a planted terrarium and the only soil I have is MiricalGrow brand with plant food is that safe to use? Normally I use potted plants (with the same soil) and fill in around it with Eco-Earth.

---------- Post added at 10:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 PM ----------

I've always used Eco-Earth/Bed-a-Beast for substrate... so any info on potting soil would be appreciated.

 

[tass]

i use miraclegro peat moss so it should be fine, just check and see if it says pesticides anywhere on the bag

 

[Royal_T's]

I assumed it would be fine because it claimed to have no pesticides... also all 20 of my terrariums have a plant potted in the same soil. Does anyone know where to buy an all natural soil that doesn't contain plant food. I plan to rehouse a majority of my Ts and would like to switch my adults to soil and my plants are in need of a transplant now and would like to just plant them right in the terrariums.

 

[Leviticus]

RONA, Home Depot, or Lowes should all have some kind of natural substrate. I usually buy mine from RONA and it is pure soil with a bit of vermiculite mixed in.

 

[shanebp]

RONA, Home Depot, or Lowes should all have some kind of natural substrate. I usually buy mine from RONA and it is pure soil with a bit of vermiculite mixed in.

I'll add Walmart, Canadian Tire, and Home Hardware, or any place with a gardening section really.

 

[curiousme]

I wouldn't use it personally, but would pick up some fertilizer free potting soil or peat moss instead. Putting chemicals in with your T just seems like an all around bad idea to me. You should be able to pick some up at any/ most hardware stores or greenhouses.

What are you planning on planting?



tass~ the Miracle Grow peat moss doesn't normally come with fertilizers, if I remember correctly.

 

[Royal_T's]

I did some reading and found that the most commonly used plant food is nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Doesn't sound like it would do any harm...

 

[curiousme]

I did some reading and found that the most commonly used plant food is nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Doesn't sound like it would do any harm...

Read this, it sums it up nicely.

What you are reading about is the N-P-K values of fertilizers and what they will provide to the plant. You can't just bottle those 3 things and then sprinkle them on soil to make things grow. You can either do it chemically(Miracle Grow), or you can do it organically(worm castings, fish emulsion, etc.). Miracle Grow uses chemically made salts, but read that link because it explains it well. I am not saying it will hurt your T to use fertilized soil, just that I would not mix any kind of chemical in with a T, in its enclosure. Especially not if it is a burrower, because it would be moving that dirt with its mouth. Better safe than sorry IMO.