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Soil

Posted: 14 Apr 2020, 19:55
by Stevie
Hello! It’s been a long time!
Hope everybody is well?
I was wondering with all the lockdown stuff it’s difficult to get to the garden centre and get the John innes soil I would usually use. I would probably be getting from asda when I do the weekly shop so is there a specific soil You could recommend please?
Many thanks
Stevie

Re: Soil

Posted: 14 Apr 2020, 20:51
by Nina
Hi Stevie,
Great to hear from you, and i hope your Hermanns are doing well and enjoying the sunshine we've been having recently!
We always recommend a mixture of ordinary sterilised topsoil and children's play sand, mixed either 50/50, or with a slightly higher proportion of topsoil to sand (my torts seem to prefer 60/40 or 70/30. Does ASDA stock those (most places like Homebase and B&Q do, but I don't know about ASDA.

Cheers,
Nina

Re: Soil

Posted: 14 Apr 2020, 21:36
by Stevie
Thank you, Nina 😊
Is this for planting things they are going to eat?
Many thanks

Re: Soil

Posted: 14 Apr 2020, 22:34
by Nina
Ahh, I think I misunderstood. When you said it was usually what you use, I thought you meant you used it as a substrate (some people use John Innes no. 1 for substrate, as it's got the least fertiliser in it).

For sowing seeds I would use John Innes no. 1 or John Innes seed compost. Weeds and wild flowers can grow on for a long time in this because they thrive in poor soil. For growing on plants other than weeds I use John Innes no 2, but this is not ideal for plants that you are going to feed to tortoises as it does have more fertiliser. So plants other than weeds won't grow happily forever in John Innes no. 1. but for tortoises they aren't going to grow for a long time anyway before you feed them, so I think John Innes no. 1 is probably fine. Which John Innes do you uually use?

Nina

Re: Soil

Posted: 20 Apr 2020, 13:02
by Stevie
Thank you Nina, I usually use one or two. I will see what they have in asda, if not I’ll just try and get something with as less fertiliser as possible.
Thanks again.
Stay safe! X