For echinacea, I would recommend the general potting soil mix. With the perlite included, it is very well draining and suitable for starting seeds of perennials and then growing them out.

I plan to put it in a 3 gallon pots so its dense fibrous root system has enough depth and space (unlike other coneflowers this one doesn’t have a long tap root). What kind of mix would you recommend? Does peat moss retain TOO much moisture… or is it ok to have in the mix?

I was hoping to, quite boldly, plant a ton of echinacea in; like, 10 pots this upcoming season!! I’m praying I don’t waste my time and money. Because last year I did. I put in echinacea seeds last year straight into my big pot of homemade peat moss potting mix (3 part peat moss, 3 part manure compost, 1 part perlite) and got NOTHING growing (didn’t even get a chance to test root rot issues haha) … nothing came up except for an odd selection of lambsquarters and japanese maple tree saplings that volunteered in there haha… I have no idea what went wrong but I want to try again!

So, would you use your “General potting soil recipe for flowers, tropicals, and vegetables” potting mix recipe …for Echinacea Purpurea? Or would the “Potting soil recipe for potted trees and shrubs” be better? Do you think that would drain better for this echinacea??

Hi Fiona – For rhododendrons, I recommend using the general shrub mix and then adding about 1/4 cup of HollyTone fertilizer to every 5 gallons of the mix. HollyTone is a fertilizer specific to evergreens and other acid soil-loving plants. Good luck! Jessica

We recommend using one of the recipes featured in the article. The horse manure could substitute for the compost in the general potting mix recipe, but please be sure the manure is fully composted, especially if you are growing food. Otherwise pathogen exposure could be a danger. Manure often contains a lot of weed seeds, so consider yourself forewarned. I’m not sure what the purpose of sugar in the mix is (other than to lure ants, yellowjackets, etc). Plants do not use sugar as nutrition or a source of energy like animals do, so definitely skip that.

Interesting question. I would think hydrated lime would be the quickest way, but I’m not sure. It issues a much faster pH change than agricultural lime does.

Great question! It depends on the type of cutting and the plant it is taken from. In general, for herbaceous stem cuttings, I use plain vermiculite. For semi-hardwood or hardwood shrub and tree cuttings, I use the standard potting mix in the article above, minus the fertilizer (which I add after they root and I pot them up). For leaf cuttings, I use the seed starting mix.