House & Garden Bat Mix Special

A heavily fertilised soil blend that contains what is regarded as one of the best performing organic additives; bat guano. Alongside this, it has a combination of German black and Baltic white peat, organic lime and perlite all of which create a well formulated and balanced soil mix that maintains a balanced pH and has exquisite water holding and drainage properties. This allows it to deliver results that really set it apart from it's rivals. The bat guano acts as a more long-term nutrient for your plants and serves as a slow-release organic fertiliser, delivering phosphorus which is well known for it's benefits to both rooting, flowering and taste over a number of weeks. There's also plenty of immediately available nutrient content to help your plants get off to an explosive start. Bat Special has a EC of 1.2-1.5 with an NPK ratio of 14-16-18. The relatively low EC makes it suitable for most plants but due to it's content extra care should be taken for seedlings and cuttings, especially more sensitive varieties which can find it a little to 'rich'

How To Use House & Garden Bat Special Soil

Bat Special is ready to use straight out the bag and requires no extra inputs. It can be used for both hand watering and in self feeding systems such as a dripper setup. For young plants such as rooted seedlings or cuttings there is usually no need to feed with a base nutrient for the first 1-2 weeks as the soil contains enough immediately available fertiliser to sustain strong, healthy growth. Additives such as a good quality root stimulator should still be used to increase results. For larger established plants, feeding can begin earlier or immediately if desired, just monitor for signs of over-fertilisation and adjust as needed. Seeds should not be started in Bat Special as it is likely the blend will be too strong for them. The slower release nutrition such as bat guano will be available to your plants for up to 6 weeks depending on the size of pot you are growing in. Due to the way this works there is not usually a need to adjust your feeding schedule but always monitor your plants and adjust your nutrients as needed.

As with any fibrous substrate that you buy in a bag, make sure you fluff it up when you are filling up your pots. During the bagging process and transportation the media can become slightly compacted, which is not something that is beneficial for your roots! You want it nice and airy so less energy is needed for their development. Break it apart with your hands as you fill your pots so it becomes light and airy once again. Do not be tempted to press and compact it down as you are filling up the pots though, instead gently tap and knock the pots so the peat mix uniformly settles, rather than compacting it and ruining its structure. This will ensure maximum amount of air pockets throughout the pot. Ideally moisten and warm the substrate 24 hours before using to prime the beneficial bacteria.

For the best results, apply a healthy dose of your favourite mycorrhizae product (we love Ecothrive Biosys!) when potting up. We also recommend you weigh your pots between irrigations to ensure that you are watering adequately. Overwatering your plants can be more damaging than under-watering. As a rule of thumb we recommend around 10-15% run off each time and to re-water your plants once the pots have dropped around half the weight of when they was previously watered.

H&G Bat Special has been formulated to work with the House & Garden Soil nutrient schedule, but will also work well with a wide range of other nutrient brands. Always ensure you are using a base nutrient that is specifically tailored to soil and pair with your chosen additives.

House & Garden Bat Special is available in 50L bags.