Sphagnum Peat Moss or Perlite?

Im gonna be using Miracle Gro - Organic Choice (I know, i know, but its the only thing available around here) and I heard it was a good idea to add like 20% perlite. But the only perlite around here is Miracle Gro and I know that has ferts in it and I dont want my soil to be hot. I have some Sphagnum Peat Moss (http://www.amazon.com/PREMIER-HORTICULTURE-INC-0082P-SPHAGNUM/dp/B000T3RE3E) and I was wondering if its just for water retention or would it help with aeration as well?

What do you guys suggest?

...when I 1st started growing I used 1/3 vermurclite, (MG)1/3 perlite, 1/3 petemoss for a couple of years...all mixed my own all bought at Lowes, or Home depot. I fertilized whem chemicals (micro,grow,bloom) always @ 1/2 strength and had awesome results. I found that if you mix a little Ivory dish liquid to your water it will help the pete moss saturate the water quicker. Good luck.

trichlone fiend said:

...when I 1st started growing I used 1/3 vermurclite, (MG)1/3 perlite, 1/3 petemoss for a couple of years...all mixed my own all bought at Lowes, or Home depot. I fertilized whem chemicals (micro,grow,bloom) always @ 1/2 strength and had awesome results. I found that if you mix a little Ivory dish liquid to your water it will help the pete moss saturate the water quicker. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I might do some sort of ratio with the native soil since it looks good and already has worms crawling in it. Something like: 50% MG Organic Choice , 30% Native Soil, 10% MG Perlite and 10% Peat Moss. I also got some Espoma Garden Dolomitic Lime and will invest in some Espoma Plant-tone for the fert.

The spot is hard to get to. It requires about an hours hike of crossing creeks, climbing steep ass hills, going through a shit load of brush, getting raped by pricker bushes and scaling rocks. Unfortunately, I'm on a tight budget and I only have a school book bag to carry the supplies. I managed to fit 1cu.ft of MG Organic Choice and a Coleman collapsible shovel in. The shovel has really started to piss me off because it collapses every time I try to stick it in the ground and put pressure on it .

Anyway, thanks for the advice and anymore would be appreciated .

Pz!

I dont like perlite it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Should have used vermaculite instead.

I ended up using a mixture of peat moss, vermiculite, MG perlite , MG Organic Choice soil and native soil. I'm not really worried about anyone seeing the perlite on the ground. If they are that close they would already notice the plant itself or the chicken wire I plan on putting up. To get to the plots you have to go through some high brush, so the clearing isn't visible unless your in it...