Growing in conatiners

[hiker_]

Speaking of "boom and bust" and BER...

The mix (and recipe) that I have is half peat, 1/4 vermiculite, 1/4 perlite.

In 4" pots in the basement, my young tomatoes took a week to dry out enough to need watering.

When I followed neighbors' advice I wound up overwatering. Then I waited till they drooped to water again.

So I'm worried about creating a "boom and bust" situation once I put them into their final containers (5 gal for the determinates and a 10 gal for the indeterminate).

Should I/could I change my mix to avoid this? Or should I expect that my mix will work better in containers outdoors when the plants are bigger?

[ginger2778]

I would leave out the vermiculite, because the peat holds a lot of moisture, the vermiculite makes the mix much too wet. Add in about 1 cup dolomite lime per 2.8 cu ft of peat, and you could add in some mycorrhizae for the beneficial effect. I use Promix BX which has a perfect ratio of everything.
If you self mix, some really like adding in bark fines.
Suggest watering from the bottom so they take up what they need, let them sit in the water for a few hours, then drain the tray. But the vermiculite is where you got into trouble, IMHO.

[Gardeneer]

Originally Posted by ginger2778

I would leave out the vermiculite, because the peat holds a lot of moisture, the vermiculite makes the mix much too wet. Add in about 1 cup dolomite lime per 2.8 cu ft of peat, and you could add in some mycorrhizae for the beneficial effect. I use Promix BX which has a perfect ratio of everything.
If you self mix, some really like adding in bark fines.
Suggest watering from the bottom so they take up what they need, let them sit in the water for a few hours, then drain the tray. But the vermiculite is where you got into trouble, IMHO.

I fully agree.
Actually Peat holds too much moisture. That is why you add perlite to facilitate drainage. Adding vermiculite seems to be defeating the purpose of it , to me.

[hiker_]

Great, so now I have this expensive vermiculite I'm not gonna be using much of...

I've been gifted 3 EarthBox clones, and the mix is supposed to be for them. On further research I can see why: They absolutely have to stay wet or they'll stop wicking. So OK, I'll use this mix for them, but only for them.

For my regular containers...I couldn't find Pro-Mix around here, but I do have Bio-Tone, so I'll use that for mycorrhizae.

As for the rest...Pro-Mix website says it's made up of:
Peat: 79-87%
Perlite: 10-14%
Vermiculite: 3-7%
And Marsha, you said about 1 cup dolomitic lime per 2.8 cu ft (84 quarts) peat.

So, for a 40-quart/10-gal total that's about:
33.2 quarts peat = about 1-2/3 5-gal buckets
4.8 quarts perlite = about 1/4 of a 5-gal bucket
2 quarts vermiculite
about 6 Tbsp lime (I have a scoop that's about 3 Tbsp so this is a convenient amount )
(I will obviously be adding slow-release fertilizer too.)

I made a batch of that for two 5-gal containers I have (for determinates). I'll also try a batch with no vermiculite at all. Each batch will get 2 bell peppers (in one 5-gal container) and 1 determinate tomato (in a different 5-gal container)...and we'll see how they do.

Thanks!

[Gardeneer]

Dolomitic lime is like a double edged sword ; It provides Calcium, Magnesium AND raise the pH. That is needed for peat moss based mix. I do the same with pine bark based mix.
Slow release fertilizer is good for containers, as there is much frequent watering. On top of that I also used water soluble fertilizer once a week or so at reduced strength ( ~ 1/3).

Gardeneer.

[ginger2778]

Hiker, I think all that you mentioned is good, but in my mix, there would not be any vermiculite. I would rather water a little more often then keeping the roots too wet. Peat holds lots of moisture, it has always been more than enough. Too much water gives a watery taste to the tomatoes.Vermiculite is only a moisturizer, no other function.

Originally Posted by hiker_

Great, so now I have this expensive vermiculite I'm not gonna be using much of...

I've been gifted 3 EarthBox clones, and the mix is supposed to be for them. On further research I can see why: They absolutely have to stay wet or they'll stop wicking. So OK, I'll use this mix for them, but only for them.

For my regular containers...I couldn't find Pro-Mix around here, but I do have Bio-Tone, so I'll use that for mycorrhizae.

As for the rest...Pro-Mix website says it's made up of:
Peat: 79-87%
Perlite: 10-14%
Vermiculite: 3-7%
And Marsha, you said about 1 cup dolomitic lime per 2.8 cu ft (84 quarts) peat.

So, for a 40-quart/10-gal total that's about:
33.2 quarts peat = about 1-2/3 5-gal buckets
4.8 quarts perlite = about 1/4 of a 5-gal bucket
2 quarts vermiculite
about 6 Tbsp lime (I have a scoop that's about 3 Tbsp so this is a convenient amount )
(I will obviously be adding slow-release fertilizer too.)

I made a batch of that for two 5-gal containers I have (for determinates). I'll also try a batch with no vermiculite at all. Each batch will get 2 bell peppers (in one 5-gal container) and 1 determinate tomato (in a different 5-gal container)...and we'll see how they do.

Thanks!

[Gardeneer]

Agree with you, Ginger . But I thinks that 3 to 7% ( 5% avge) vermiculite is not going to be potentially significant The main problem, IMO, is too much peat moss (85% ? hmm)

Gardeneer