MG Organic Potting Mix, Moisture Control

[whoose]

MG is cheap at the big box in the Spring but it has moisture control, is this bad, OK and great?

I remember reading here years ago not to use moisture control. What is how does it work? Why not use it?

[KarenO]

I liked it very much in my zone 3a Alberta prairie dry pots and baskets.
KarenO

[dmforcier]

MGMC is my default container mix here in Texas. Good results in Georgia, too.

I have no idea why one wouldn't use the MC version.

[luigiwu]

I think the not to use was in response to self-watering containers...

[Labradors2]

It's interesting to read all the positive reviews when I've read so many bad ones in the past, and try to avoid the stuff like the plague! Maybe it depends if you are an over-waterer or not, but I'd probably drown my plants if I used it.....

Linda

[Rajun Gardener]

I use the MGMC in the blue bag and have had great results with it, I even sift it to start seeds. I will say that you have to get a dry bag hopefully stored under cover. It has a 3 month fertilizer in it and if it gets wet it smells different and doesn't work as well.

[Worth1]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

It's interesting to read all the positive reviews when I've read so many bad ones in the past, and try to avoid the stuff like the plague! Maybe it depends if you are an over-waterer or not, but I'd probably drown my plants if I used it.....

Linda

Depends on how you use anything.
I have seen people cuss 1000 dollar rifle scopes and it wasn't the scopes fault by any means.

[dmforcier]

Originally Posted by Labradors2

It's interesting to read all the positive reviews when I've read so many bad ones in the past, and try to avoid the stuff like the plague!

Some of the bad-mouthing comes from people who hate Monsanto and diss everything they do or sell. Some is fatuous echoes of that. And I know a couple of cases of people who killed their plants through sheer stupidity, then blamed the dirt.

Maybe it depends if you are an over-waterer or not, but I'd probably drown my plants if I used it.....

In my experience, it's pretty difficult to overwater MGMC to that extent in an open-bottom container. I've never seen it build a perched water table (PWT)** so no root drownage. OTOH, luigiwiu is probably right.


** Unamended, that is. One guy mixed in very fine worm castings and the mix seemed to hold water. When he repotted without the castings he was fine.

[greenthumbomaha]

I have used it and was not satisfied with the results. It turns into soupy mud after a hard rain, even in a container with good drainage. Not a good choice in my climate. I believe my bag specified it was not suggested for edible plants. Soil Moist also states this.

- Lisa

[dmforcier]

Are you sure you used the Potting Mix rather than the Potting Soil? Both have an MC variant. I wouldn't use the latter in containers either, and have never experienced such a problem with the former.

And I guarantee you that there is no such warning on the bag.

[Cole_Robbie]

I think temperature accounts for a lot of the varying experiences. I'm fairly sure either MG product would kill my seedlings from stem rot, because they are subjected to temps almost to freezing. When the sun doesn't shine and temps are cold, stem rot takes over all but the most well-drained media.

[GrowingCoastal]

Cole Robbie, same here. I used it one year for ornamentals in pots and found they did not survive the winter in dry storage as the soil just stayed too wet. It worked well for annual summer hanging baskets though.

It appears that there is more than one sort of hydrogel. One has toxins released when it breaks down according to the linked article.
https://puyallup.wsu.edu/wp-content/.../hydrogels.pdf

[MissS]

Neither product works for me. It starts out just fine nice and fluffy, filled with air and then in a month or so the whole thing collapses into a complete mess without drainage and interferes with the plants growth. Perhaps it is the cold rainy weather that ruins this product.

[dmforcier]

I must note that all the MG soil products are manufactured regionally, from available materials. The GA and TX products are different, and likely those in WI too.

CR, it's way easy to overwater anything while overwintering. I too have killed plants that way; now I only water when I see wilt. That way I've gone as much as a month between winter waterings!