Miracle Grow Moisture Control

[dustdevil]

B54, don't forget the squirrels.

I've used MG potting mix with moisture control in pots and it does dry out. It has a small amount of bark fines mixed in. I think it has too much peat moss mixed in it to ever be top notch, but it does work.

[b54red]

I don't know how I left the little darlings off my list of challenges.

[Aphid]

Originally Posted by b54red

What do they use for their moisture control in the Miracle Grow? The reason I ask is down here where it is so hot I use water retaining crystals in my mix for containers and since using it my plants have done much better. I even apply some each season to my raised beds. Since using it I have had far less splitting of tomatoes after heavy rains and it has cut my watering by about one third. Before using the crystals my plants in containers never lived very long and were always unhealthy looking. It is very hard to get out and water containers twice a day during the really hot summer months. That is why I have soaker hoses in my raised beds with water crystals and heavy mulch. Heck if it wasn't for fusarium wilt, early and late blight, TSWV, other leaf spots, aphids, white flies, spider mites, hornworms, stink bugs, hail, high winds, high humidity, flooding rains and droughts it would be really easy to grow tomatoes here.

lol welcome to my word B54red !I had to move out of my beds because I could grow huge plants bursting with tomatoes ..... than they die.
Talk about heartbreak

[mmmmMato!]

Originally Posted by rnewste

No. Peat moss is not at all a replacement for bark fines. It will REALLY gum up your containers. Raybo

Hi Ray!

Before finding your earthtainer site, I made some grow boxes I found at another site. This particular site has a mix "recipe" of 45% peat moss/45% compost/10% perlite along with dolomite lime and fert.

I used it last year, and had a heck of a time with the plants. Last year is when I also found out about TMV the hard way

Is it just straight peat moss that gums up the works? Or is this mix still too gummy? I'm beginning to believe some of my problems last year may have been caused by that mix.

This years' toms are in the same mix.

Thanks for the wealth of info you share here!

[rnewste]

m&m,

In a conventional container, compost may be fine. In a SWC, it is a formula for disaster. Proper aeration is essential for your SWC to work, exchanging oxygen at the root system.

I have tried multiple Combo Mixes over the past several years and the Mix that I found works best for vegetables is the 3:2:1 ratio of Potting Mix (which is mainly Peat), Microbark, and Perlite. Seems to work for me:



Raybo

[mmmmMato!]

Originally Posted by rnewste

m&m,

.

I have tried multiple Combo Mixes over the past several years and the Mix that I found works best for vegetables is the 3:2:1 ratio of Potting Mix (which is mainly Peat), Microbark, and Perlite. Seems to work for me:



Raybo

Thanks Ray! I'm heading out to get all the necessary things to make up a 3:2:1 mix for a couple of 18gal rubbermaids. I'll use it as a benchmark. I've still got 4 earlygirls in their nursery pots left to plant (late spring here in the inland northwest).

I'm still learning how to navigate this site so bear with me!