Beginner Gardening: Newbie question about "Self-Watering Pots/Planters", 1 by tapla

tapla wrote:
Many people like to try to bring the garden to container culture, thinking that the soil has to supply all the plants nutritional needs, but that doesn't work well. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being growing in the ground and 10 being hydroponics, container culture is about a 7 or 8 - much closer to hydroponics than growing in the ground. For that reason, the most consistently successful container growers look to their soils for proper structure, that is to say to retain a favorable ratio of water and air in the soil, and to a well thought out fertilizer program for the plants nutritional needs.

I make all my own soils. I use the gritty mix I showed for long term plantings. Its 2/3 inorganic fraction of baked clay and crushed granite are natural ingredients that don't break down. The other 1/3 of the soil is pine or fir bark, which breaks down so slowly that the soil is sure to retain its drainage and aeration for much longer than it's appropriate to go between repots. For other, short term plantings, I use another highly aerated soil that is almost all organic, but based on larger particles of pine bark, which is what ensures the aeration/drainage properties much superior to most bagged soils based on peat and other fine particulates. You can't start with a soil based on fine particles and amend it by adding large, because the soil has to have well over 50% large particles before the soil takes on the aeration/drainage characteristics of the large particles. To picture this in your mind's eye, ask yourself how much perlite you would need to add to pudding to get it to drain well & be well aerated. A LOT - yes?

I have all my houseplants (including cacti/succulents), bonsai, woody plants growing on for future bonsai in the gritty mix. Each of the 3 ingredients were the best I could find after extensive searches at fulfilling their particular role. I've been tinkering with soils and helping people improve their growing skill sets for a long time now, and I haven't yet found a way to improve on what has been the end product for nearly 20 years. I know it will sound like a Superthrive commercial when I say I've helped many relatively new to growing in containers produce plants consistently superior in growth and vitality to the plants of others that have been using the same methods they learned many years ago. Technology and science have advanced so rapidly and touched every aspect of our lives. The world of horticulture has advanced just as quickly, but for some reason the information and innovations don't seem to make it to the mainstream very quickly. That's a shame, because there are a lot of growers who could advance their abilities by being infused with some of the science that in the end governs our effort:satisfaction quotient. ;o)

Al