JenniferG,
First, I looked up where in Florida you live. I see you live in an area where it freezes from time to time. IMO that is good and bad. Good in the area that it helps to control certain types of insects etc. Bad in the repect for me in that having to heat 30 plus pineapple plants to keep them from freezing would be a problem. Plus my best gardens are in my winter to late spring, as summer heat here puts a hurting on a lot things I enjoy growing.
I take it from your question that you are a container gardener or you are interested in container gardening. Also you expressed some interest into organics. As such my reply will be of some lenght. Before I get into my soilless mixture I going to cover a few basic items I hold as truths. (If you are aware of the following please skip this section and go to the soilless mixture at the bottom.)
Container gardening is a Micro-Society that you have much control over. However, beyond the obvious need for the "Four food groups" ( fertilizer, water, sunlight, and air) we need to understand the following.
1.) Problems often occur within a container of soilless media due to their high soluble salts from the use of chemical fertilizers. This is why many container garndeners change out there mixture. This is not a big problem if you are growing a tomatoe plant in a 5 gallon bucket. Once the plant is dead you can take the mixture in the bucket and add it to your in-ground garden. However, it is a big problem should you be growing a perennial and you don't want to change out that mixture. Yes I have heard folks say..."Well all you have to do is flush out the salts with massive water." The problem with that is you are then messing with the Micor-Society-hopefully-you have worked at creating in your containers. i.e. the beneficial bateria, worms etc.
2.) Next containers can become anaerobic--This is to say that what will now grow in your pot will not requiring air or oxygen for life. These types of items are the wrong things have in a container. i.e. pathogens, molds, not to mention root rot. Now most clay type containers will breath to some degree. However, plastic containers do not. Many container have a "water foot" they sit on. (Like a dish under a pot.) When using a plastic container sitting on a water-foot with no aeration holes you are already starting out on the wrong foot.
3.) While pH is important to all types of growing, in a container it is more critical. If the pH drops below 5.0 and the aeration is inadequate, beneficial bacteria and fungi diminish, and many pathogens begin to proliferate.
Now in truth, container gardening is easy and simple once we understand these basic 3 rules I have listed above. Plus you can eliminate so many problems with a container. I'm not trying to say that my methodology of container gardening is the only way. However, it works, and it works very well. .
Once I set up a container the hard part is over with. In my mixture I start out with enough organic fertilizers that I don't really have to worried for the season other than some light side dressing. In fact I add nothing to my pineapples in the way of hard fertilizers.
I do add Fish extract to my water.(one half ounce per gallon of water--all plants) Once per month I will add 2 tablespoons of old-fashioned blackstrap molasses into a gallon of water for my tomatoes. (One gallon per container.) I will foliage spray all plants once per week with Seaweed extract. (One ounce per gallon of water.)
Under any plant where black spot or fungus is prone to be a problem I scatter straight corn meal. (But not under tomatoe plants. Corn meal = more nitrogen.) For most fungi ( powery mildew etc) I give my plants a Bicarb---plain old baking soda! I mix it 2 to 3 teaspoons with 2 to 3 tablespoons of SunSpary Ultrafine Oil per gallon of water.
I compost using a composter that sits on a foot that collects the compost tea during the process of composting. I also use this compost tea as a foliage spray and will add it to the water if I feel a plant is in trouble. I delute my tea to the color of light drinking tea. Never apply it non-deluted as it will damage your plant.
My base soilless mixture
3 parts Ground pine bark (I run it through a chipper)
2 parts sphagnum moss
1 part Perlite /Vermiculite
1/2 part builders sand.
1 pint dolomite lime per bushel of soil mix
I do not use any wetting agents. This means you will have to really work at getting this mixture wet. Once it is wet don't let it dry out. Next I add, a good inch of mature compost to the top of my filled containers.
My base Fertilizer:
2 parts blood meal
1 part fish meal
2 parts bonemeal
4 parts rock phosphate
6 parts greensand.
1/2 part kelp meal
Now how much of this base fertilizer you are going to use is based on the size of your container. I mix in a lot. For example in a container that is 42" X 30" X 22" I add 6 quarts. I mix this fertilizer though out the whole container. Top to bottom--side to side.
Remember unlike synthetic fertilizers most organic fertilizers are nonburning. This mixture will not burn your plants. One time I turn around wrong (LOL) and added a second 6 quarts. The plants did just fine in that double mixture.
The real trick is to compost. I make sure my containers always have at least one inch of mature compost at all times. By doing so your soilless mixture one day will be come a health Micro-Society. When that happens just add a few regular earth worms. Do you know that worms are what I call reverse eaters? Unlike us, when they eat they put back more into the Society than they took out! You just give them mature compost and you will have the best living fertilizer factory in town! (When you get to adding a few worms make sure to add a few more ounces of builder sand. They need it to digest.)
A full Micro-Society will give your plants such a boost that folks with say to you...Wow you must have one hecka a green thumb. When someone says that to me I just reply...naw it's my the Micro-Society at work! You see I'm really a very lazy gardener. I even use a battery powered sprayer....I'm too lazy to use a pump up one!
Good luck and as you can see from my reply...don't ask me a question and expect a short answer! LOL!
Olds
