On a mish to find a good prepackaged soil

[itchybromusic]

watered the pots directly twice = you watered though the top soil & not via the reservoir

 

wicking pots don't like having both lots of water , considering the wicking keeps the soil pretty moist

any top watering runs the risk of over watering pretty quickly 

 

the wicking pots i use , they come with a shower cap = a plastic cover that first , keeps moisture from

evaporating , catching condensation under the plastic cover & dripping slowly back down through the media 

& secondly , stops the rain watering through the top & over watering the plant 

 

the other thing to consider , root bound plants can have all sorts of issues just from being root bound

plants are constantly excreting exudates  from there root systems , if roots are all bound together the

exudates they excrete can get a lill funky soup action happening round your root system

 

the other thing

 

when a plant has constant moister & it can consume at will , not having to wait for that soil moister to be ok 

for roots to feed , in a small pot with constant moister & no top dressing it's quite poss the pots food stores 

are empty ,

even though 90% of what a plant takes up is directly related to microorganisms if the microorganisms 

have no food they ain't in the pot , no food for worms then you get the flow on effect of

" if the worms ain't there neither is anyone else " 

Edited February 22, 2018 by itchybromusic

[Chrystal]

Yeah Itchy the two bigger tomato plants went a little limped on those really stinking hot days, they have outgrown the pots but we talked about that earlier so i just gave them a little helping hand, the moisture matics work brilliantly, the soil on the right plant is ANL's brand Veggi mix that is the best by far soil mix to use of course with worm castings but anyone using this mix should also add calcium and magnesium as i have ran into a deficiency on all four so glad i tried it with tomatos and seen the deficiency

 

last pics before i toss them in the bin i just cant be bothered with them any longer i have seen the results i wanted and know which soil products to chose, i have more pictures but its taking around 5mins to upload each picture so i'll keep them short'n sweet

 

using the moisture matics when it rains it does not have any problems at all i am even using spill trays under the pots which get flooded every rainy day or night the flooded pots plus the MM waterers does not effect the plants

 

i'll upload some root porn and show how the mass looks later on

Edited March 1, 2018 by Chrystal

[cardrona]

Hi .fellas...the best soil is made by yourself ..get a bathtub...or a couple ....I  am sure Itchy has steered you in the right direction ....on those hot summer times placing the pots in the ground can help reduce the surface temps on the edge of the pot and make a dramatic difference ,,,and also that time of the year dont be afraid to experiment and put them in the shade ....the heat will still have them grow fine ...and or a small shade cloth set up can do wonders for those extreme heat times. 

[Chrystal]

Root ball's first two pics are local garden store soil, Second two pics are ANL soil mix both are herb and vegi mix with worm castings and automatic watering devices