While this may sound like utter heresy, especially coming from me, I think for this season you might just try Mel's mix in your containers as well as your raised beds.

Normally I would point you to a more coarse particle sized mix for better drainage, but I am making a special exception in this one case. Why? You are in Florida and you are using 5 gallon bucket SWC for veggies.

I suspect you are going to be very busy in a few months trying to keep enough water in those buckets so a mix that holds much water may well work out for you. In most cases I would say go with a more coarse media (such as 'Al's mix', modified with a little extra peat for wicking) and call it a day, but why not see how Mel's mix does in your situation? This way you can use what you have on hand and get a season of growing experience under your belt and then you can evaluate alternatives for the next season.

Thanks for your advice, justaguy. I should also mention that they are located in a convenient location... so refilling won't be much of a hassle for me (they are right next to the hose). The location also has options as far as full sun or shade, the closer to the house I move them the more shade they'll get. In the heat of summer I may keep them where they only get sun at certain times of the day, so as to not bake them to death.

I've done a lot of reading, but I know that experience will prove my best teacher. So maybe I'll just give it a go and see what happens.

I also plan on making some of the larger SWC out of totes later this year so that I have more options as far as what to plant. I decided to do the containers because I had access to plenty of free food-grade buckets and the ability to make them. PVC is so cheap... they were practically free. Plus, since I asked my family to help me build the bed for my birthday they are also getting me a Lowe's gift card to cover some of my other start up costs :)

I could always try some buckets with one mix and others with another. Or do what you suggested and give it a go, if I want to change, no harm done because I'm planning on putting in another SF bed later this year and the mix certainly won't go to waste.

A mix that I use and recommend for SWC, at least in Wisconsin where I live is 3 parts pine bark (very small pieces, most should be under 1/4 inch and some should be partially composted (looks a lot like peat) plus 1 part Turface MVP.

An alternate way to do this assuming the bark isn't composted at all would be 3 parts bark, 2 parts peat, 1 part perlite.

There really is no magic to either formula though. It's just an attempt to walk a fine line between a mix that wicks water from the reservoir efficiently without getting waterlogged and causing low O2 problems at the root level.

Raybo and others on the forum have a lot of experience with homemade SWC and have/are trialing various mixes.

If you are able and willing to create different mixes and comparing them side by side in your climate I think that will ultimately be the best teacher.

I agree 100% with justaguy, a mix of Decorative Bark Cover (bark fines), peat (or potting mix), and Perlite will give you good results in a self-watering container application. No one "formulation" will work well all across the Country, as the rain you have in Florida is far different than the moisture (or lack thereof) that we experience in California.

It will perhaps take 3 or so Seasons of trials in your specific area to get it optimized - - but that is half the fun of home gardening!!

Raybo

I agree Raybo, real gardening is not for people who are all about instant gratification, and I am starting fairly young (I'll be 25 tomorrow) so I have plenty of time left ahead of me for trial and error. I think it is your tutorial on the larger plastic tote/bin SWCs that I'll be using later on this year. I want to try corn and other crops that would be better suited to larger containers (I'm renting for a year before buying and want to keep everything so that I can move it when the time comes, but I don't want to wait a whole year to start on *something*). I'm looking forward to employing your design.

scarlett,

My EarthTainer Construction and Maintenance Guide (or others that people have designed and posted) will probably get you 80% of the way there. Experimentation on the Combo Mix to suit your local climate will take a few Seasons to optimize.

Be sure you are using my latest Guide (below):

Here is a link that might be useful: EarthTainer II WaterMizer Edition Guide Rev 1.8

A LOT depends on your compost. I used it in my double 5's last year and had real problems with compacting...especially with the tomatoes. This year, I won't be using ANY compost in my SWC's rather, I'll be adopting a coarser mix using Raybo's percentages of 3:2:1 and/or 3:3:2 potting mix, bark fines and perlite.

The bark fines should theoretically prevent the type of compacting problems I experienced and this should help with root development. While the smaller plants I grew did pretty well, I'm still looking to make improvements.

Food is essential, water is vital but soil is key to well-producing plants grown in containers.

Donna H.

Hey Donna,

Hope you are keeping warm up there in WI.

There is another Thread on here regarding composting your Bark Fines, which is excellent. I know it is cold up in your region right now, but the sooner you can buy your bark fines and do some composting on them, the better.

Raybo

I was just digging through my compost bin yesterday (I just use a trash can at the moment, and turn with a shovel). I lifted off the stuff that hasn't finished yet and I'll admit, I was a bit concerned with how sticky (not sure if that's the best word) the rest of it was. I know I'm going to have to buy some compost in to have enough to finish the bed and containers, I've found some different sources locally. I figured I'll start with the sfg and see if it looks like it might work well for the containers.

If I didn't use compost in my containers but wanted the benefits of feeding my plants without standard fertilizers, couldn't I give them compost tea sometimes. I would think that would work just fine.

Now, I have a banana that needs replanting... and it is going to be in a container also. So I'm off to do some research and figure out what might make it happiest :)

Raybo,

Thanks for providing all of that information to all of us on your designs. Its people like you (and fortunately there are many like you) that make gardening such a friendly community.

Hi Raybo! Well...I'm trying to keep warm up here, but even though we're in the middle of a January 'heat wave', we still have two more months of official winter to endure...LOL!!! I bought a pallet of bark fines last summer directly from Waupaca Northwoods. The bark fines that I got are composted so no problems there. What I was referring to was homemade compost and my experience with using it in SWC's. My results (for my area and growing conditions) indicate that homemade compost really does not help the growing medium. Your results with soil less mixes showed me that a faster draining, more coarse mixture works best in SWC's.

My homemade compost was way too fine and caused the remaining ingredients in the mix to collapse and compact. Considering my results from last year, I'm just not convinced that organic compost, which works superbly when in contact with other soil organisms in the ground, contributes anything to a soil less mix.

Scarlettseraph: My homemade compost was beautiful and 'finished' when I used it. Nonetheless, I'll reserve its use for around my fruit trees ;-)

Donna H.

Donna,

The first Season with my SWC EarthTainers where I used straight Potting Mix (Miracle-Gro), when I cleaned them out in the Fall, there was a bad "rotten egg" smell as I dug down toward the bottom. That to me, indicated too much compaction, so I went to the 3:2:1: ratio of Potting Mix, Bark Fines, and Perlite to try to keep the Combo Mix from compacting too much.

I can't tell you what won't work - - all I can do is share what did work for me in a SWC growing environment. Having said that, I personally will not add Compost to my SWC EarthTainers, as I believe Compost would have a "compression" effect on the movement of the water from the wicking basket which would cause the Mix to remain too saturated.

I am also going to trial some of the 'Tainers with a 3:3:2 Combo Mix to see if it results in a more porous (and drier) environment for the tomatoes and peppers this Season.

Raybo

As usual Raybo...we are on the same page!

When I emptied my buckets last year, I didn't get a rotten egg smell, but the mix was VERY saturated toward the bottom and from about 1/2 way and up, VERY dry. The compacting must have created a problem with wicking properly.

Since my mix is mostly peat based, I just have to play around with the other ingredients to get the right texture. I really do appreciate your trials and completely agree about NOT using homemade compost in a SWC.

Scarlettseraph: Compost tea would probably work really well if it were applied in top down feeding. I'm not sure the benefits would be equal if placed directly into the reservoir.

Donna H.

If I didn't use compost in my containers but wanted the benefits of feeding my plants without standard fertilizers, couldn't I give them compost tea sometimes. I would think that would work just fine.

If you used compost and it didn't cause excessive drainage problems, it still would not likely meet the nutrient needs of your plants.

Even in my raised beds using Mel's mix sitting on top of clay soil (which was formerly my in ground garden) I have to add a source of nitrogen or the plants will not grow as well as they should. In a container the amount of nutrients in the compost and it's limited volume just aren't likely to be enough.

When growing in containers I think you will find using a water soluble fertilizer is hard to beat for both convenience and results. In the ground there are many viable options (I typically don't use synthetic fertilizers in the ground, don't need to). In containers though I just haven't found a way to get the results I want without them.

Good to know, thanks for the input!