Potted plant with organic soil and fertilizer

12 years ago

Hello everyone,

First time post, long time reader (did I really just say that), well I guess I made a pretty cardinal mistake as far as I have read concerning potted plants. I bought some heirloom tomato plants in small pots locally and have transferred them to small pots filled with Espoma Organic Potting Mix. The potting mix boasts plenty of Ectomycorrhizal fungi (7 different species) as well as 45-55% Sphagnum Peat moss, peat humus, perlite, and dolomitic limestone (quoting from bag). I also mixed in some Epsoma Tomato-tone organic fertilizer (3-4-6, Ca-5%, Mg-1%, S-3%) which also had 916 colony forming units of different bacteria. I also have them in 3.5 gallon pots covered in pine straw. I water them once or twice a week (depending on the hot Alabama weather) with water I have left outside overnight for a few days. If it rains then they get that instead. My concern, after I have read all this wonderful information on this site, is that I have did my plants a woeful disservice. Don't get me wrong, they are growing very lush, green, and strong. They have also started to put out the wonderful yellow flowers as a precursor to fruiting. But I am concerned because I believe that I will not get any tomatoes due to my mistake of using organic ferts and soil in a potted environment? I am concerned that they might not be getting the proper nutrients to give good fruits. I really really want to abstain from using miracle-gro or other inorganic fertilizers. Are they doomed or should I continue with them the way they are going? I was considering adding more of the organic fertilizer to the top of the soil then adding a little soil on top and go about it like that? Thanks for reading my long post and any directions or experience would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

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Comments (9)

suncitylinda
12 years ago
I have grown in pots and Earthboxes for the past several years. For the most part, I have a soiless mix, mostly peat, some pine bark chips and perlite and some type of container mix. I use ogranic ferts all the time because I reuse my mix and dont want it to get overly salty. My tomatoes taste fine and I get plenty of them. Would organic ferts work better in the dirt? Undoubtedly. I can only tell you what is working and has worked for me. Judging by the apparent health of your tomatoes, it is also working for you.
jolj
12 years ago
I heard that to much Nitrogen will cause a plant to be lush & fruitless.
I have never seen this happen.
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The reasons are: Too much/too little moisture - the conditions change rapidly, unfavorable pH - also changes rapidly, extreme temperature swings - changes rapidly, soil composition/compaction/aeration - compost-based soils can usually be counted on to compact badly, making anaerobic conditions ......... any one or combinations of several factors affect microbial populations in containers, and because they are tied together with nutrition organic soil supplements - nutrition as well. Since bio-populations rise and fall dramatically in containers, it follows that nutrition availability follows the activity levels and population numbers of the critters. Add to that you often have no idea of what you're supplying (% of nutrients) and when they will eventually become available, you can easily see how a chemical nutrition program for containers could be easier, less worrisome, and more reliable than depending on soil amendments to deliver the goods. That someone indicates his plants grew better in compost than commercial potting soil is no clarion call to hurry to a water-retentive medium as a solution to container culture problems. I grow in a bark/peat/perlite mix and it has been proven by many to be extremely productive, in large part because of its structural durability. The FIRST thing any container gardener should consider when it comes to soil is it's (structural) durability. The question should be asked, "Will it remain well-aerated for the intended life of the planting?" The bark based soils garner a resounding 'YES' while the compost-based soils get a weak "probably not". If compost is in large enough pieces that it is appropriate as the basis for a container soil. it's not finished and will quickly break down and collapse, bringing N immobilization along the way. If it IS finished, particulate size is too small for it to be the basis for a container soil. The chemistry and physics of container culture are often, if not usually, quite different than growing in the earth, and we often create more problems than we solve when we try to bring the garden to our containers. Al
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Organic fertilizers (almost all) cannot be taken in and absorbed by the roots of your plants. You need to start a soil mix a few weeks ahead of time with all your amendments in place. There needs to be a microrhyzae innoculant added, possibly several in order to have some of the organic nutrients already processed by, and available to your plants root system. The tea mentioned above will give you some replacements to what are lost normally. You must also make sure your water doesn't have chloramine or chlorine in more than minute amounts - container grown organics will be decimated by bad water! Yes, some organic ferts are water soluble, but using them by themselves will not give you what you are looking for. In organics, you feed the soil, and in turn, your soil and microlife feeds your plant. With organic water soluble ferts and nutes alone, you will still acidify your soil, and stress or burn your plant. Worse case scenario - you kill all the microlife and lock out most of the nutrients available and your plant dies. The micro nutrients that are necessary for plants survival can come from many sources, mineral, bean or seed meals, vegetative, compost. Usually, a combination of all work best. It is also important to start your soil fungi up, and other food sources to improve this are, buckwheat oatmeal (dry and in small amounts), compost, dried and chopped banana peels,small amounts of brown rice, etc. In a long term or many year container grow, you will be transplanting and will also see much soil compaction, and possible anaerobic death of the roots as oxygen becomes less available, and water begins to build up. See that compost was mentioned more than once. hint hint.Good luck. TiMo
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"Are you recommending I get an osmocote or a synthetic?" No, not at all. I was just really impressed with Osmocote because it actually worked as advertised. There are so many worthless products on the market, and a whole lot of things that are OK, but are advertised as being something more than what they are. As far as medias go, most of them are peat based (usually a mix of peat, vermiculite, and perlite), and many are bark based (composted bark and other ingredients). The attributes of these medias are that they are inexpensive, light, and do not hold much water which makes them great for shipping. The down side is that plants growing in these medias require constant or nearly constant liquid feed and constant watering. The compost based media we tested (spent organic mushroom compost, peat, and sand) acted much more like soil. It held and supplied water better, and obviously provded nutrients because the non-fertilized controls looked better than some of the fertilizer treatments in other medias. I would recomend using compost based media or adding compost (or soil for that matter) to a typical "potting soil." Good organic compost based mixes might not be in Kmart, but they are out there. We have a really good one here locally called 'Organic Mechanics' that I started using this spring and am really happy with the results. We have not worked with any liquid fertilizers. People ask us about them a lot, mostly looking for something to fertigate with, but we have never gotten into that.
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There are probably close to a hundred recipes on line for potting soil mixes acceptable to an organic gardener but I have had good success with my compost for many years, even though there are amny that tell me it will not work and my plants will die although they have produced a bountiful harvest growing in that medium. This link may be of some help. Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Potting soil
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suncitylinda
12 years ago
It certainly can happen and I know folks who have grown humongous tomato plants with zero fruit. Probably more likely with big applications of chemical Nitrogen.
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
12 years ago
The concerns about using organic ferts in a container environment is the typical lack of microorganisms in regular potting soil necessary to digest and process the fertilizers. There will be some present but generally not in the quantities necessary for the organic fertilizer to be used/metabolized efficiently. So one runs a risk of the container grown plants NOT receiving the nutrient needs they require. That's why the suggestion is for a liquid or water soluble fertilizer for container plants, however there are few organic ferts that are the slightest bit water soluble and they tend to offer less than a full range of nutrients.

In this case, non-organic fertilizers tend to be a lot more efficient at delivering the goods :-)
TheMasterGardener1
12 years ago
Agree 100% with gardengal48. Well said.
prestons_garden
12 years ago
It all depends how complicated you make it. Organics fertilizers can do very well in containers, just some thought has to go into it.
Most people do not want to spend much time learning to be productive in organics. So they reach for an inexpensive alternative that has very fast results and works.
All I"m saying is it can be done both ways and I don"t have time to prove one over the other.

Ron
gardengal48 (PNW Z8/9)
11 years ago
Ron, please explain to me 'zactly how organic ferts get mineralized in a container potting soil that lacks any significant populations of the soil organisms to accomplish that feat. Or, what organic fertilizers you've encountered that are sufficiently water soluble to bypass the microbes yet still provide a full range of both macro and micro nutrients.

Organics fertilizers can do very well in containers, just some thought has to go into it. I'd amend that to read "organic fertilizers can do OK in containers" but to get the best performance from your plants without jumping through major hoops you might want to consider something that accomplishes that task more efficiently.
prestons_garden
11 years ago
gardengal48, Try doing a research on Neptunes Fish and Seaweed Fertilizer.

I don't have a lot of time right now to explain the different types of organic fertilizers and how they make the nutrients available to plants.

Do the footwork and educate yourself, read.

Here is a Boysenberry grown with ALL ORGANICS in a container. :-)

{{gwi:31645}}
jnypop
11 years ago
need micro organisms ? use aerated compost tea......bingo bango instant bacteria

Potted plant with organic soil and fertilizer

Comments (9)

suncitylinda

jolj

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