Before using Al's recipe, I repotted every 2, sometimes 3 years. Always adding the organic stuff to my water (and sometimes directly on the soil) kept the mix from shrinking. I did this out of habit and usually to go to a larger pot. With Al's recipe, I don't know, it's only been 4.5 months. The houseplants are your typical green foliage plants you can get at any nursery. However, there is one tree type plant (I'm terrible with names) that has been growing in the same previous "old style" mix for 4 years. I add crushed leaves to that along with the alfalfa/soybean water and some compost now and then. I have to prune that treelike plant twice a year and it is very healthy even though the old soil recipe is 4 years old. (You know, potting soil, perlite, bonemeal, alfalfa meal, handful of compost for microbes and more perlite - LOL!) I can only guess that Al's mix will last much longer but I don't know for sure. It will take a couple more years to tell but the very nature of his recipe seems like it would last MUCH longer than my old typical organic recipe. I'll say this, I will use Al's stuff from now on. With your more permanent plantings I can understand your worry about shrinking, compaction and perched water tables. This hasn't happened with my treelike plant indoors and has never happened with the large containers I have outside in wooden boxes, that get organic amendments every year to replenish old stuff. (These are large, 18"x14"x12" deep and drainage is very good.) In fact, every couple of years I have to remove some soil because the amendments pile up too high. These containers are large enough that I can add wood chip mulch to them. These containers almost mimic in the ground growing IMHO. Overall, my organic soils are replenished enough so they really stay "fresh" but I really can't say what would happen with outside trees and roses. (My wife grows annuals in our outside boxes.) Sorry. However, if my old style organic mixes are sustainable in large containers I'm just about POSITIVE they would do better with Al's recipe. I see absolutely no reason why Al's stuff wouldn't perform better over the long run. Possibly MUCH better IMHO. As you know, drainage is "king" and Al's stuff excels in that area better than any mix I have EVER tried. I mean it! It ain't even close IMHO. I'd guess (and this only a guess) that with Al's recipe you could easily get 4-6 years out of his stuff using organic feeds in a large container. Al is discounting his stuff relative to organic practices IMHO. I mean that in a nice way! In fact he's WAY underestimating his stuff when it comes to common sense, "ordinary" organics IMHO.

Gary, alfalfa tea is excellent for roses, in whatever kind of soil, with or without problems. I add just a little epsom salt to mine, 1 cup per 30 gallons, as our soils are deficient in magnesium. Yours may or may not be. I also add fish emulsion or kelp extract or other liquid fertilizer at application time as the alfalfa tea is not exactly a fertilizer itself. Mainly it is for the plant growth hormones in the alfalfa, along with some nitrogen. It can become anaerobic, which is not optimal, but can still be applied to the soil sparingly so the anaerobes are exposed to air and die. Stirring daily helps to reduce the anaerobes. Mine needs at least a week to brew in our cool spring temperatures. Brewing time is variable and depends on ambient air temperatures.

Hahaha! Good one Celeste! I too can say it sounds like something doofy I would end up doing.... only I don't brew tea! I made some many yrs ago, but couldn't stand the smell, so I never did it again. But drinking it?? Eeeeeewww!! Yuck!! I did spill some Liquid Fence on my feet one time... that was nasty! Buford, I've never taken alfalfa tabs, but I take fish oil, salmon oil, shark liver oil and other unsavory-sounding herbals/vitamin-stuff. Burping up fish oil on occasion is pretty disgusting, so I can't even imagine it mixed with alfalfa!! I bet it was kinda like eating dirt!! And Roseman, you meed to lighten up and get a sense of humor!

Alfalfa meal or pellets is really great stuff, I use it on my roses, once a year on my clematis and have also fed my brugs with it. The tea stinks to high heaven but its great for those plants. I add some molasses to the tea also, and some epsom salts. Its also great for heating up a slow or cold compost pile. Alberta