I have posted a comparison several times of how my tomato plants thrived when potted up into 16 Oz styrofoam cups in MG potting soil with moisture control.

I have not seen any that just said moisture control on it, so I am not familiar with the product you have mentioned.

In looking for seed starting mix this year, I found some Miracle Grow Seed Starting Planting Soil enriched with plant food (that is what it says on the bag). While it was not what I wanted, it was all that H.D. had along that line and I wanted to get started. So far, so good. I started several small trays of pepper seed (which take about two weeks and none of them are up yet) and three days ago I started a 24 cell tray of six varieties of tomato seed, put them in a plastic bag on a rack that I built in the water heater closet. I had not looked at them until late today and was I surprised that some varieties have nearly all the seeds up, some have about half of them up and some have varying amounts up. They were white and crooked naturally, but within just hours of being set out onto a table where they could get some light,they are already getting straight and begin turning green. Tomorrow, the tray will go out into my Hotbed / cold frame outside, and I will start another tray with different varieties.

Try what ever it is that you have and let us know the results.
Bill P.

I have used miracle grow moisture control potting soil and it worked as good as any other. I didn't notice a significant difference in retaing moisture. You would be better off buying some water retaining polymer crystals and mixing them into a good soil mix. As for miracle grow seed starting mix.... I do not like it a bit!!!! Full of large pieces of god knows what, got moldly in about a day and had a low germination rate. I use Whitney farms.. by far the best!

Perhaps they have improved it or the product that I got was different from what you have tried. The stuff that I got was fine and did not have any clumps or large pieces of God knows what. The H.D. near us did not have any choices of things, or I probably would have tried something else, although at this point in time, I could not ask for anything better from the looks of things. I reserve the right to whine and moan if things change.":^)
Last year I tried Jiffy Mix and was not impressed with it at all.
Bill P.

Face it! Miracle Gro is just a commercial potting soil, albeit generally of reasonable quality. See one post above though for a demurral to that. The one thing that the Moisture Control product has, that others don't, is a measure of coir. That is, the fibrous outer husk of coconuts. And yes, coir does help significantly with moisture control. Be careful, however, as they do have another product with a similar name that has water-retaining crystals. If you like that, fine, just be sure of what you're getting.

Moisture control! Now, what do we mean by that? The coir absorbs lots of water without becoming soggy and then releases it slowly as your plant uses it up. I've used it for several years as part of my repotting mix, to which I transfer young seedlings to grow until they are planted out. Using this mix allows me to water once a day without any worry that the medium will become waterlogged or dry out before the next day. I can do this right up until the plants are a foot high, a foot wide and drinking water like crazy. Then they have to be planted out. This is in a 32 oz. cup.

I don't have any experience with container growing but I suspect that the same effect would occur in a larger volume as well. Your plants should do as well and maybe better. The principal difference, as far as I know, is that the coir is substituted for other materials, such as peat, vermiculite or perlite. It does hold and ration water better than peat and it has an advantage over vermiculite and perlite in that it is a natural plant material and will gradually break down and contribute to plant nutrition.

There are other possibilities for accomplishing the same thing, though. For instance there are other coir products, some very expensive. Miracle Gro Moisture Control doesn't have very much. You could add more or make your own mix by getting blocks of ground coir and wetting them. These can be found at hydroponic dealers and are not very costly. A container-grown plant should do very well in a mixture of about 3/4 of good garden soil and 1/4 coir. That would also be a lot less expensive.

****I have posted a comparison several times of how my tomato plants thrived when potted up into 16 Oz styrofoam cups in MG potting soil with moisture control.

Thought I posted this already but it did not show up. You are right it was Miricle grow potting mix with moisture control. It is about 10 bucks for the I think biggest bag (55 Quarts) and my 10 containers take a whole bag plus maybe a little more.

I think I will try it this year and make sure it has coir in it and not crystals. Will post on success as the season starts and progresses.

It is probably not very impressive here, but those ghostly white, crooked little looked much better this morning and had straightened up and greened up quite a bit. I took them outside and put them into my hotbed / coldframe while it was still pretty cool this morning. I left lid closed, and work up in a panic around 2:30 P.M. from my nap, remembering the things was closed up. I rushed out there and the inside temp was 147.5*. but they were not even wilted. I misted the surface and propped the thing open about a foot wide.

By late this afternoon when I went out to close it up, they had continued their transformation, looking better and greener. I will snap a picture in the morning and post it.
Bill P.

Just for comparison, coir is much less expensive if you buy the bricks. There are two sizes and both should be available almost anywhere if you look around. Buying these locally will save a lot on shipping cost.

The smaller brick runs between $2 and $3. Sorry, I don't remember the size as I have bought the larger ones. Those were $11.95 each in PA and weigh 4.5 Kg or almost 10 lb. They expand to 2.5 cubic feet, which is bigger than a bag of Miracle Gro. Be careful, though and don't get the "chunk style".

Man! ! I think that it is amazing what just a small amount of time in natural conditions and lighting will do to those little seedlings. Above is how they looked just about mid day yesterday.

With a little time, the rest of them should come up and be fine.
Bill P.

I have used the MG Moisture Control as well as the regular MG and Pro Mix and Fafard potting mix. With tomato seedlings I did find a big difference in the germination or the seedling growth. I found a big advantage to the MG Moisture Control in starting peppers, however. It was very effective in preventing "wet feet" which in the past has wiped out all of my pepper seedlings.
John A

Speaking of peppers John, I had another pleasant little surprise this morning. I had planted some pepper seeds on 12/02, put them into a plastic bag and put the bag with the seed tray into the water heater closet. Most all things that I read say that it takes two weeks to germinate pepper seeds. I decided that I probably should check them this morning, took them out and . Five of the seedlings have come up in just ten days. ":^) While I think that the ones that are up need to start getting some daylight, I have a laser eye procedure at 2:30 P.M. so I put them back in there to see if a few more will come up in the warmth of the heater closet until I can give them further attention.

Here is what the seedlings in the hot bed . They continue to look better and a few more have come up.
Bill P.

Looks like you're on your way to another good pepper season, Bill. Don't put them in peat pots. They won't drain properly. I won't start mine in CT until early March.
John A

Thanks for the advice John. I do not like Peat pots and do not use them. I start them in seed starting mix in cells and transplant them into the garden from that or sometimes repot up to larger containers if needed. I went ahead and put those little six pack trays and started some more seed in larger round pots this morning.
I'm sure that you are eager to get started and good luck to you when your time comes up there.
Bill P.

Anyone else have experiance with Miricle grow potting mix with moisture control?