Do I just add compost or dehydrated manure?

For in-ground plants that would be an ok start but one needs to first understand the manner in which compost and composted manures feed plants - they require lots of active soil bacteria to first convert them to a useable form. That is quite slow and difficult to accomplish in containers and with potting mix rather than dirt.

So for container plants, which require frequent and regular feeding to thrive because the nutrients wash out of the container every time you water, you'll have to find a better way to go.

Usually a liquid type added at a diluted rate at least once a week or so is commonly recommended and there are many organic liquid fertilizers available on the market.

Personally I use Earth Juice products as part of my drip watering and fertigation system for my containers but there are lots of other choices available - just Google 'liquid organic fertilizer'.

You'll find some of them discussed in the previous discussion on fertilizers linked below - it is just one of many discussions here on it - and many more discussions are over on the Organic Gardening forum here and on the Container Gardening Forum too.

You can also supplement your feedings with compost or manure teas and FAQs are available here on how to make and use both if interested.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Best fertilizer discussion

Just compost and or dehydrated manure will not be enough. There are a couple organic ferts that come to mind, one is Tomato-Tone which I'm pretty sure is labled as organic and the other one is Dr. Earth Tomato, Veggie and Herb fertilizer. Dr Earth makes several organic ferts avaliable in different n-p-k. I myself like to take one or two of the blended ferts and add my own stuff to it such as hydrolyzed fish powder or bat guano etc. Good luck!

Damon

So, basically what you guys are saying is potting soil is sterile and needs help with things like manure or compost. It sounds like next year I have make up my own planting soil mixture for containers then. I thouight compost has all that bacteria and stuff in it already? By the way, I purchased the Dr. Earth tomato fertilizer today.I just bought it online, it was easier then driving all over looking for it. Thanks.

So, basically what you guys are saying is potting soil is sterile and needs help with things like manure or compost. It sounds like next year I have make up my own planting soil mixture for containers then.

You can certainly go that route if you wish and you'll find several recipes for container mixes over on the Container Gardening forum here. Since you are using containers rather than in-ground beds, that will be the best forum source for info for you.

But none of those recipes will contain dirt (soil). Some compost and composted manure, fine but soil isn't used in containers because it compacts, drains poorly, and the roots rot. Not to mention that is can be a source of damp-off, pests, and disease problems. Experienced container gardeners use only soil-less mixes in containers to avoid those problems.

And it isn't that those mixes are necessarily "sterile", they aren't. There are many good container mixes that come with mycorrhize added to them. Pro-Mix is one that is often recommended on several of the forums here. I use it myself.

But that still isn't going to solve the problems of nutrient leach. Containers require frequent, regular supplemental nutrients, regardless of what you mix into the container to begin with since the roots are "contained" unlike in a garden and the nutrients wash out when you water unlike in a garden. That, plus maintaining consistent moisture levels, are the biggest drawback to growing in containers. How much of a problem it is all depends on the size of the container you are using and you didn't mention how large your container is.

Take a look at Jaybo's pics linked below. He is using 31 gallon self-watering containers.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Earthtainer Garden Pics