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 watched with a measure of horror the things that have been going on. If good and evil come to us in equal measure then you should have many better years ahead. Another forum is talking about crop failures around the world. As citizens of this planet we are certainly being challenged to survive.

hi Springer mom, sounds like you have a lot of heavy things going on in your life. Adding my good thoughts and prayers to the other KTers for all of the members of your family and for you too. Dottie

sandi? wondering how he did thru the weekend? sure hope his oncologist was able to see him as well...it's so irritating when one dr doesn't call or talk to original...even with meds...primary suggested new drug for bone density...well that's fine but what about oncologist and kidney dr??? so after getting on the phone and leaving messages with the other 2 dr's got an ok...and they're all supposed to connected to the hospital I used...