Donas - I think that because nearly all of the experienced gardeners shy from most commercial soils based on fine particulates is a good indication that they recognize them as inherently flawed. Some growers feel they are salvable, and others don't feel they're amendable in the sense that you can effectively add a little of this and a little of that and come up with a soil that performs as well as one would if you recombined the ingredients on hand in a different ratio. For example, many growers amend soils like Miracle-Gro with pine bark and perlite to help them drain better and hold more air, two characteristics usually less than ideal in most prepared soils. If you envision a jar of fine particles, like sand, that represents a soil like Miracle-Gro, in your minds eye you can see that adding ;large particles like perlite or pine bark in small fractions isn't going to improve aeration OR drainage. The small particles simply surround the large particles and continue to work against what you're trying to accomplish ....... until, the larger particles become a very large fraction of the whole. Dori uses a bark-based soil because when you START with large particles, the drainage/aeration so conducive to good root health is already there. Many others see the same advantage and use soils based on large particulates instead of fine particulates like peat, compost, coir, sand, topsoil .... The soils with reduced water retention, better drainage, and more aeration allow you to water properly, so you can flush the accumulating salts from the soil at will without worrying about root rot, and they offer the grower, especially the growers that aren't as experienced, a much wider margin for error - they're simply easier to grow in and make it easier to consistently bring along healthy plants. I'll leave a link to a discussion about soils for containers that's been active since '05. There is a lot of information in it. Feel free to join the discussion if you wish. You'll get a good perspective of how a large group of growers approaches the container soil issue. In the end, you could still use up your MG soil in combination with some other ingredients (pine bark/perlite/garden lime). You'll end up with something much easier to grow in, more conducive to root health, and much less expensive than purchasing a commercially prepared soil. You can even watch a video (compliments of Josh) that shows how easy it is to make. Also - see link below. There's a LOT more info there. Understanding the water:air relationship in container soils is probably the largest step forward an aspiring container gardener can make at any one time. Best luck! Al Here is a link that might be useful: More info

No need to spray the material off. Most of it will fall off when you transplant, unless you use Karl's elaborate routine of carving up the pot in situ. Some people would make a big effort to keep the block of mix intact, which would help the rose in the short term. Others would practically bare-root the rose, which would cause wilting and the need for temporary shade, but might be better in the long run. If the roots want to hold on to some stuff, though, I wouldn't discourage that. What I would personally do is cut off the pot and pick up the roots with two hands, preserving the soil that wants to stick together and letting most of it fall off. If it ended up transplanting a good amount of mix, I might mix some of the loose mix with the backfill so there is not too sharp a contrast with the surrounding soil. Provide shade for a week or so unless you are cool-coastal. I would much rather transplant from 1-gal. or 2-gal. containers than 3-gal. or 5-gal. I don't get the point of selling in 5-gal. containers at all.

You can use Amdro fire ant bait in your non-edible garden areas with great success. A VERY small amount broadcast over large areas does the trick, as does a gentle application on a mound per mound basis. Follow the directions on the container or from your extension service. Also, many companies are making an organic ant bait with Spinosad as the active ingredient. It can be used anywhere, including vegetable gardens, etc. Baits need to be applied carefully, so that you don't create a panic in the ant population. The product needs to be taken into the depths of the colony, where it will eventually be passed around to all, including the young and queen.

Hi, Samantha. Before you water, it's a good idea to check to see what moisture levels are like below the surface. Use a 1/4 or 5/16" wood dowel (any hardware of home improvement store, sharpened at both ends in a pencil sharpener. You can get 2, 3, 4, from 1 - 48" dowel. Make sure at least 1 is long enough to reach the bottom of your largest pot. You can use a little science to help keep water retention at acceptable levels, more specifically you can use Newton's First Law of Motion, which states that a body in motion tends to stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force, and a body at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon by an external force. To apply the science, water your plant like you would if your soil allowed it w/o limitations to the plant. It doesn't, but pretend it does. When done watering, there will be a LOT of excess water left in the soil that has plenty of limiting potential. To negate that, pick the pot up by the rim, hold it over a sink, bathtub, lawn, ..... and move the plant smartly downward before sharply reversing the coarse to upward. When the direction changes from downward to upward, the excess water in the pot will continue moving downward and out the drain hole. You'll very quickly pick up the appropriate rhythm, and soon all excess water will have been removed. You can also tip your pots at about a 45* angle after watering and or add a drainage wick to a drain hole - preferably one through the bottom of the pot next to the sidewall. Compare picture B to picture A, and note the wick in picture E. These practices allow you to keep normally very water-retentive soils free of excess water and give the plant a fighting chance, free of the limitations imposed by soggy soils. You still have less aeration than you'd expect in media based on a high % of coarse material, but it's much better than suffering the limitations of a soggy soil with the same stoicism of a cow standing in a cold rain. ;-) I would do this the next time your tell (the wood dowel) says it's time to water. After flushing the soil, I'd add a recommended dose of appropriate fertilizer. 3:1:2 ratio fertilizers very closely mimic the ratio at which the plant actually USES the nutrients, and there are numerous reasons why mimicking the plants usage ratio is part of the best supplementation plan. Examples of 3:1:2 ratios are 12-4-8, 24-8-16, 9-3-6, ...... My preference is Foliage-Pro 9-3-6; this, for a number of reasons I wont list unless you're interested. If you don't understand the difference between NPK %s and NPK ratios, please ask for details. because it's an important part of your nutrient supplementation program. While it's true you needn't worry about potting soils or repotting in the immediate, these chores should be part of your regular maintenance program and something you formulate a plan around. If you don't already have a plan in place and want to have one, ask, and I'll offer some guidance that takes the plants natural rhythms into consideration. In consideration of the plant's well being, it's better to work in harmony with the plant's natural rhythms than against them. Let me know if you think there's anything I might be able to further help with or explain in more detail. Good luck. Al