Hi aptosca - It said - for potted plants. How are you to know that doesn't mean house plants? That was one of your questions. The terms potted plants and house plants are often used interchangeably, but there is a difference. All houseplants are potted, but not all potted plants are grown in the house; many people have potted plants outside, on patios and porches, or summering their houseplants outside, or just growing-on plants for size or whatever - many reasons. Plants grown outside in pots tend to dry out faster than plants grown indoors, and that's why some people prefer "water retentive" soils for outdoor potted plants. But one thing is true outdoors or indoors - wet soil that never dries out makes for wet roots, and wet roots make for dead plants. As you can see from reading all of this thread, there's a lot of 'different strokes for different folks.' It's one reason that you find so much conflicting information if you do much research. One thing that's absolutely true, though, is that if roots stay too wet, plants die. But... That's not always true, either, because many plants are incredibly, amazingly adaptable. Species that are known to hate "wet feet" sometimes adapt to living in a constantly wet - I mean soaking wet - pot. I know, I have one. This is another source of much conflicting information. My advice to you would be to try what seems reasonable to you, what seems to fit your own requirements best. If things don't work as well as you would like, try something else. Even if you are satisfied with results, go ahead and try something different, just as an experiment. That's one reason you never get tired of working with plants, once you get into it.

There are probably close to a hundred recipes on line for potting soil mixes acceptable to an organic gardener but I have had good success with my compost for many years, even though there are amny that tell me it will not work and my plants will die although they have produced a bountiful harvest growing in that medium. This link may be of some help. Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Potting soil

That is a bummer. Heard it often here this year. I wish they would mark those bags better! It says on the garden soil bags that it isn't for use in containers but it is small print easily overlooked and many have fallen into the same trap you have - discovering its problems only AFTER they planted. I assume you know that there is much better (and cheaper) stuff than MG that's available for your WS containers? Dave

I'm pretty glad to have missed all the heat on this thread too.. I normally join in these types of discussions to add in some objectivity and insight but it seems like everyone wanted different answers/replies from each other and it fell apart pretty fast. I can see where each side is coming from though both 511 enthusiasts and 511 skeptics. I'm only a year into the citrus container growing hobby but I've also done my undergraduate studies in science so both perspectives on each growing method is valid in my opinion. Our personal growing style and watering habits as well as humidity, temperature, precipitation will greatly affect how well different container mixes will fare. I find it all to be pretty anecdotal. There's really no way to completely replicate the results of one grower from another especially if each are in entirely different locations and environments. There's also no way to really know which method works best for you unless you try it out for yourself. So I hope we all share our experiences with each other with the focus on just sharing what we've gone through and what we know. And if there are any hiccups or questions then we should all Google, research for sources, and share our findings with each other! I find that being objective in that way during discussions with Vlad goes very well because as a scientist he is looking at hypothetical situations from a different angle and expects different types of information to get a good grasp on the process. Which I'm completely fine with because I know what kind of information to look for and share. If you don't however then it will be more difficult to reply/respond. From my experience with my container soil, the concepts Al has kindly shared and put much effort into explaining such as the perched water table and water movement seem to be pretty solid. It even helped me grow a beautiful root system below the root deformed one in my Meyer before dying this spring. Adding a wick previously had worked and adding a ballast during repotting was effective too. And it was all done to a mix of 50% peat 50% coarse perlite. I believe the concepts he shares with everyone can be applied to any container mix not just the 511 mix. He just advocates 511 as the best mix because it is his personal preference for container growing. I don't see him using his positive experiences with the 511 as a way for him to denounce other container mixes/methods. I am a person that tends to kill plants through under watering which is why the 50/50 peat perlite works well for me. I like sharing this to show that other mixes are possible to grow with just as Brian does with his experiences using promix. The best container mix is the one that works the best with our personal growing habits and climate. Can't argue against that! :)