Hi Kristopher! You are correct! You will have a nice rootball by then, so there will be no problem. Just plant like any other barefoot plant in the ground! Good luck! Laura

I will let Al answer the question you put directly to him, but I wanted to comment on this statement: I avoid using chemicals generally because of runoff and water contamination issues. First, thank you for having an environmental conscience! Unfortunately there isn't much, if any, difference between organic/synthetic nutrient sources and run off. It's certainly true that if you water a plant with Miracle Grow that any run off water will contain that Miracle Grow, but the same is true of non soluble fish emulsion. Likewise even a solid material is going to run off with drainage water as it is chemically/biologically processed and the nutrients turned into soluble salts. I, too, am concerned about the environmental pollution caused by the use of fertilizers, particularly on the water bodies. It's one of the reasons I prefer synthetic fertilizers in containers where I can match the ratio of nutrients as closely as possible to what plants actually use. Makes for less waste and less to run off into the water bodies. I live in Wisconsin which has a ton of water and phosphorus is high in the soil in most of the state. It's a major source of pollution in the water and I get sick everytime I see what was once a beautiful, healthy lake get surrounded by private homes with manicured lawns. It's not long after that the lake has the life choked out of it from eutrophication. Then the tax payers have to front the bill for machines to go in and routinely harvest the explosive weed growth so residents can swim/fish/boat/jet ski as well as pay for the continual restocking of desirable fish that can't sustain their numbers anymore.

You can go to the Container Forum and find some answers to your questions more promptly that you will here. Locate Al and ask him directly, if you like. By the way, 'one part' means whatever measurement you will be consistently using. It could mean one big scoopful, one gallon, one cup, one whatever. Just make sure that the measurement quantity is the same for each component. You can't jump from cups for one ingredient and gallons for the others. Does that make sense?

I've never tried AVs side by side in gritty and 5:1:1, so I can't say. They should be pretty easy and happy in the 5:1:1 though. If I wanted to grow the very best AV I could produce, and had to choose only one soil, I'm not sure which I'd choose. If I chose the 5:1:1, I think my decision would be influenced more by what everyone else uses (it's closer to media labeled "AV soils"), rather than what I already know works well for the plant. I think, if someone is trying for the first time in either the 5:1:1 or gritty mix, the 5:1:1 would be the easier choice, but I can't say one or the other has more potential. I think its pretty accurate to say 5:1:1 for annuals and gritty for perennials, as long as we know there will be some exceptions - particularly when we have fast-growing perennials or plants with naturally vigorous root systems; those, we might want to consider putting in the 5:1:1 mix - especially when a yearly full repot is in the plant's best interest. Al