wordwiz, I cannot fully agree with you, at least for my garden. (and yet the world will continue to turn :) In my hot climate, I water daily with a hose and make the rounds of my pots twice, letting the water run through the pot the second time (here's where the leaching occurs). If I don't fully wet all the soil in the pot, I would have to water more than once a day, and that's not practical for me. In a milder climate, I am sure your way would work. No doubt, a weekly feeding would work, maybe better, but that's why I use the Osmocote. After having plants rot and/or smother in pots, I made the decision to use only commercial potting mixes several years ago. I do not add manure or compost to them (though compost would likely work, needing to be changed yearly, I expect). I recently had a friend asking me what is wrong with her tomatoes in pots. When I ascertained that she added half manure to her potting mix, I recommended that she dump out the pot and repot. I believe our climate is too humid, and our season too long to tolerate anything that reduces drainage or air uptake. I completely agree with digdirt when he said that since potting mix is not organic, there are no microorganisms to stimulate with compost or manures. I would add that there are also no earthworms in it to keep it stirred up, therefore manures, etc. just become totally compacted and smother the life out of the plants. Our difference of experience just goes to prove that gardening is not exactly the same from one climate region to another, and even from one garden to another. We all have to learn to adapt to our conditions. dgb, If I had enough compost, I would add a couple inches to the beds each time I plant a new crop, but I do not. So, I topdress all of the beds in late winter/very early spring (if the compost is not perfectly finished) or at spring planting time (if it is). I also add about a pound of Blood Meal to each of my beds (8'x3.5') and work it in with a spade at planting time. So far, the plants look the best they ever have, so I have not side-dressed them. At this point, I would be more likely to give them a liquid feed of Fish Emulsion if they start to look needy, but so far, so good. I will likely give the beds another 1/2 to 1 pound of nitrogen in mid summer when it's time for the second crop: 1/2 pound for beans/peas, and 1 pound for squash, cucs, etc. Come fall, I'll give them another pound for fall/winter vegs: brassicas, onions, lettuce, etc (along with some more compost if I have it). Tomatoes and peppers are, of course, an all season crop. I very well may side dress them again with blood meal in mid summer, but I am going to keep an eye on the plants and see how they look. I don't want to overdo the nitrogen at the expense of fruit. Again, I would love for other organic growers to join in to this conversation.

Good Morning! Wildcat...my 2 big brugs are in the ground.They are about 6 ft+.They get most of the attention and the above is their feeding schedule. I'm thinking that maybe I'm over-doing it. I know that you Northeners have to push your plants more to get blooms before winter.I'm in Florida with a longer growing season....so do you think I'm over-doing it? All my cuttings have already been potted up and they get 1/2 strength ferts with a small amount of manure tea about once a week.They seem to be growing by leaps and bounds too.I just potted them up a few weeks ago and now they have roots coming out the bottom drainage holes.I think I'm going to repot them in larger pots and then they will have to make due in that until spring.What do you think? LucyGoose, I've always heard NOT to give them a high middle number ferts.Someone else will have to elaborate or correct me if I'm wrong though. I do give mine deep waterings about every 2-3 days. Right now,were still in the 80's during the day and 70's in the evenings.We are supposed to get a bit cooler around Oct.17th. I've already got about 5 buds that will be opening soon and many more forming now.I think I should get a pretty good flush soon. Of course,I will post pics when I get my other computer. Wildcat...is that 15 gallons per plant or for all your plants? Here is a pic I had on file of one of my big brug in the ground.It's a pink,un-named variety. Here is a link that might be useful: Pink brug bloom

I fought this for years and here is where it lead me. Using synthetics can and will produce more as well as more dependable results 100% of the time IF you know exactly what you are doing. That means if you don't hold a degree in the field,it will be hit and miss even asking questions of people who hold the degrees and know exactly what they are doing. Problem is the expert must see and touch the plant,know history of soil&run fingers through it and know precisly what has been done including but not limited to,daily weather,amts & timing of water and nutrents up to that point. Organic is the way to go for even for the most dedicated gardeners. Organic is more forgiving of neglect and mistakes eventhough the mistakes and neglect will reduce production,it's not intolerable amounts. Non-organic mistakes often result in drastic results up to and including 100% loss. An often incountered one is where fertilizer is applied then miscalculation of weather and/or moisture occurs. Another is where insectiside is used to rid a pest that is effecting a plant by eating leaves or sucking some juice but not killing it nor ruining all fruit. Benificials on neighboring plant is eradicated and a pest that was being kept in check or shows up suddenly mushrons and ruins one or more crops. Very few things you do organicly will result in such sweeping results,good or bad. The soil should always be in transition for the lack of a better term. This addresses fertilize applications. In any container or plot , I try to insure there are diverse types and stages of finished compost. That insures that as micros are consumed replacements are being produced. I believe far too much gravity is afforded N being tied up by deterioating matter. Dumping a lot of fresh material like saw dust with huge amounts of exposed surface will definitly starve plants until rate of decomposition slows. A case where there is negitive results but usualy recovers enough to produce a fair to poor crop. Turning under green cover like vetch can realy supply season long crop fuel. I just cannot stress enough how important it is to understand your plants and that will happen with experience and experience will come sooner by asking inteligent questions of those willing to help. In an effort of convincing sceptics that it is possiable to read plants,I offer some off topic evidence. Try this out if you know a rancher,not nessarly an old crusty one, a cowperson in their 20s is quite capiable. Drive him/her to a herd they have never been around and without leaving the seat of the vehicle they can tell you; very near the age,the sex,weight and breed/mixture of breed for each animal while average person is deciding what color they are. If alowed to walk near them (many cattle dislike and will run away from strangers) closly estimate stage of pregnancy while our novice wonders why the one giving birth within a week is not fat as the one who has 3 months to go. Think about human faces. Isn't it amazing that we can differinate all of them. Practice!

While I think worm castings are an excellent garden soil amendment, let me just say that they are not going to add all that much to a container growing situation and could very easily "gum up the works" before they provide anywhere near the nutrient assist you think they might. It is a hard mindset to get established but you cannot think about container gardening the same way you do inground gardening. The conditions, materials and methods are vastly different and attempting the same theories and practices of inground gardening to container gardening is not going to get you the same results. In fact, it will very likely get you results opposite from what you seek. I have grown almost exclusively in containers myself for years and it has taken a lot of trial and error (and excellent advice from some far more experienced than I, like Al on the CG forum) to get to me the level of success I now realized with all my container plants. If you have the worms or the worm castings, then make a tea out of the leachate and use that to fertilize your containers. Not ideal, but better than nothing and you are adhering to an organic source. FWIW, I would urge you to post any further questions you may have about growing in containers on the Container Gardening forum. Regular participants there have a huge amount of experience and knowledge that is not so readily available on non-container focused forums.