"... basically you don't feel that a shorter pot is a disability for a plant that has a large, spread out root system, as long as the soil drainage is just fine?" Taller pots will always have a higher % of unsaturated soil when you're using a soil that supports perched water. Illustration: Imagine a soil with a 3" PWT. In a 3" deep (cylindrical) pot, the o/a soil volume will be 100% saturated after a thorough watering. If the soil was 6" deep, the o/a volume would be 50% saturated, and if it was 24" deep, only about 12% saturation would occur. IF the drainage is 'fine', which for our purposes I'll take to mean there is no PWT, then the issue is moot. You can grow in extremely shallow containers with no concern for perched water, and it becomes impossible to over-pot. In well-aerated soils, you can grow the tiniest of plants in very large containers, if you prefer. I regularly grow very healthy sedum and houseleeks in containers less than 1" deep when using the gritty mix. That would be very difficult when using a bagged soil, because such a high % of soil would be saturated after a proper watering or notable rain. Some very shallow containers with healthy plant material: In this last picture, the houseleeks are in less than 3/4" of soil, yet they are very healthy: Al

If you add bloodmeal, that should compensate for the nitrogen loss from the mulch breaking down. I don't remember the ratios off-hand, but if you look up "green to brown" ratios for composting, you can use that as a guide. The mulch is "brown" and the blood meal is "green." When the mulch has broken down, nitrogen taken up from the soil will be re-released into the soil. I remember an Ashdown video about layering compost and mulch each year and mentioning how using a nitrogen-rich compost or soil amendment will compensate for nitrogen loss from mulch breakdown. It would probably be great if you could find a horse ranch nearby. Mixing manure with that planting medium would probably work well. :-) ~Christopher

Thanks Vikk, I just got to read your reply. Not being certain when the weevils lay their eggs, I cannot say if the containers were outside then or not. But since they were out from late spring to early fall, it's pretty sure they were. After bringing the plants in for the winter, I noticed the decline in growth. I thought it was winter dormancy kicking in--although in the house, the never really go dormant, just relax a bit. A couple of months later, the leaves had the tell-tale notches. One night I caught an adult weevil on a plants. --it hiding or maybe chewing at the top of the plant. I was searching for it at the bottom. Although I spent weeks getting up at 3 in the morning, using a flashlight to find adults and then get rid of them, the plant (this was a Meyer lemon) was dead by the spring. With one hand and hardly any effort, the entire 5' tree came out of the ground--no roots left, and it wasn't root rot. I have some BT here. If they get infested again I will try it. I think the best thing is to prevent the bugs from getting into the container soil. Do you or anyone reading this know of a good (Is there a way to make it or something like it, myself? Thanks for the good help. Bob

I had one tomato within a row of ok ones that looked like yours and also died. I haven't pulled it, but will (yes it is still there, bad I know). I've always wondered about nematodes, but never knew how to tell until I read this post and Googled. The deceased is Heinz 1431 from the Spring Fling. I did, however, plant "Nema-Gone" marigolds, of course in a different bed, from Baker Creek. I have no idea if/how/why those work. They are pretty though.