"It looks like you switched to the Dyna grow 9-3-6 last year. Do you still use CRF in your soil mix if you are still using this fert?" Actually, I rarely use the CRFs at all. I like the near complete control the soluble fertilizers give me in containers. I'm pretty diligent about fertilizer applications, so I really don't need the CRFs to cover the 'in case I forget' base, or for any minor elements they might supply. I included them in the soil recipes to make it easier for others. As long as you're faithful to your nutrient supplementation program, you can easily do w.o them. If you think you'll be lax at times, I'd include them. 109 ppm alkalinity is nothing to be overly concerned about with fast container soils. It would be interesting to learn how the Ca and Mg levels are though. Alkalinity is related to pH because alkalinity (practically speaking and for our applications) determines your water's resistance to pH changes. If you have water 'A' at a pH of 9.0 with an alkalinity of 75 mg/L CaCO3, and water 'B', with a pH of 8.0 (a full point lower to begin with) and alkalinity of 300 mg/L CaCO3, it will take about 4 times as much 35% H2SO4 (sulfuric acid) to bring the water with the lower pH down to That aside - your water is better than mine, so I really doubt you'll have Fe/Mn issues if you're using either the 9-3-6 or MG. I will say though, that bark/peat soils have a potentially high Fe:Mn ratio, so applying Fe w/o Mn could easily create a deficiency of Mn. If I were in your shoes, I would do nothing until I actually saw evidence of an Fe deficiency. Then, I would acidify. Oh - the other likely cause of an Fe deficiency is too much P, which combines with the Fe to form an insoluble precipitate, so avoid the high P fertilizers - they are useless unless you are using them to supply the exact amount of P needed while intentionally (severely) limiting N. I used this strategy last year: I fertilized with regular dosages of 9-3-6 until the plants were well established. I then cut way back on the dosage and added ProTeKt to the solution. I rather like to envision that I used the added K (and got the benefit of the added silicon) to change the fertilizer ratio to 3:1:3 from a 3:1:2. This allowed me to reduce the dosage of N (reducing vegetative growth) while still having adequate P and K. Take care. Al

I've been interested in mycorrhizal associates of plants for decades now. Very generally speaking, most studies I've reviewed where an attempt to "inoculate" soils or media with specific strains of known mycorrhizal species have been disappointing. Notable exceptions were in cases of extremely depleted soils, mine tailings, and other essentially "sterile" media. Now this is not at all intended to cast doubt on the importance of mycorrhyzae. Just the opposite, they are indeed being proven to be everywhere, in every type of plant community, and in virtually every geographic region. What I am saying, is that so far, man-made attempts to duplicate what nature does every day in this regard have been decidedly unspectacular. It seems that two effects are in play: One, if the soil and associated plants have been in association with one another for a good length of time, very likely such mycorrhizal associates are already present. Adding more, in the form of supposedly viable propagules will not effect the balance. The other aspect is, nobody really knows exactly what species is associated with a given landscape plant. True, there is such knowledge in silvicultural studies, usually associated with coniferous species, but to simply extrapolate what is know there to your average garden situation is extremely unlikely to work. Additionally, we do not know what is happening when a soil already colonized by such organisms is having another strain, or an altogether different fungal species, introduced to it. Are we accidentally ruining a good thing? Are we just wasting money and effort? I find such matters of immense interest, and I don't think the book is closed, just that perhaps it needs to be set aside for a while and taken up again later when understanding has increased. This is complicated stuff, especially in a world where very large acreages of land are given over to just two plant species-corn and soybeans-where the parameters of nutrient requirements have been pinned down tightly. In other words, mankind's largest horticultural enterprises are vastly more simple than what is likely happening in that little wood lot that didn't get knocked down for more development near your home. We're rank beginners at this...may as well face it. +oM

Some discussions of African Violet plants last forever. This is one of them. A problem we all face or faced when starting to get serious about raising African Violets is food. A couple of years ago, when I had this question, I spent hundreds of hours here and elsewhere looking for some sort of consensus. There really is none but there are two are three front runners. There are another two or three that really provide more possibilities for failure and problems than success. This is my opinion of what I have found to be true. Others will disagree and thats ok. I don't use Miracle Gro for anything. My first year or so of raising AV's were heavily punctuated with fertilizer related issues. This, largely caused by my living in an area with few specialty gardening shops. I ended up buying MG perlite, MG vermiculite, MG potting soil and MG peat moss. ALL OF WHICH CONTAINS UNKNOWN CONCENTRATIONS OF UNKNOWN FERTILIZERS. With the exception of a few experts (one of whom resides here) it is very difficult to achieve success with that many unknowns. I only use Optimara or DynaGro for food any more. I have supplements that I use from time to time but I vacillate back and forth between these two. Are there others? Yes. This is what I have found that works for me. My recommendation is that you eliminate all MG products, choose a non-urea food and keep notes on what you find. Good luck! My apologies to all of you MG users out there!

Annoyed - for best results, there should be a full compliment of all nutrients plants take up by way of the root pathway, in the soil at all times, available for uptake, and in a ratio as close as possible to the ratio at which the plant actually absorbs the nutrients. If this requires that you fertilize in the winter, that's what you should do, for best results. After all, Mother Nature has no helpers who travel the hemisphere in autumn, removing nutrients from the soil just because winter is coming. The idea we shouldn't fertilize our houseplants in winter was born from the assumption that growers will be using a water-retentive medium (and most do) that just MUST be watered in small sips when water usage is minimal during the dark months, this, to prevent over-watering. Because this habit ensures all salts (from fertilizer solutions and tapwater) unused by the plant will remain in the soil, building up to toxic levels and creating problems on 2 fronts, the first being the build-up of salts which limits the plant's ability to take up water and nutrients, the second being the fact that watering in sips can cause the ratio of nutrients in the grow medium to become badly skewed. This is especially true when growers are using fertilizers which do not contain all essential nutrients or fertilizers that supply nutrients in a ratio that is not even close to the ratio at which nutrients are used. If a grower is using a medium that doesn't allow the medium to be flushed as plants are watered for fear of over-watering, it makes much more sense to make changes which allow us to water appropriately and keep up with our nutritional supplementation rather than withhold nutrients essential to the plant's well-being. Plants make their own food (sugar/ carbohydrate) during photosynthesis. Fertilizer is not plant food, but it does contain the chemicals plants use to keep their systems orderly and the building blocks plants use to grow and mature. To be fair, it's better to withhold fertilizer in winter if you're watering in sips, but it's still the lesser of 2 evils. If we work toward the ability to flush the medium as we water with no valid concerns we might be over-watering, it brings us to a place where we can fertilize regularly throughout the entire growth cycle, and it makes growing things in containers remarkably easier when compared to having to battle our grow medium for control over our plant's vitality. If you have interest, and are willing to share a little about how large this planting is, what type of grow medium it's in, and a little about how you determine how to water, I can offer some specific options that will help you avoid some of the pitfalls which continually stymie a high % of growers for the entire duration of their growing experience. Al