Quote:
Originally Posted by Toothless_Kitty
On second thought it may have had the moisture control. I've been going back through the guide trying to absorb ( Get it? Absorb?) all the information. Why is that a bad thing. Oh bother!
Laura
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Laura,
The first year, I used MG with MC. What I found at the end of the Season was a mix smelling like rotten eggs as I emptied the container. Upon further analysis, I was simply retaining too much moisture in the EarthTainer. The following year, I switched to Lowes Sta-Green Potting Mix (no longer available), then MG without MC. Much better results in Season 2.
But even so, I found the plants to be leggy, and the taste of the tomatoes not what I had remembered from in-ground growing. I then began to amend the MG with bark fines and Perlite, experimenting with 30 combinations including Turface, Cactus Mix, Redwood Compost, etc. By trial and error, I found the 3:2:1 Combo Mix of Potting Mix, Decorative Groundcover Bark, and Perlite gave me the best combination of wicking along with the needed aeration of the root system (and better tasting tomatoes!)
Can the ratio (and ingredients) be further optimized - YES! But as of now, I think we are about 90% of the way there. A little bit of History.....
Raybo