I just planted some herbs, tomatos and peppers using Miracle Grow soil too. It was my first time using it so I guess we'll see how it goes! :) Hopefully its good cause prices of veges just keep going up....
Miracle Gro Moisture Control potting soil mix:
Hi all--
I'm a newbie to this incredible site. Unfortunately I bought 3 big bags of MiracleGro MC before joining here and have had the same ROTten luck as some others. I think it might be alright for what outdoor plants I can cram onto our 4'x8' balcony, but it's already done in a couple of indoor plants after only the initial watering-in while potting.
I've got perlite, vermiculite, peat, sand, gravel, lime, etc--can anyone kindly suggest what amendment/s might work best for me indoors?
Thanks much for any and all input!
--Nīn
after reading these posts, I decided to try the Miracle gro Moisture control. It works great on my outdoor potted plants. In full sun, I usually have to water every other day, after planting these several days ago, I still haven';t needed to water. Waiting to see if I get root rot or what the long term results will be, our temps are already in the mid 80's.
I also decided to try the MG Moisture Control after reading these posts.
I planted a bunch of Date Palm seedlings in it yesterday. Here in central Florida, outside plants can become dry real quick here, too. Since these palms are supposed to like a lot of water, I'm hoping it will help keep them moist.
purplepetunia, I'm hoping for the success you have had, especially for the plants in full sun. This is supposed to prevent overwatering as well. I was concerned about root rot also. We'll see.......
If Walmart or KMart doesn't have it. Do you have Farm 'n Fleet in you area? I purchased several large MG potting soil from them.
Linda
I have tried the Miracle Gro Moisture Control and do not use it. I had bad luck with root rot and have emptied all of my containers that I had originally put it in, and I had at least 4 of the 3 cubic foot bags.
depends how much water the plant is receiving too I'm sure...
i.e. great for the SW, awful for Seattle
Is it possible to add the polymer crystals to the tops of plants that are already potted up? I just potted up about 20 plants but have always had to water at least once a day in the summer sometimes twice. Are the polymer crystals only for potted plants or can you add them to new plantings in the ground?
Adding polymer crystals to the top of the soil won't be very efficient at getting moisture to the roots, plus all those tiny clear jello-like cubes will look very strange on the surface of the soil.
I'd say a better bet would be to loosen the soil around the root ball, gently remove the plant, then mix some crystals into the potting mix around the root zone and replant.
I put polymer crystals into containers and also into planting holes or even entire garden bed areas. The manufacturer says they'll last 3 to 5 years.
I think I mentioned it above, but it's worth repeating... http://www.watersorb.com/index.htm is a great place for buying larger amounts of polymer moisture crystals at good prices! Friendly folks, too.
I mixed the crystals in my potting soil dry and after I watered the plants in the first time little clumps of clear jello were sticking out all over the top:) I presoak the crystals now and keep them in a gladware container with an old measuring spoon and mix them into the bottom half of whatever container I'm planting.
If you're handy with a sewing machine you can use the crystals and a bandana to make one of those cooling neck wraps. Sew the dry crystals in so they have enough room to expand, fold it like a neck wrap, sew it to it stays in that form and soak it in water until the crystals expand. When it's put around your neck it really does feel cool. We sell them at work (namebrand Cooldana) and I've seen them on one of the home shopping channels.
Hmmm, sandy, windy, very dry, and once the snow leaves, also very hot. Sounds like I should invest in some experiments with the MGMC and the crystals...
This is what could happen when they are sprinkled too close to the surface...
Thank you for all the advice I will loosen around the rootball then put them in the bottom of the pot. I also placed an order with watersorb. thanks for the tip.
I have to laugh at this-finally a couple of weeks ago, I bought my first bag of water retention crystals. When I mixed up my potting soil, I added the crystals, shall we say, liberally.
All was fine until a really heavy overnight rain about a week ago. I woke up, walked out onto the porch, and had a heart attack. Why was there ice everywhere? No way it could have frozen like that overnight! Then, I touched the 'ice' and it was even creepier. I had a porch chock full of jello. And of course, I'd mixed the potting soil that remained unused in something without holes in the bottom, so it had soaked up all the water and overflowed in the pot, and was so saturated with those crystals that it looked like Oreo cookie pudding. Serves me right for not paying attention to package instructions. *Put on her dunce cap and takes a bow*.
Picture?
LOLOLOL. Sounds like something I would do.
Kylee
*applause* take a bow lady :) lol
Here is a Dunce picture for you all to laugh at. My tomato seedling last year - Some crystals went into the planting holes....
-Kim
Kim, I love that picture!
It's really amazing how those little crystals swell up... They won't hurt anything on the soil surface, of course, but they sure do look peculiar!
Boy, am I glad I read this thread!
I ordered Water-Keep from www.water-keep.com in mid-August but lost the instructions on how to use it. AM I GLAD I was both too lazy and too busy watering pots - especially after viewing the picture posted above.
I started container gardening vegetables last year and did I get tired of watering those tomatoes and squash 2 to 3 times a day Even with self-watering pots.
I used at least 4 (2 cf bags) of MG moisture retention soil in 10 and 12 inch self-watering planters that grew tomatos, squash and peppers to rival my in-ground ones. I like the soil and will use it again this summer but upgrade planter to 15 inch with at least a 1 gallon reservoir!
Why put water absorbing crystals in a water-retentive potting mix?
Depends on what you are growing and how wet the roots like it. A lot of water will evaporate from the self watering planters and the crystals give you leeway between waterings. At my house it goes something like "I put those crystals in I can water tomorrow" LOL
Yeah... and I think the crystals also help guard against overwatering as well as underwatering. I put them in all my containers, in most of my transplanting holes &/or in my seedling mix, and I put an especially liberal dose into containers of plants that I give away to not-so-garden-savvy friends & neighbors.
As I said, crystals that float up to the surface as in Kim's photo look odd, but they do no harm... it's easy enough to just push them back down where they belong... and if you put 2-3" of potting mix without crystals at the top of the container, they'll generally stay put by the root zone.
The chemical name for the SoilMoist Granules (and presumably others of this type) is cross-linked polyacrylamide. It's interesting stuff. I used to use it in my job to do protein separation by electrophoresis but that's another story. I have not used this product as a growing aid yet but I have experimented with the SoilMoist that doesn't contain fertilizer. I have found that in plain tap water it swells up to hold about 140 times its weight in water; whereas in water containing fertilizer (such as Peters 20-20-20 at 1 tsp/gal) it swells up to hold 100 times its weight in this fertlizer-containing water. So one slightly heaping teaspoon of dry crystals (4.2 grams) will swell to hold up to 11/4 pints of water. It is an amazing thing to watch although it takes an hour or two to happen. If you keep this in mind, you can see why if you add too much, your soil will swell up and out of the pots. The package recommends adding to potting soil at a rate of 2 tsp crystals per gallon potting soil which means the added 2 tsp of crystals would hold up to about 11/2 quarts of water when fully hydrated. The recommended usage rate doesn't seem to be proportional because it also recommends adding 3 tsp SoilMoist to 3 gallons of potting soil. The package label also recommended that you not add it to the top 2 inches of the potting soil presumably because it will form a layer on the surface of the potting soil.
Hope my playing around is of some use to someone.
Nathan