Post by famfish on Feb 10, 2009 20:30:34 GMT -6
There are many plants that do well in containers. flowers flourish in containers! Getting the right soil and setting up the container correctly is very important! The main problem with containers is the drying out effect! I like to use at least a gallon container and I prefer plastic or wood! The soil mix should contain something that holds moisture bu does ot get soggy. There are many soil mixes on the market like pro mix , cornel mix and a number of them. Basically they contain peat mos, vermiculite, perlite, sand and Styrofoam beads or scraps! Vermiculite holds water but will get mushy so watch how much you use it by itself! perlite a volcanic ash separates the mixes and aerates the soil but has a tendency to crush but works well in a container! peat moss is a standard and will hold alot of water but dries out fast. Once it drys the water tends to run right through it and it must be soaked slowly to get moist again! plants with alot of peat moss will loose their water out the bottom so fast that they will die even if you water them alot! I myself like a garden loom or a finished compost soil from the garden usually in the spring after a freeze I scrape the top 3 inches away and capture the soil beneath the 3 inches of top soil so as not to get alot of weed seeds! +++ The pot lets say a gallon plastic I put some small stones or gravel about 2 inches deep at the bottom. I add above the gravel about2 inches of old wet leaves with a little peat or sand on top of it. The top soil which is like ground that could make a dirt meatball and it would hold together I mix with 5 percent sand plus a hand full of styrofoam beads. this will fill the container toabout a inch from the top. If you are growing seeds cover the seeds with about 1/2 inch of this mix. Place a plastic cover or glass over the container till the seeds sprout so the soil will no dry out! the sand seems to help the root groth plus allow the seedling to be pulled out to replant withg little damage to the root structure.! all containers should have a hole for drainage in the bottom. The bottom hole can also be used to water the plants from the bottom if a bigger plant is allowed to continue growing in the container! When growing alot of plants use this same methog in a 6 inch deep square box. I suggest a styrofaom grape box that you can get at your local grocery story which they generally throw away! If you want to use pro mix or one of the mixes just use the garden soil like I mentioned here with the seeds sprinkled on the top of the soil and covering the seeds with a layer of 2 inches of pro mix or any mix you like. This top layer will give less weeds and help with damping off because of the peat moss! Now is the time to start tomatoes or an other seeds for the spring! Make sure the seeds get at least 8 hours of strong light or they will be too weak to keep alive! Grow lights work fine but window light is better! I will do a follow up of this later!