Fertilizer/soil for container questions

16 years ago

Hi,

I am new here, but have read quite a bit on this forum about soils for container plantings. My wife and I are setting up a container garden on our deck with some 30 gallon pots with some small pygmy japanese maples among other evergreen and deciduous and accent plants. Neither one of us are what you would call green thumbs. In fact the fatality rate of plants on this forum definitely spiked some with my membership, but I'm trying.

We are attempting to use Al's oft-mentioned 5-1-1 soil for our containers and I had a few questions.

1) The only micronutrients I've been able to find locally so far are included in a tree/shrub spike fertilizer by Miracle-Gro, and it doesn't seem like this should be used in containers but for in-ground applications. Are my trees going to suffer trememdously if I don't have these micronutrient supplements for this soil? Is there anything more commonly available I could use instead?

2) This is probably a dumb question, but should I fertilize (w/ Miracle-Gro liquid fertilizer...12-4-8, I believe) OVER the time-release fertilizer I mix with the soil (probably Vigoro, all-purpose time-release 19-6-12), or should I wait until the life of the time-release fertilizer is over before beginning with the liquid fertilizer?

3) Finally, have I found a suitable pine bark mulch for the soil (see picture...the shiny thing is a quarter)? If not, there is a product here call Nature's Helper I can use that's 50% pine bark mulch and compost (or I could mix the two).

Thank you for your help.

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Comments (4)

judgeboyett
Original Author
16 years ago
Update: I believe I've found a fertilizer that might work and includes micronutrients (most of them, it seems). I went beyond looking for fertilizers that stated "with micronutrients" and actually read the labels : ) Anyway, it's the Lilly Miller Multicote Outdoor/Indoor Plant Food (Vigoro also has micronutrients in their all-purpose fertilizers). It's 18-6-12 and also includes the following:

Mg 1%
S 6%
B .025%
Fe 33%
Mn .06%
Mo .007%
Zn .06%

Will this fly or do I need to supplement it with anything?
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
16 years ago
The fertilizer you mentioned in your second post should be adequate w/o any additional supplementation, as long as you added lime to the soil when you made it (Ca source).

You may wish to add some of the CRF when you make the soil and supplement as needed with your MG 12-4-8 or other as needed and as indicated by the color of foliage.

The bark looks like a very good choice, if it is all pine bark (+ what little sapwood is showing up - not a big deal).

Al
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judgeboyett
Original Author
16 years ago
The bag says "pine bark mulch," so I'm going to assume that's primarily what it is. I do plan on mixing both CRF and lime with the soil, so glad to hear I'm on the right track.

I'm eyeing your gritty mix, but I'm going to build up some more confidence in my gardening skills before I go to the trouble of tracking down supplies and putting it all together. It is such a huge paradigm shift for me from what I know about gardening (which isn't much BTW). I'm a little intimidated by it right now. Maybe down the road...

Anyway, thanks so much with being so generous with your knowledge and time. I appreciate, and more importantly, so will my plants.
tapla (mid-Michigan, USDA z5b-6a)
16 years ago
I'm guessing that almost all of us that spend time here get a certain sense of vicarious satisfaction from knowing that others' efforts are serving them well. I know that's the case for me; and the satisfaction is heightened, knowing something I might have said has been helpful, so thank you for the kind comments.

I'm sure your plants will appreciate your taking the time to figure out how you want to go about making them happy. You're the one making all the effort - we're just typing. ;o)

I can tell you'll do well - but remember we're here if you happen to stumble on a poser. ;o)

Al