Laura, you are using containers? Not in the ground? You can use it right away. I just wanted to warn you that his mix is very fast draining, which is good, but tomatoes take alot of water, so you will probably have to water them mabey even twice a day when the weather gets really hot. If you don't want to water that often, you can stick them in a baby pool, or use regular potting mix and use the double pot method. Fill a pot half way with regular potting mix, then stick the pot you have the tomato in, inside the pot you filled half way with mix.

This eliminates the perched water table by using the 2 pots, one inside of the other.

Just to give you alternatives to watering the tomatos sooooo much.

Otherwise, if you really want to use the 5:1:1, you can use it immediately. Just watch your plants when the temps get above 90 everyday.

Good Luck!

Great, thanks! I did plant them right away, and they look good. One good thing, it's been raining here every day.

It's been so difficult trying to find the right ingredients to make both of Al's mixes. I may just go with commercial stuff the rest of this year.

Agree absolutely about the Fafard mix. I've used 3B, 52 and the nursery mix from them for my containers and it beats the heck out of sifting and mixing Als! Also see no difference in plants it produced... I do still add a granular slow release fertilizer to fafards ..good for 6 months. Easy!

I also use fafards when I mix up my cactus mix. One part fafard, one part granite -- chicken grit(with nothing added) and one part turface- auto store oil cleanup material labeled also for gardening. Again a little slow release fertilizer and I'm good. I spent one year sifting pine for my 200 + containers that I can never get back. I'll give up my containers before I do that again! Ha!

That's wonderful thank you! I found a nursery that carries Fafard. I really appreciate it, thanks so much!

Lorabell, I am considering growing tomatoes and peppers in pots this summer and plan to use a mix of ground pine bark and Ecozyme compost. I have been using these two 50:50 for everything so far this spring, but I am wondering if I should increase the percentage of pine bark for tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. I am also concerned about the heat of the sun on the walls of the black pots and wonder if it would help to paint them a light green and/or use a liner of bubble wrap (I have a large sheet of it that was used as an above ground pool cover)?

Regarding the Fafard, I notice two different groups of mix. One is pro, and one is retail. Lorabell, it sounds like you are using the pro version, is that right? Will the nurseries usually sell those to customers? If my nursery won't do that, what retail version would you prefer? Butterfly what Fafard mix do you use that most closely resembles the 5-1-1?

Laura, you're right in that I use the pro. We have two small mom and pop nurseries by us that order Fafords for their business and will sell it to the public if you ask specifically for it. I always ask the owners themselves, not an employee. I've never used the retail version. It's always been so easy and available here that I've never had to look for it!

Ralph, I don't think I would change the percentage...sounds like it would give a nice medium mix. If you do decide on more pine, I wouldn't make a drastic increase... In fact I would do some pots one way, some pots the other! ( that's just me!!!)

What size pots are you using? Definitely controlling the moisture has been the biggest challenge and some plants definitely did better in my pots then others. I have the 200 white five gallons. Peppers did the same in pots and in ground. They are more forgiving with drying out and hot soil. Cherry tomatoes and dwarfs also faired well. Not so much the heirlooms tomatoes! Even putting them in 20 gallon containers didn't fair as well as my in ground.

So...I'm not sure I would paint the containers as much as I would locate them in late afternoon/evening partial shade to help with July/August heat . I wouldn't use the bubble wrap. I've never done eggplants in pots.

Can I ask why you're doing pots vs in ground this year? I'm doing the opposite ! I'm heading to Europe for a month in end July/August and my best bet for survival for the garden is in ground! 3 days without watering and all my containers would be fried!

There are three reasons for me to consider tring pots this year. The first is that I want to try growing a variety of heirloom and dwarf tomatoes and I do not have enough room in my garden but do have space along a border for pots. Second, I want to try out growing as many different dwarfs (Craig LeHoullier has over 2 dozen varieties now.) in pots and offer the best next year to people without a garden. Number three is that most heirlooms do not make it past mid summer in the ground in my garden's soil and I have run out of space where I have not grown tomatoes in the past 3 years. I may try growing a few in straw bales again but that can also be an issue with getting them watered sufficiently often.

Laura, The mix is called Pro. You can get it at any nursery that carries the Farfard mix. Just look for it, it will say Pro mix right on the bag. Its all good, if you look on the site on Google under Farfard, you will see what the mix is actually made of. It is the same ingredients as Al's mix. It will tell you. I have to go to the nursery where I buy the Farfard mix and request the Cactus soil for my Plumerias, thank goodness I read this thread again. I would have forgotten. Just buy a bag of it and see what you think. I buy the Pro mix that doesn't have the water retention balls in it. Just the plain Pro Mix. I pay about 9.99 for a good size bag of it, about the same price as other brands potting mixes, only I think this is better.