I've had the same problem, especially with fabric pots (not so much with plastic). Last year I tried adding some Therm-X 70 wetting agent (70% yucca) to my irrigation water, but I'm not sure that it made much difference. Did you use the Earth Juice Assist product? I've considered trying it, but I read somewhere that it, too, uses yucca. Otherwise, I'm not sure that there's much of anything out there that's more effective or that I'd consider using on edibles.

Last year, I also decided to try to remedy the problem by approaching from the other direction and began experimenting with alterations to the mix as a way to increase water holding capacity. For my tomatoes in Root Pouches, I went with a 60% bark, 25% peat, 15% DE (Napa Oil Dry) blend and still had problems. This year, I've shifted to bigger pots and a couple of experimental mix variations that include both coir (which is supposed to by hydrophilic rather than phobic) and DE:

• 50% bark (25% screened to 1/4" to increased water holding capacity), 25% coir (Botanicare CocoGro), 10% peat, 15% DE
• 60% bark (10% screened to 1/4%), 25% coir, 15% DE

My hope is that the combination of the coir and DE will help overcome the hydrophobic tendency of bark and peat, but that's just speculation. The first variation might be too water retentive, but I decided to try out with a few plants and see how it goes.

I have thought about adding some coir (or using Miracle-Gro Moisture Control, which is coir-based in place of some or all of the peat), but I worry about the supposed salt content of coir.

That's why I chose the Botanicare brand. Their selling point is that their coir has a low salt content thanks to a minimum of 18 months of aging under the open sky where it's rinsed repeatedly by monsoon rains. Before buying, I did a little research and found generally good reports on message boards (primarily cannabis growers). If you wanted to further mitigate the risk, you could rinse/soak it yourself, but I decided to take a calculated risk and use it straight out of the bag.

You could always just mulch the surface of your containers with extra bark.

Josh

Does that affect pH, Nil13? In a way that I would want to adjust my mix at all? Most of what I grow tends towards acid-preferring or acid-loving, so I typically halve the lime in most of my applications (except legumes and a few others).

Wouldn't increasing turface amount help? It does hold quite a bit of water and nutrients, increase drainage and reduce compaction. It isn't hydrophobic, as bark could be.

I have used coco-wet (brand name, googleable) successfully on very dry 5-1-1, works great, but its a bit spendy and I wouldn't consider it an every-day watering solution. at all. I can't recall how much I diluted it, but in any case it ends up being expensive if used often. I think the best solution is to go bigger in terms of container size when it comes to 5-1-1 drying out too quickly.

If you have trouble with your mix drying out too fast in a fabric pot, maybe fabric pots aren't for you/your mix in your environment. One of their advantages is the ability to use heavier mixes with less concern for drowning roots.

I have started increasing the peat-to-bark ratio in fabric pots, which has helped some.

I use fabric pots for their root-pruning capabilities, especially for tree seedlings that are later being transplanted into the ground.