kimmq, "very little bacterial activity"........is that because of the 5:1:1 mix itself, or because the mix is in a pot rather than in the ground?

Regarding the 5:1:1 mix, I haven't seen any "pine bark" products around (although I haven't really searched that much) . There is a pile of local wood chips at our community garden........could that be used instead of pine bark for a good 5:1:1 potting mix?

Last year I planted my tomatoes in large pots using Pro mix (I think) and it seemed they needed watering once or twice a day. This year I planted in a mix of last-year's Pro Mix (from the pots), with the addition of my homemade compost and some worm castings. Now it looks like it might be holding onto water a little too well! Doesn't help that mother nature has thrown us a bit of a curve ball as the early spring was unusually warm and dry and now we're having cooler and wetter than normal. At least my pots are on my deck and protected from the direct rains.

Harry

There are NO pine-bark mulches available to me locally here in the HIgh Sierra Desert region any more. Just the dyed chopped up houses packaged by Scott/Vigoro.

I had been using some Mountain Magic products last year but those are gone now as well. Both Home Despot and Lows have stopped carrying virtually all of the better garden products.

Some of the stores are carrying 2 cu ft bags of something they call "mini" nuggets, allegedly pine bark, but it seems to me I checked this out last year and it was big chunks, too big for potting soil.

Even the Mountain Magic Pep stuff which is partially composted and generally too fine is no longer available anywhere within a 100 mile radius of me.

I have no idea what I'm going to do now.

Harry, because any good quality potting soil is comprised of materials that do not supply any plant nutrients, they must be supplied by the grower via fertilization. This is a standard fact of life for ANY sort of container culture!! Some sort of water soluble fert works best - I prefer a Dyna Gro product because it supplies all the necessary trace elements as well as the primary nutrients but something like fish emulsion or even Miracle Gro can work as well.

Wood chips are NOT a good substitute for the bark fines. You want a material that has an overall size of about 1/4" in diameter (up to 1/2" is OK). Bark fines are often sold labeled as "soil conditioner" but you need to check the product label to confirm the ingredients. If you cannot locate that, look for orchid bark of appropriate size or reptile bedding sold at pet supply stores.

There is little to no biological activity in a potting mix because it doesn't contain any material that would support populations of soil microorganisms. Adding compost and/or worm castings to a potting mix will contribute beneficial organisms but to the detriment of the proper functioning of the potting medium. These materials will continue to breakdown and will eventually compact, significantly reducing porosity and aeration and leading to poor drainage. You might be able to get by with this sort of combo mix for a single growing season, but you are not doing the best you can for the plants you are growing in the containers.

The typical recommendations for the most successful container culture is NOT to reuse potting soil from one season to the next and no additions of either compost or worm castings. If you want to make use of these products with your containers, use them to make a tea with which you can fertilize the plants, although I would not rely on that alone for proper fertilization.

gardengal, you are probably experiencing similar weather to me, so how are your tomatoes doing this season? Mine seem to have stalled both in growth rate and/or flowering. I'm wondering whether it's my potting mix (as listed earlier) or just the cool, wet weather we've been having. Last year my tomatoes really took off when I got them into the big pots. Not only did they get taller, the thickness of the main stem doubled in no time.

I'm just hoping that during this cooler weather they are busy growing a great network of roots and will rebound when the weather warms back up.

Harry

Mine are doing better than I expected, considering I moved earlier this spring to a property that is much more heavily shaded than my previous situation and with deer!! While the deer have pruned back the tops of the toms they seem to be flowering well enough and have started to set fruit. But I only grow cherry tomatoes as those seem to have the best and most reliable results in our usually cool summers.