Just use less of your added feed and you will do fine.

6b Steve

If you don't mind me asking...Where did you get it? What is it made of? What does it look like? Can you take a pic?

I;d be interested too..If you could post a couple of links to the container forums talking about it I would love to see what others are saying, especially Tapla...

Thanks a million

Matt, I am very interested in your experiment. What plants do you plan to use? How many? What size containers? Will they be indoors or outdoors? If indoors, what type of lighting? Will you have control plants in 5-1-1 (with or without Osmocote?) and if so, how many?

I do not know where you are located, but if you are about to enter winter, then , as Laura said, you may not want to fertilize with Jack's.

Mike, I purchased a 25L (5.7 gal) container from the website. It was $47 including shipping. It's made of zeolite, pumice, and lava. Al never commented on the thread in the container forum, but here is a link to the thread. And here's a pic.

Vlad, I'm starting with a one gallon Okitsu Satsuma. I'll be potting it in a 5 gallon air pot. I'll be placing a mesh bag inside the air pot first since the substrate is so small. This will likely negate the root-pruning benefits but I think it will increase aeration and reduce the possibility of perched water.

I received the tree on Thursday. It's outside right now with my other trees. It will be transplanted in the new mix tomorrow and I expect to move all my trees inside within two weeks.

They'll be under a 1000W MH bulb. Here's a pic from my trial to see of the fit in my hallway.

Thanks for the comments,

Matt

Thanks for the info, Matt. Let us know how it goes.

Most people on this forum are growing a lot of tree's including myself. As far as me i choose the cheapest way to grow reasonable growing tree's with the least problems. No frequent watering/fertilizing, i personally do not want to be a slave of my endeavors.I do go on long vacations during the year and don't have nobody to rely on for my container orchard.

So what are you going to do next year for fertilizer,Osmocote? (6 months).You know 6 months fertilizer might not last that long if you to have to water/fertilize too often because of fast draining mixes.

I will be very interested in your experiment Matt. Please keep us updated!! It will be particularly interesting to have a control.

Bob My trees did best in a mixture of 50% dirt dug from my garden mixed with 50% compost. My trees would go 1 to 1.5 months between waterings in the winter and go for a week or 2 in the summer. I draw air through the roots with a vacuum cleaner in the winter. I also use a pot with lots of aeration holes.

This goes under my 30 gallon Cuban Shaddock for the winter. I draw 10 seconds of air daily.

6b Steve

Matt, interesting experiment. I will be interested to hear how it goes too. It seems it may dry rapidly, especially under a 1000 Watt HID. I would be a little concerned that if the fertilizer is embedded into the medium and the medium dries out quickly will that burn the roots? Will you have to try to keep the mix constantly moist? How do container growers usually use this medium? Is it usually used as an aquaponics or semi-hydroponics medium? Then it would be kept constantly moist. It sounds interesting though. I once was growing orchids semi-hydroponically when I was traveling all the time and found it hard to water regularly. It worked pretty well with most of my orchids but in the long term I went back to the more traditional method. How will you be watering in in your growing area, a long hose? I thought I read somewhere you were using an unused stairwell, but I don't see that in this post. Clever use of space. Your trees look pretty big. I guess you will run a fan there too? I will have to look for that other post. Keep us up to date on how it goes.

Cory

Why not just use coarse sand. It is close to free, won't blow over in the wind, drains well, and still holds enough water for your trees.

6b Steve

Bob, I started this experiment because hauling dirt up three flights of stairs isn't convenient. Dirt is also difficult for me to get rid of since I live in a city. I plan to use Jack's Professional like I do for my other trees.

Cory, Lechuza PON is typically used in their self watering planters. See: http://www.lechuza.us/The-LECHUZA-sub-irrigation-system/erd-bewaesserungs-system.html. The substrate is supposed to act like a wick to transfer water to the plant. However, they say you can grow plants in only the substrate too. I'll start the plant out in an air pot since the substrate will likely hold perched water. But I could switch to a normal self watering pot if I find it's too dry. I'll be watering all my trees individually by hand. I am using my stairwell, but I mistakenly wrote hallway in my earlier post. Here's a pic of the stairwell that I'm getting ready.

I ordered a meiwa kumquat from Harris as my control. I thought about getting another Okitsu, but I don't want two of the same tree. This tree will be placed in a 5 gallon air pot with 5-1-1 mix. It will be in the same conditions as the Okitsu and my other trees.

All containers, and every medium has a perched water table , even containers without a bottom. The only difference is, some have more, and some have less of a perched water table. - Silica

I understand you not wanting two of the same tree. A meiwa is a good choice...I don't have one of those yet.

The Meiwa kumquat is the slowest growing of all citrus. If you have only one Meiwa tree than you will not get a true comparison to judge your new medium.

Hey Matt, is there any way you could compare Lemon Meyers? They pretty much grow pretty quickly and react pretty quickly to poor conditions...No TWO plants by the way ever grow the same...I have always believed that you need more than a few at a time to get any true results..Like 6 pepper plants...3 in one mix and 3 in the other..If all 3 do better at the same time in the same mix, then you might be on to something...

The 5.1.1 and gritty have been tried and tested and overwhelming consensus is that perform very well for a majority of members..

Matt, thanks for the info...I can't wait to see what you do..

Here in Arkansas summers are usely hot and long, not much rain between June 15 until now. Therefor i have to water more often with light fertilizing. I use Ecoscrap Garden soil from Walmart. Buy a bag than grab a handful and take a look

For $3.00 a 30 lbs bag,you can't go wrong!

I buy all my fertilizer in the fall when prices are dirt cheap, i am good for the next 2 years maybe 3. I use Jack's High performance 25-5-15 and also Jack's MOST micro's, i use this stuff sparingly( a 1 lb container last more than 2 years). I use this stuff for everything not just container plants.

Persimmon bob, great idea on buying fertilizer now..You are right..All of it is going ob sale at my local Lowes..

Silica, I assumed the open sides and bottom of the air pot would increase evaporation compared to a normal pot where only the top layer is in contact with air. Therefore, it would hold less water or lose water quicker than if it were in a normal pot. Is this true?

Steve, I chose Meiwa because it was already on my list of trees I wanted to purchase. I didn't know it would grow a lot slower compared to an okitsu, but I think the comparison can still be valuable. The okitsu will be placed in the Lechuza PON and the meiwa will be placed in 5-1-1. Based on what you're saying, I'll assume that the Lechuza PON is hindering the growth of the okitsu if it grows at the same speed or slower than the meiwa. What do you think?

Mike, comparing two meyer lemons would be a good test, but I want to avoid duplicates since I have limited space to keep all my plants. However, i might try this next spring since I have more space outside. FYI... my other citrus trees are ruby red grapefruit, cara cara navel orange, moro blood orange, mexican lime, golden nugget mandarin, meyer lemon, kishu mandarin, shiranui mandarin, oroblanco pumelo, calomodin, fukushu kumquat.

Bob, what is Jack's MOST micros? Can you send a link?

The shipment of my air pots was delayed so I didn't repot the okitsu this weekend. I'll now report the okitsu and meiwa this coming weekend.

Matt, The Landscapers Store is where i buy Jack's fertilizer( J.R.Peter Most) If you go to J.R. website they will explain how to use it and also describe the formula.

The stuff that I use is Ecoscraps( Walmart) garden soil,oildry,gypsum and some perlite.

Hey Matt, how going your experiment? The lemon tree it's ok?

I just read this thread and its fascinating, I'd love to know as well how the tree ended up doing in that medium.

I would be cautious on buying any thing from Walmart. Most of there stuff is made in China. I don't like buying things made in China. I scares me that china might be getting rid of its toxic nuclear wastes by putting it in infinitesimally small amounts in the product the sell to the USA.

I'd want to know the follow up to this!

Is there an update on your Lechuza Pon experiment with citrus?

I’m about to replant my citrus seedlings in pon and wanted to see your citrus results please. Many thanks.

I've actually got a few plants in Pon now.. I've got a few different experiments that have been successful. I've got 2 Kishu Mandarins, one with the rootball still in dirt and supplemented in Pon, the other one is fully in Pon, both in Lechuza self watering platner. Took a bit of time for the roots to get aclimated-- i had failed previous times with being to quick to fill the reserves and induced rot. Now they're cruising! I've started many of my other trees in Pon.. but i've evolved to a 1:2 mix of pon and orchid bark. My full Pon plants are doing well, but I think the extra air from the bark has been a good safeguard from root rot and suffocation at the early acclaimation stages.